SB Michel Sabbah Patr Em Jeruasalem  - 23 September 2009

1. “As Jesus drew near and came in sight of the city, he shed tears over it and said: If you too had only recognized on this day the way to peace” (Lk 19,41).

Today these same words apply to Jerusalem, living a situation of conflict, hatred and death. The political leaders have not found so far, until this day, “the ways of peace”. They have succeeded in creating new facts on the ground, they have succeeded in changing demography and geography: but in all that, “ways of peace” are not yet seen.

Religious leaders, on their side, fill Jerusalem with formal rituals and prayers. But, within these formal rituals, the same heart that worships has war inside towards its neighbor. It worships God but rejects the creatures of God, because they are others, they are different, as religion and nation.

But, as regards to religious life and values, we must also admit the existence of so many pious men and women, in all three religions, who worship God and bear love for the others, different, because they see them as children of God. Their prayer is silent, hidden, known only to God, the same God, who gathered all the different people, Jews, Moslems and Christians, in His same holy city.

2. To live in Jerusalem is to live with daily life questions, with all those who live there, men and women of different faiths and nationalities, and at the same time to live with the mystery of God in this city.

The Prophets of the Old Testament have spoken about Jerusalem, sometimes with maledictions for the unfaithfulness of its inhabitants, sometimes with a glorious vision of the future based on the repentance of men and women, and on the compassion of God who forgives and renews again and again His life among humankind.

God, Almighty and compassionate, the Lord of history, together with men and women of good will and bad, made the history of Jerusalem, with all its different phases through the centuries: God’s covenant, permanent faithfulness of God, faithfulness and unfaithfulness of men and women, and the various conquerors who succeeded each other in Jerusalem through the centuries and until today. All that history, and all those agents, under the vigilant eye of God, have made our present, today, in Jerusalem: two peoples, Israeli and Palestinian, and three religions, Jews, Christians and Moslems, who are, at the same time, in conflict with each other while worshipping the same God.

Jerusalem is a city of conflict between the two peoples who live in it. Despite that, it remains the city of God. Therefore, dealing with Jerusalem or with its peoples is dealing with the mystery of God in it. Every person dealing with Jerusalem, political and religious leaders in particular, should be one who worships and prays before God, asking from him inspiration, light and wisdom to know how to deal with the city and the people in it, whether residents or pilgrims coming to it, and how to  find the right ways to deal with the ongoing conflict in it.

3. We Christians in Jerusalem and in the world look at Jerusalem through the mystery of Jesus-Christ, Lord and God, who came to bring salvation to the world, and begin the kingdom of God on earth. His predication and that of St John the Baptist, his forerunner, started with these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:14-15). For many, this fulfillment took place, and for many it did not. Many are living, or striving to live, in the Kingdom of God on this earth. Others do not.

Jerusalem is the city of the Redemption of the world, a city where humanity was reconciled with God. And, with the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e. His triumph over death and sin, all humanity, and every single man and woman was also raised “from the dead” and made able to free himself or herself from sin, to be reconciled with God and with one’s neighbor, whatever be the differences between neighbors, religions, nationalities, races, or situations of conflict - as is the case today between the two peoples who live in it.

A city of Redemption and reconciliation: this is for Christians the definition and vocation of Jerusalem. It has a universal dimension, addressed to all humankind. This is a second important element of its definition. Being a holy city for all three religions is part of this universal character and vocation that Jerusalem has.

4. I lived in Jerusalem for 20 years as Patriarch of Jerusalem for the Roman Catholics. My first remark in regard to being in Jerusalem as a Christian, is this: given the universal vocation of Jerusalem, a vocation of universal reconciliation, one cannot be confined or limited to his or her own community. In Jerusalem, you either live with all or else you are living outside the city’s vocation, even though you live in it. To live in Jerusalem for one’s self, to live with a narrow vision and frame of reference in regard to religious confession, to make one’s rights in Jerusalem, political or religious, exclusive of the rights of the others in it, is once more to live against the mission and the vocation of Jerusalem. To exclude the other, to refuse to see the other, to see only oneself, is not “rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem” as mentioned in the Psalm 50. It is demolishing Jerusalem and exposing it to a permanent threat of war, violence and evils, exactly the opposite of its vocation as city of Redemption and universal reconciliation.

