Text: Fr Fadi Diab at Southwark Cathedral + video

Colette Joyce from Westminster Justice and Peace with Fr Fadi Diab. Image: ICN/JS

Father Fadi Diab, Rector of the Anglican Parish in Ramallah, in the Palestinian West Bank gave the following sermon at Southwark Anglican Cathedral at the 9 and 11am services on Sunday, 17 March 2024. Afterwards he took part in a Q&A session. See a link to a video of the service below.

May the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts, the actions of our hands, and the conditions of our world be pleasing in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.

Good Morning. It is a great joy to be here, visiting and worshiping with siblings in Christ. Much gratitude goes to Archbishop Christopher Chessun for his invitation and for Dean Mark and the Cathedral staff for their warm welcome and kind hospitality.

I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. Archbishop Hosam, the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Jerusalem send their love to each and every one of you.

My visit to the UK takes place during a time of great tribulation. Since the first week of October, life in Holy Land has turned upside down bringing fear, uncertainties, pain, trauma, emotional distress, as well as social and economic hardships. Israel's retaliation against the Palestinian community both in Gaza and the West Bank is incomprehensible. No words can fully describe the destruction and pain inflicted on the Palestinian community.

Last month, I asked a human right and Psychologist volunteer to conduct a research on the "pulse of the Christian community during these challenging times. The research reveals significant intensification of fear and uncertainties, serious considerations of immigration especially among young people, high levels of psychological stress, economic strangulation, restrictions of movement, increased disillusionment, sense of abandonment, increased violence, and an increase sense of despair and hopelessness. The burning question is how we respond to these challenges?

The reading from the Epistle to the Hebrews reflects on Christ's obedience through suffering as the source of eternal salvation. The author writes, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." The "obedience" that Jesus "learned" was the obedience to God's divine project to redeem God's community and creation. Jesus grew in obedience-he persisted in obedience and "learned" to keep obeying in the face of greater and greater obstacles, including the greatest: the cross.

Obedience is a theme that runs through the biblical narrative. Obedience is entangled with suffering and pain. Consider, for example, Mary's "Behold I am the servant of the Lord; Let it be to me according to your word." Christ provides the ultimate example of obedience, one that encompasses suffering and death. Christ's entire ministry was one of obedience to God's messianic project. He laid his life down: "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." Before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed "Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." Jesus chose to submit to the Father's will, knowing the cost he must endure. The bible tells us that obedience to God is salvific. It is a qualification for exultation. Writing to the Philippians, Paul describes Christ's obedience. He, writes the apostle, makes himself nothing by "taking the form of a servant". The servant imagery is especially appropriate. "In the narrative identity of the servant, one catches a glimpse of a figure whose entire being and reason for existence is to carry out obediently the will of God. Paul states that Christ "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Obedience entails suffering.

In the Gospel of John, we read that the Greeks who went up to worship at the feast came to Philp and said: "We wish to see Jesus." Jesus responded "Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone? But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Seeing Jesus and following him require rejecting a safe and secure life experience. It entails reproach, suffering and even death. Yet, it leads to life and exultation.

The readings for this Sunday teach us that we need to be obedient to God's messianic project over against forces that convince us otherwise. We need to give up our own safety, security, self-interest, calculations, silence, inertia, and neutrality that undermine our obedience to God and his plan. "Hating our lives" means giving up our own way, setting aside our self-centered existence, and abandoning our own calculations for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Obedience demands denying our own self-interest and taking up our cross.

These two passages about obedience and suffering for the sake of the kingdom challenge us to rethink our ministry of engaging the world with all its messiness. It leaves us with various questions: What sort of survival modes we apply during times of great strife? What comfort zones we consider to neglect or silent the pain around us? Can we echo Peter's answer: "We must obey God rather than human beings!

As we continue to witness the atrocities inflicted on the Palestinian community, we need to ask: What does it mean to obey Christ during times of political polarization, fear, intimidation, suffering, war, and death? How can I, We as followers of Christ obey God's will and defend life, dignity, and freedom? What does it mean to stand for those who are relegated to the margins? Forgotten? Live in constant uncertainties? What does it mean to obey knowing that my obedience will trigger retaliation?

Obedience to Jesus and his messianic project entails disobedience to forces that continue to dehumanize, destroy, and try to undo God's creation. "The duty of responsible obedience includes refusal to adhere to structures of power that oppress, dehumanize, and obliterate the other. Responsible obedience compels us to proclaims good news, justice, equality, neighborliness to all God's children. It demands a firm stand with the weak, the marginalized, the outcast, the voiceless, the landless, all those who are crushed by structures of oppressive powers. Obedience challenges us not to remain idle, silent, or provide excused not to engage.

Obedience is a ministry of healing towards ourselves, our churches, our world. Obedience requires our yes to God's dream for God's world and our "no" to forces that deny freedom, justice, and equality for all God's peoples. Our responsible obedience challenges us to call things by their names; to speak truth to power; and to commit to build a better future for all peoples. It obliges us to stand against double standards, atrocities, and destruction. obedience to God demands a ceasefire. It echo's Peter's words: "We must obey God rather than human beings!

Obedience imparts the fact that we are not meant to lord over ourselves, others, and the creation. Practicing obedience means recognizing God's sovereignty and authority in our lives, churches, neighborhoods, and the world. Sin is disobedience, that is, our unwillingness to recognize God's sovereignty and God's will. Lent is a journey of obedience to Jesus and his example.

LINKS

Friends of the Holy Land: www.friendsoftheholyland.org.uk/

Service at Southwark Anglican Cathedral: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTh7qHWPpJc&t=6s