ADVENT 2024

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in al-Ram, weeping and great mourning, Rahil weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

As the holiday season approaches and we find ourselves inundated once again with manufactured emotion, saccharine sentimentality, and consumerist excess, we mustn’t be lulled into forgetting that the true story of Christmas is a story of unspeakable violence. With the magi’s visit, King Herod is confronted with the illegitimacy of his position as Rome’s imperial puppet in Jerusalem, and he lashes out in a genocidal rage worthy of Pharoah himself.

The contemporary parallels would be uncanny, if they weren’t so horrifying.

The Herods of our time and their imperial patrons must never be allowed to silence the cries of the innocent. We must continue to hear their cry, refusing to be comforted by the lies and enticements of privilege; we must amplify their plea, ensuring that the powerful be forever haunted by the cries of their victims.

As the magi read the words of the prophets, they find hope, seeing in them the promise of new life, of deliverance and liberation. Herod, meanwhile, instrumentalizes the very same prophecies to enact unimaginable terror in an attempt to prolong his idolatrous reign. Again, we can’t help but notice the contemporary parallels:

The court prophets of Christian Zionism continue to subvert the promises of Christ’s reign, as they provide ideological cover for imperial violence and settler-colonial conquest.

This Advent, will you hear the cry of the holy innocents?

Will you Preach Palestine and help cut through the noise of the imperial propagandists and genocide apologists who work hard to silence (or even justify) their screams.

Responding to the call of our sisters and brothers in Palestine, FOSNA calls upon all communities of faith and conviction to stand firm in the light of truth and Preach Palestine this Advent season.

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