CPTnet
18 March 2008
HEBRON: Fifth and Sixth Stations of the Cross--Simon of Cyrene is made to carry the cross; Veronica wipes the face of Jesus


The Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene forced to take up cross

We know from the accounts in the gospels of Luke and Mark that Simon did not step forward to take the cross; he was a bystander. Different Bible translations tell us that the soldiers of the occupying Roman army "grabbed," "seized," "laid hold upon" him, then forced him to carry the cross.

In contemporary conflicts, the bystanders must still carry the cross of suffering. In the first two months of 2008, Israeli security forces killed 146 Palestinians in the Palestinian Occupied Territories and Gaza Strip (http://www.btselem.org/english/press_releases/20080228.asp). Like Simon, at least forty-two were bystanders, who had not participated in the fighting.

Between 28 February and 3 March, at least half of the 108 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in Gaza, were civilians (http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20080303.asp).

Just as the Roman soldiers "seized" Simon, those with military power target the bystander. On 27 February, the Israeli military targeted the civilian Interior Ministry in Gaza, damaging nearby buildings and killing a six-month-old baby. The same day, Palestinian military groups in Gaza targeted the Israeli town of Sderot, killing a forty-seven year old civilian.

Like Jesus, we are not bystanders, we are called to take up the cross by speaking out against war, by saying that the death of any one person is too much, that violence leads to violence; it will never lead to peace.

The Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Let us try to imagine Veronica as she steps out from the jeering, mocking crowd. Was she afraid as she walked past the armed soldiers? It was not appropriate for her, as a woman, to touch a man, but Veronica refused to abide by social constraints. She saw the suffering, bleeding Christ, and stepped forward out of compassion.

In the fifteenth century, Jewish and Muslim families fled Christian persecution in Spain, and came to build new lives in Hebron. For hundreds of years, until 1929, these families co-existed harmoniously.

In 1929, Muslim rioters attacked and killed sixty-seven Jews in Hebron (and wounded many others). Although some chose to participate in the riots or stand by and watch, some Muslim families sheltered and saved hundreds of their Jewish neighbors.

Just across the alley from the CPT apartment, in a building now evacuated and requisitioned by the Israeli military, the Muslim Shaheen family saved their Jewish neighbors, the Mizrahi family.

Rioters were at the door, sure that Jews were in the house. The Haji (eldest woman of the family) went to the roof of her home, tore off her veil, and tore her clothes (a shameful act in Islam), swearing to those below that all who were in the house were her family. The rioters, horrified to be the cause of dishonor to an old, respected woman, left the area. The Mizrahis survived.

In the face of such violence and hatred, Veronica and the Haji refused to stand silently by.

Do we?