Therefore, my first remark about living in Jerusalem can be summarized as follows: You live in Jerusalem, which means you live with God, and with all God’s children in it. You cannot remain limited exclusively within your own community. You live with God, and so you share the grace of God with all, and you share the pains and joys of all. Though it can be difficult to live up to this universal dimension of the city, it is a must for Christians and for any believer who worships in it and wants sincerely to “rebuild the walls of Jerusalem” and bring back to it the glory that God wants for it.

So I have lived in Jerusalem, with and for my small Roman Catholic community, but also with and for all Christians, as well as with and for all Moslems and Jews.

What I have lived and seen?

A city torn, full of conflict, painful things to see and talk about: a wall that divides main roads, making one side Israeli and one side Palestinian, a wall separating parts of Jerusalem, making one side part of Jerusalem, and the other side, no longer Jerusalem; I have seen confiscation of lands and houses, replacement of the inhabitants of houses, creation of new Jewish neighborhoods, while limiting every effort at Palestinian development: which means no building permits, therefore buildings without permits, leading to  homes demolished… and worse than all that is the poison of hatred of the other, due to one’s own blindness that makes oneself incapable of seeing the other as a creature of God.

I have seen a city wanted by the two peoples, Palestinian and Israeli, as a political capital and by the believers of the three religions as a holy city and a city of normal daily life. There seems to be no contradiction in being the holy city for the three monotheistic religions. Everyone worships in it and respects its holiness. But the reality is that religious feelings are so mingled with the political reality that things are made more complicated, and worship does not remain mere worship, but becomes a political act or a sign of appropriation of the city and exclusion of the other.

Palestinians have claimed and claim until today that East Jerusalem is or will be the eternal capital of Palestine. It is their right, and it is not exclusive, as it claims only Arab East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Israel claims that all Jerusalem, East and West, is the eternal capital of Israel, accepting neither a shared city with shared sovereignty, nor a divided city with divided sovereignty: a status declared “null and void” by the international community, but still valid on the ground.

Hence the political rights of the Palestinians are excluded. Hence the other believers, the Palestinians, whether Moslem or Christian, have limited access to the city, due to security measures and a security vision. For those who live outside the new wall surrounding Jerusalem and separating it from the Palestinian Territories, access is subject to military permits, which are given to some and refused to others. And those Christians and Moslems living in Arab countries are almost completely forbidden access to the city, for prayer or other reasons.

This is the situation in which I have lived, and live until today. It is a heart-rending situation. On the one hand, Jerusalem speaks to every believer: reconciliation and peace within one’s own heart, and outward peace extended to all. No more hostility. On the other side, hostility is the daily reality imposed upon all.

Yes, we surround Jerusalem with our prayers for all, overcoming walls on the ground, as well as in hearts. Besides prayers, multiple efforts of interfaith dialogue exist in Jerusalem as well, in order to bring people closer to God, and to each other. But the reality of conflict remains the dominant one.

5. As Jerusalem has this holy character and universal vocation, it must have a special status that guarantees the rights of all citizens in it as believers and citizens, and at the same time guarantees freedom of access to all pilgrims. Any political power that governs Jerusalem must therefore take into consideration this universal vocation of the city and give it this special status guaranteeing the rights of citizens, as capital for the Palestinian state, as well as capital for the Israeli state, and as spiritual capital for humanity.

Whoever governs Jerusalem has the duty to take into account all this past and universal history, today alive in all its phases, in living communities. Therefore, it must not fall into a narrow, egoistic, nationalist, exclusivist view: a view that excludes others, along with their long history, erasing it, and imposing today a new reality that works against the survival of all identities with equal rights and duties in Jerusalem, and condemns the city to remaining a source of war.

