Half-Brothers

Understanding the deepest level of the Arab-Israeli conflict

10/10/2023

Lk 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

One of the most sinister and destructive forces in all creation has to be sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition. That may not sound like such a terrible thing so I would like us to think about it this morning. What happened in Gn 4 as soon as Adam and Eve had their first two sons, Cain and Abel? The very first fratricide, killing your own brother, Cain murdered Abel.

But we can even trace this evil temptation back to the dawn of creation with the angels. According to Milton in “Paradise Lost”, what caused the devil, a fallen angel, to rebel against God is that he foresaw that Christ would come in the future, become human, and then carry that human nature into the Holy Trinity.

Thus, human beings, who were originally lower in creaturely status than the magnificent angels, would actually become higher than the angels. In a sense, the angels are our older brothers in creation, and jealousy of God’s preferential treatment of us caused the devil to revolt against God. We hear an echo of this in Wis 2:24, “But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world.”

In other words, not only does sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition cause Satan to fight against God the Father, it also spurs him on to fight against his little brothers and sisters, like when Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Can you see how sinister and destructive sibling rivalry can be?

It is in this context that we can gain a better perspective on the war raging in Israel today. Most news reporting is depicting Hamas as an extreme terrorist group that uses violence and lawlessness to achieve its goals. And that is true. On the other hand, Israel is depicted as an innocent bystander who has had their nation overrun by thugs and now is rightly retaliating. And that is true, too.

Most news outlets trace the conflict between Arabs and Israelis back to 1979 when President Jimmy Carter brokered the Camp David Peace Accords, creating a tenuous peace between Arabs (represented by Egypt), and Israelis. Reporters are saying repeatedly that this attack by Hamas violates essentially 50 years of peace.

But the relationship between Arabs and Israelis goes much further back than 50 years, or even 100 years, or even 1,000 years. If you carefully study history and Scripture you discover that these two ethnic groups are actually related. They the descendants of two half-brothers.

Back in Genesis 16 Abraham has relations with his maidservant, Hagar, who gives him a son, Ishmael. Thirteen years later Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bears a son whom they name Isaac. The Arabs claim to be descended from Ishmael, the older half-brother, and the Jews or Israelis believe they are the descendants of Isaac. And both sides believe God has promised the Holy Land to them and that the other side is the illegitimate usurper.

My point this morning is not to argue who is right and who is wrong, but only to suggest that the deepest level of the Arab-Israeli conflict, that we are witnessing the latest chapter of today, has a long history, almost 4,000 years, and it is rooted in sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition. In other words, the Arabs and Israelis are two brothers who cannot get along. Sound familiar?

In the gospel today we hear the story of two sisters who cannot get along, Martha and Mary. And Jesus has to settle their dispute. Again that family in-fighting should not surprise us one bit. And the practical lesson for us today is not to jump to conclusions and vilify and demonize the Arabs, or portray the Israelis as perfectly peaceful who do not also have a violent streak.

Rather, it should cause us to examine our own families and acknowledge our own sibling rivalries and feuds. Are there brothers we do not talk to? Are there sister we have not forgiven? We find it easy to justify our silent treatment and disparagement of our siblings like the Arabs and Israelis find it justifiable to bomb each other back to the stone-age. Sibling rivalry, jealousy, and competition is one of the most sinister and destructive forces in all creation.

Praised be Jesus Christ!