Us and Them

One thing human beings do, time and again, is divide up humanity into them and us. At one level this is harmless. After all if there were no “Us” and “Them” rugby matches, cricket matches or football matches for example would be pretty pointless.

And in politics of course there is “Us” and “Them” all the time – even though it is often said that it is often hard to differentiate between the policies of the main parties nowadays.

So at one level “Us” and “them” doesn’t matter. But human nature being what it is “us” and “them” can quickly move from being a bit of fun to something far more serious.

Holocaust Memorial Day is a time for everyone to pause to remember the millions of people who have been murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition during the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. On HMD we can honour the survivors of these regimes and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today.

HMD is a time when we seek to learn the lessons of the past and to recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own, it’s a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented. We’re fortunate here in the UK; we are not at risk of genocide. However, discrimination has not ended, nor has the use of the language of hatred or exclusion. There is still much to do to create a safer future and HMD is an opportunity to start this process.

Given that 27 January 2015 marks not only the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp, but 2015 is also the 20th anniversary of the Genocide in Srebrenica, it is important that memory is at the heart of the 2015 commemoration.

The Holocaust of the Second World War was of course based very much on “Us” and “Them”. The Nazis oversaw the murder of millions of people who weren’t one of us. For the most part of course Jews. But gypsys, homosexuals, people of different political viewpoints, or nationalities deemed to be racially inferior e.g. Russians, were also murdered.

Sadly, there have been many other examples of genocide since then all based on “Us” and “Them”

Whilst genocide as a concept has only been defined since the end of the Second World War, there have been many examples of what could be termed genocide in human history. And human history is littered with plenty of examples of the tribalism and hatred that can lead on to genocide if it is not contained.

For Holocaust memorial Sunday, the suggested Bible passage was the story of Jesus encountering a Samaritan woman at the well. (John chapter 4) In the passage Jesus is dealing with a woman from a different culture and ethnic group to him. And as such the passage tells us a great deal about how as Christians we are supposed to relate to people.

The setting of this passage in Samaria would have been scandalous to many in the first century because in this passage Jesus openly challenges and breaks open two boundaries. The boundary between the “chosen people” (Jews) and “rejected people” (Samaritans) and boundaries between male and female.

This passage in other words is all about “Us” and “Them”.

Samaritans were outcasts as far as Jewish people were concerned. The Samaritans claimed to have a common heritage with Jewish people in that Samaritans claimed to be descended from Jacob just as Jews did. However, the Assyrians who conquered the area around 700 years before Jesus, brought with them colonists who intermarried with the Samaritans. Therefore Samaritans were not thought of as pure Jews.

Jesus then as a Jew would have been expected to avoid contact with a Samaritan. And similarly Jewish convention said that a Jewish man would not have contact with a woman unless she was his wife or a close relative. In this passage Jesus is ripping up the rule book! Dealing with a Samaritan and a woman.

Jesus is treating the Samaritan woman – and later the Samaritan villagers the woman brings to meet Jesus – as full human beings. He treats them as people who are worthy recipients of the grace of God. Not as despised enemies from whom to fear contamination.

The preoccupation with protecting boundaries between the chosen and despised peoples is not just limited to the Jewish / Samaritan conflict of the first century. Throughout human history people and nations have defined themselves over and against other groups.

The history of race relations in the USA and South Africa, the notion of racial purity in Nazi Germany, the ethnic wars that have come and gone and sometimes come again in the Middle East, African, Asia and Europe, all have their roots in the same fears that divided Jews from Samaritans. The fear of contamination. “Us” and “Them”.

What this passage does is to summon those of us who seek to follow Jesus to be different from the ways of the world. We’re summoned to not be like the world. We’re summoned to not take on society’s views of who is acceptable and who is not. As followers of Christ we are to show there is no “us” and “them”.

As Paul reminds us in Colossians 3 in Christ

there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

In other words if we are in Christ, if we are seeking to be like Christ, there is no “Us” and “them”

Sadly, we know only too well that although we as Christians try to follow that teaching, the world does not. And, if truth be told, there are Christians who are more than happy to see the divisions in our world.

I profess to not knowing enough about Islam. And I profess that nowadays I do not know any Muslims. It was different 30 years ago when I was at university. Then among people I got to know on my course and became friendly with were several Jews, Muslims and Hindus as well as a mix of those who came from a Christian background or no faith.

And when I look at our wedding photographs it is a joy to see that cross section of society there. Sadly over time we have lost touch. But I have not lost that recognition that those people of different cultural background and faith could put aside differences and be friends.

Although I don’t know much about Islam, my experience 30 years ago showed me that just as most Christians are caring loving people so are most Muslims. So are most Jews. So are most people FULL STOP.

When we see images of extremists murdering journalists or people in a supermarket we can start to believe that is how the world is. But the world for the most part is not like that.

Just after the attacks in Paris the other week, I was saddened to see two surveys of Jewish people in France and this country. Both surveys found that Jewish people feel threatened and feel that anti-Semitism is on the rise.

No doubt this in response to the Paris attacks and certainly in London Jewish schools and synagogues have been given police protection.

And yet at the same time Muslims feel threatened too. Many feel that the press labels them all the same way.

Last Monday evening (19th January) BBC’s “The One Show” carried a report from Manchester which showed how there some Muslims and Jews are coming together.

Two women – one Jewish and one Muslim – who were members of the Manchester Muslim and Jewish forum were shown having a meal together. And the Muslim woman said “Both communities need to be together. Our faiths have so much in common and we’re all Mancunians.”

In the interview Rabbi Silverman and Imam Abid were interviewed. And a telling remark was made by the Rabbi. “Anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia are two sides of the same coin. Do you agree Imam Abid?” “Yes I do.”

And that is the point. The hatred engendered in our society by terrorists like those in Paris isn’t just targeted at one group. It is hatred that encompasses all people. And it is up to all people to stand up to hatred but not with more violence but with love and by seeking to understand other cultures and beliefs.

Martin Luther King, a man who knew a great deal about “us” and “them” once said this:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

We are called to reflect the light of Christ into the world. To show people his love.

Or to put it another way:

“This life is about what we can do. Whether we’re doing something for our community or something bigger. We make the world the way it is.” Kemal Pervanić, survivor of the Omarska Concentration Camp, Bosnia

This blog is an abbreviated version of a sermon preached at Central Methodist Church Chippenham on Sunday 25th January. Holocaust Memorial Sunday. It draws on material found at the Holocaust Memorial Trust web site http://hmd.org.uk/ and also material produced by the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.