A true believer, Jew, Christian, or Moslem, has to raise himself to the level of the holiness God wants for the city, to the level of the holiness of God Himself, which means, the capacity of respecting and welcoming all God’s children in it, giving them equal rights and duties, without any discrimination on religious or political grounds. It is in the extent to which the true believer can raise himself or herself to the level of its holiness, that Jerusalem can overcome all the forces of conflict and all the evil of war in it.

6. There exists in Jerusalem a Council of Religious Institutions, an interfaith council, in which the Grand Rabbinate represents the Jewish Part, the Ministry of Moslem Affairs, the Moslem part, and the 13 heads of Churches represent the Christian part. It is a council for interfaith dialogue. The dialogue is about the daily life, hence the political situation that imposes this daily life. We meet to reach a common vision of the holy city and the holy land. But so far, we have agreed only on the basic fact that Jerusalem is a holy city for all. A draft is being prepared and will be published in the near future, defining the points on which we agree and the points on which we disagree. We hope that one day God’s grace and wiser political leaders will allow the city to be a center of reconciliation for all, and a city where all hostilities stop.

The Patriarchs and Christian Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, on their sides, published two documents on the status of Jerusalem and its meaning for Christians: the first in 1994 and the second in 2006. I conclude this lecture with quotations of the second document of September, 2006:

“With the construction of the wall many of our faithful are excluded from the precincts of the holy city, and according to plans published in the local press, many more will also be excluded in the future. Surrounded by walls, Jerusalem is no longer at the center and is no longer the heart of life as she should be.

“We consider it part of our duty to draw the attention of the local authorities, as well as the international community and the world Churches, to this very grave situation and call for a concerted effort to search for a common vision on the status of this holy city based on international resolutions and having regard to the rights of two peoples in her and the three faith communities.

“In this city, in which God chose to speak to humanity and to reconcile peoples with himself and among themselves, we raise our voices to say that the paths, followed up till now, have not brought about the pacification of the city and have not reassured normal life for her inhabitants. Therefore they must be changed. The political leaders must search for a new vision as well as for new means.

“In God's own design, two peoples and three religions have been living together in this city. Our vision is that they should continue to live together in harmony, respect, mutual acceptance and cooperation”.

Conclusion

“As Jesus drew near and came in sight of the city, he shed tears over it and said: If you too had only recognized on this day the way to peace” (Lk 19:41).

Jerusalem must be a city of peace, but today that is not so.

Today, holiness is distorted into quarrelling and political dispute. The human person is the victim. History is the victim. Religion is the victim, Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike: because no one of them is called, as such, to be a source of dispute, or to make the coexistence of all something impossible.

The “ways of peace” to Jerusalem are based on three principles: first, accepting God’s will as He manifested it through the Holy Scriptures and through history. Through the Holy Scriptures and through history, God has gathered us all in Jerusalem: Jews, Christians and Moslems. Secondly, the Holy Scriptures have given to Jerusalem a universal dimension, making it a place to be shared by all humanity, starting with those who live in it, Israelis and Palestinians. And thirdly: more important than the holy place is the God who makes it holy. God’s commandment is to worship Him and to love all His creatures. In the same perspective, the human person is the living temple of God, and is therefore more important than any place.

In light of these three principles: the holiness of the city, its universality as a place to be shared, and the priority of the human being – the religious and political question of Jerusalem should be solved.

Jerusalem cannot be an exclusive property of anyone; the same applies to God Almighty Himself, who cannot be the exclusive property of anyone: He is the God and Creator of all. Everything in Jerusalem must reflect this divine vocation, and sharing is the way through which this can be achieved.  By sharing, no one is under the submission of the other. None of its inhabitants is subjected to fear, or dominated by it, or reduced to the status of a minority or a foreigner. All are equal in dignity, in religious and political rights and duties, in mutual recognition and freedom of religion. Each one will enjoy Jerusalem as it is: a city of God, a city of peace, a city in which each one is reconciled with God and with all his or her brothers and sisters, of all nations and religions.

+ Michel Sabbah, Patr em

Chapman University chapel (Orange, CA)
Claremont School of Religion Library, 831 N. Dartmouth, Claremont.
23 September 2009

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