It is the before times, the ending times, the telling times. The time before the season of Advent when the lectionary leads us to the apocalyptic texts before focusing on joy and rebirth. In such times, there are many things that happen, including but not limited to: great earthquakes, plagues and famines, frightening omens in the sky, arrests and trials, Labubus and RaptureTok hashtags. According to Jesus in Luke 21, the end (unfortunately, to some/many of us) does not follow immediately. 

In the current moment, it feels most important to wrestle with the modern state of Israel’s (unrelated to the biblical land or people of Israel) propaganda, geotargeted at Christian communities of faith in the United States, that says the Palestinian people and cities that Israel has burnt, bombed, and sniped, are the clarity of YHWH Omnipotent’s vision for Gaza. That the arrogant and evildoers have become stubble because YHWH is on their side. Israel knows that photo and video evidence of the evils they have been committing for the past 77 years, especially for the past two since October 2023, is causing Christians, even on the right, to view Israel much less favorably. According to the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA) form submitted by Show Faith by Works, LLC (SFBW), Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hired Show Faith by Works (SFBW) to do “Christian Outreach in the Western US.” SFBW requested a $3,258,961 baseline budget, and listed additional options that would place their request over $4 million.

From SFBW’s description, as reported in the FARA form, this is the “largest Geofencing and targeted Christian Digital Campaign ever” as they “geofence the actual boundaries of every major church in California, Arizona, Nevada, and all Christian Colleges during worship times” to “track attendees and continue to target with ads” even when attendees have left the place of worship/college campus. With such a reach and funder, it seems safe to assume that the liberating message of scripture will be vanished behind (red), white, and blue flags, behind guns, behind “civilization,” as it has been done before. 

So then, what is our responsibility in these times? Among other things, it is to truth-seek in apocalyptic times. It is not enough to be compelled by virtue, as even the propagandic regime utilizes a version of justice as their appeal and means. It is also not enough to simply help. The thing in front of us in apocalypse is not always the right thing: We are told weekly there is a housing crisis. This title in and of itself is misleading, and it allows, alongside those with stock and deep pockets, developers and private equity to continue to build and buy across the country. And yet, we still have a crisis. Let’s assume we all take this one step further, and name instead that we have an affordable housing crisis. I, and I imagine many of you, shudder at paying my rent each month and have dozens of neighbors without homes, sleeping outside or in impermanent shelters. The majority of those neighbors are economic refugees, displaced from their homes and community because of ever rising prices. They need housing they can afford. And in the American context, the thing always right in front of us to help are tax cuts. They are always right there, ready to “help.” Advocating for the affordable housing that is in easy grasp is not enough. Tax cuts to millionaires and the very developers and private equity companies that continue to displace because there are six “affordable” (only 50 percent of the median income, instead of the “market price” of 80 percent) units in a 50 unit building cannot be our witness. We must seek truth, we must seek to learn what “affordable” is defined as by our housing authorities, and ask if we find that number acceptable. We must seek to find who is getting “government handouts” (hint: it is not the single mom or unemployed veteran, it is worth looking into government contracts with SpaceX). We must ask what constantly moving because of being priced out and/or over-policing of our communities is stealing from us. We must always ask another question, to find the truer truth. Our witness must be informed by our seeking of truth, and responding accordingly. 

This must be our discipline. Our patient endurance should be placed well in seeking truth in these times, so that our hope may be in a Sun of Justice (Malachi 4:2) to rise, and heal us with its rays.

1. Glance at the art below, and read the description. Notice the shapes and the mark of the pen. The light, and the darkness. 
2. Meditate on what stood out to you most. Is it Handala behind the cross? Is it Jesus’s hand, taken off of the cross, with a nail still driven through? Is it the stone flying into darkness? 
3. What is your response? Are you uncomfortable? Are you grieved? Are you encouraged? What is your prayer? 
4. Take time in silence.

Here is a comic drawing by Palestinian artist Naji al-Ali, most famous for his series/character Handala (sometimes written as Hanthala). Handala is a Palestinian child that always has his back to the viewer and never grows up. He will start growing up again and turn to face the world when Palestine is free from occupation and displacement. In this depiction, al-Ali has drawn Handala embracing the cross while Jesus rips his own hand from the cross to throw a stone. Marking his solidarity with Palestinians and the forms of resistance they choose to take up. Naji al-Ali once wrote that “Jesus is a Palestinian. Like all the Palestinian people, he too dreams of returning to his home in Bethlehem.”