Twice in this last week I have had conversations where someone has asked what hope there is for the strife in Gaza. Like many people, I suppose, I was at a loss to have anything very insightful to say. The conflict there seems intractable, like a wound that never really heals, just waiting for one side or the other to open it up again. And there does seem to be grievous fault on both sides, wherever the balance of blame may lie at any particular moment.
I realized somewhat too late that I do know what the solution is. I don’t think I’m delusional because I’m in need of a holiday, and I understand how this could sound glib, but surely the answer lies in Jesus Christ. How else can anyone on either side find the extraordinary resources of forgiveness needed to overcome the deep wrong done, except in the one who cried, “Father, forgive…”? Who else is there to go to for the strength to resist responding to evil with yet more evil, except to the one who did not retaliate and made no threats but entrusted himself to God? Where else is there to look to see the hope of genuine reconciliation, except to the one who has made peace through his blood shed on the cross? And if Jesus is good enough for Gaza, isn’t he good enough for our little conflicts and troubles? Let us then go to him to find the forgiveness we need for our sins, the strength to forgive others what they’ve done to us, and the hope to see beyond the present, however grim it may appear.