Carl Rogers says, ‘A person cannot teach another person directly; a person can only facilitate another’s learning.’ In other words, giving direct answers to questions numbs a person and prevents them learning for themselves. So Jesus asks his inquirers: what are the claims of Caesar and what those of God? They did not want the trouble, the disturbing trouble, of really thinking about the question. They wanted him to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Framed another way, the question could be; is it lawful to bomb the defenceless Palestinian in Gaza? Is there a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer? Paolo Freire tells us, ‘Learning is a process where knowledge is presented to us, then shaped through understanding, discussion, and reflection.’ So, if we are prepared to take the trouble, the answer would involve an effort to understand the history of Palestine and Israel in the twentieth century. This would lead us to listening to the Palestinians and the Israelis in depth and with respect and an open mind, that is, a mind open to change.
Many meetings are approached with the intention of getting one’s own opinion across and winning the other to my way of thinking. What if we approached the meeting also determined to listen deeply to the point of view of the other?
I say all this with confidence because, in their struggle – after violence and atrocities, hunger strikes and killings – the Irish and the British finally sat down and listened to one another. And what happened? They achieved peace, so much so that the late Queen could be welcomed to Ireland with heartfelt enthusiasm.
Why is it that the Israelis, with their three-thousand-year-old heritage of knowing a ‘Lord who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love … and his compassion is over all that he has made’, cannot see beyond the use of force to achieve their security? It is a question abounding in sorrow. All they seem to know is force, force and more force. Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist, says ‘you can kill the leaders of Hamas but you cannot kill the ideology of Hamas.’ Surely that is obvious? But it is knowledge that does not seem to penetrate the minds of those who only think of bombs and more bombs.
Post published in: Faith