Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
All shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that
he has given you.
A year later, another Arab and another Jew lay dying in hospital wards. This time the brain-dead
man was an Israeli soldier shot by Arabs in an ambush in the Gaza strip. The man who needed
the heart was a Palestinian.
The Israeli family, unaware of the identity of the recipient gave consent, and the transplant took
place in a Jerusalem hospital.
When the news broke there was a storm of protest.
Israelis were in a rage that the heart of a solider of theirs should be in the body of a Palestinian.
Ironically, the man who actually received the heart went into hiding to escape Arab rage. The
widow of the dead Israeli soldier, however, knew the words of Jesus. She was satisfied. She
said, "If a person can be saved, I feel it is a blessing."
It is a blessing to give.
(Deuteronomy 16.17
NRSV)
Judson Swihart once put it like this: "Some people are like medieval castles. Their high walls
keep them safe from being hurt. They protect themselves emotionally by permitting no exchange
of feelings with others. No one can enter. They are secure from attack. However, inspection of
the occupant finds him or her lonely, rattling around his castle alone. The castle dweller is a
self-made prisoner. He or she needs to feel loved by someone, but the walls are so high that it is
A few years ago in Israel the family of a Jewish man with a fatal heart disease were desperate
for a donor for a heart transplant. They pleaded with the family of a brain-dead Arab man, shot in
the head by Israeli soldiers, to donate the dying Palestinian's heart for the transplant. The
Palestinian's family refused. Both men died.
God of hope, may I give freely. Amen.
