One of the tenets of Liberation Theology is that Christ suffers along with the oppressed. The verse from the Spiritual “Nobody knows the trouble I seen, nobody knows like Jesus” resonates not only in the African American Church, but in other communities hungering for justice, believing that God has not abandoned them.
These reflections on Jesus stumbling and Jerusalem women weeping continue the series of Stations by Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron about their faith in the light of Palestinians’ suffering under occupation:
Join in the “Way of the Cross in Occupied Palestine,” a Lenten campaign to raise awareness of the suffering of the Palestinian people living under Israeli military occupation. These short reflections connect contemporary parallels to the themes found in the Stations of the Cross, a tool used for reflection on the suffering and death of Christ.
As this reality of violence runs parallel to the suffering of Christ, the campaign encourages participating churches to engage in direct actions that highlight the violence and injustice of life under military occupation in Palestine.
Jesus Falls the Second Time Under the Weight of His Cross
by Jean Fallon
We see Jesus falling beneath the cross the second time. Despite the help of Simon of Cyrene, the cross has crushed Him once more, and He is beaten down by the Roman soldiers. Let us continue with the meditation of Jesus in Palestine now. We see scenes of Baqa’a Valley, outside of Hebron. The second time it is even harder for Jesus to get back up. It is even harder to stand by as witnesses in helpless frustration.
Rebuilt by Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICHAD), once again a Palestinian family sit dazed and crying before their fallen house, utterly crushed and unrecognizable. Not too far away, another Palestinian family experiences the same trauma. For them, it is their third demolition! It is still 1998, and both families had built their homes once more with a renewed hope that now lay in ruins. Their future also lay in ruins. Just before sunrise, the Israeli military had come in the name of the State of Israel, gun and demolition orders at ready, driving out the families, forcibly holding them back while the bulldozers smash their houses… Left in the piles of rubble, the families sit crushed with nothing left but the weight of their homes twice and thrice lost. .
It means nothing that these Palestinian families have held the land for generations. Above them still, on the top of a hill the settlements continue to expand, clearing this area of Palestinians and taking their land.
The Eighth Station – Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem
by Mary Wendeln
A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, `Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time, people will say to the mountains, `Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, `Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?” Luke 23: 27-31
Jesus tells the women of today to weep for themselves and their children if their society continues on the path that it is on.
The reality is that all women living in Palestine and Israel bear the cross of division. Palestinian women, bear the possibility of home demolitions, substandard social and health services. Mothers fear home invasions or not knowing the whereabouts of their sons, detained by the Israeli army. Others fear that their sons may be wounded and blacklisted for throwing stones.
Israeli women bear the burden of a national policy of violence and injustice. All suffer from a national budget that prioritizes military power over human needs. Many live in fear of violence as the mothers who lost their sons in the Yeshiva seminary killings.
Jesus meets Israeli and Palestinian women working together and together they question why this is happening.
They meet us and ask how many times have we felt sorry for the victim and failed to question the policies that perpetuate this injustice? How many times have we failed to question our involvement in the injustice? How many times have we continued to talk about an injustice and failed to act?
The Ninth Station – Jesus Falls the Third Time Under the Weight of His Cross
by Jean Fallon
This time Jesus lies unmoving after falling the third time beneath His cross…Is He dead? The occupation soldiers kick Him, make Him stand and drag on. This time it is almost impossible for Jesus to get back up! It is the same in Palestine now, and hard as it is, let us continue on with Jesus. We see Him in the same Baqa’a Valley, Hebron. How can we continue to be silent witnesses?
For this Palestinian family the third time is different. The family refused to remain, sitting without hope! It is now 2000, and though cautious, they refused to give up or to leave their home in ruins… Still dazed, they worked together to rebuild their home. However, this time, instead of the Israeli military, the settlers themselves descended into the valley. The settlers enter the Palestinian family’s new home, destroy windows, rip out wiring and obliterate as much as they could. Left in the shell of their home when the families were finally allowed to return, once again they were under the crushing weight of their home thrice lost. In place of hope, they now knew fear… No longer are the families from the hilltop settlements above them, quietly watching their attempts to rebuild their lives and their homes, they are now on the attack to clear this area of Palestinians and to forcibly take over the whole of the Baqa’a Valley.
Reprinted with Permission by Christian Peacemaker Teams
Cross-posted at Street Prophets
