MYSTERY OF MIGHTY ARIEL SHARON--NOBLE SANCTUARY OR TEMPLE MOUNT

An ambulance brought the former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to his ranch in the Negev Desert on Friday [10-13-10]. Reuters photo.

The back page news the past few days includes the return to his home, still in post- stroke comatose condition, from a year in hospital confinement, of the once powerful Ariel Sharon, arch-conservative leader of Israel.1 It's costing the Israeli government too much money to keep him in the hospital. We should all take time to remember the prayerful words of a humble faithful Jewish woman some 2000 years ago,

"He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty."

Mary spoke these words [Magnificat 2 ] as she awaited the Savior's birth, the Prince of Peace.

Ariel Sharon has not been known as a man of peace, but as one who practiced violent confrontation. Yet, towards the end, he'd turned some from his iron rule of Likud Party, and relentless settlement building, to removing settlers from Gaza, giving Palestinians a small space, though still embattled and isolated, with Israeli controlled borders. Who is to know if there was any change of heart then, just before he was struck down by a major stoke in 2006? One can only hope for more change of heart, and justice, renunciation of violence, in the Holy Land.

Here is a letter I faxed to Mr. Sharon, when he'd just taken a provocative walk on Jerusalem's historical Temple Mount. The Temple, destroyed in 70 AD, has had the Muslim's holy site, the Noble Sanctuary, built on top of it since 692 AD. Ariel Sharon's incursion on disputed holy ground helped ignite the second Intifada.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/middleeast/13sharon.html
   

October 14, 2000

Mr. Ariel Sharon
Likud Party
38 King George St.
61231 Tel Aviv, Israel
fax: 011 972 352 83560

Dear Mr. Ariel Sharon,

Please Mr. Sharon, at this time of increased violence, please cease being the provocateur. What was your purpose on your Sept. 28th walk around the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount? It lit the match to the current crisis. At this time just past Yom Kippur, look into your own heart, and read the books of Isaiah {as I will do also, along with the four Gospels of my faith}. Then we can all pray, Muslim brethren as well, for atonement.

If you can find the grace to atone publicly for your role in Sabra and Shatila, {the 1982 massacre of--conflicting estimates--800 to 2000 Palestinians} you can call for reconciliation with the Palestinians in the most credible way. And this present conflagration--killing about 100 Palestinians and 10 Israelis, and threatening thousands more on each side--can be ended in a heartbeat.

Then a true peacebuilding can begin, between your people and your Arab neighbors, and to include us Christians who have need of forgiveness and reconciliation in your part of the world.
The next time you walk on the Temple Mount, let it be hand and hand with a Palestinian neighbor, to the Noble Sanctuary, [al-Haram al-Sharif], the name they give the same place. Our Lord God Yahweh, and His Son and Prophets, Jesus, Mohammed, and Isaiah, will look on with deep and lasting approval.

Yours truly,
Michael McCarthy PA-C
2714 Stone St. Port Huron, MI 48060
810 982 2870

AT THE HEART OF JERUSALEM is the Noble Sanctuary, Al-Haram al-Sharif, enclosing over 35 acres of fountains, gardens, buildings and domes. At its southernmost end is Al-Aqsa Mosque and at its centre the celebrated Dome of the Rock. The entire area is regarded as a mosque and comprises nearly one sixth of the walled city of Jerusalem.

The Noble Sanctuary is one of the three most important sites in Islam, and a showcase for Islamic architecture and design from Umayyad to Ottoman times that continues as an important religious and educational centre for Muslims to the present day.

It also is built upon the ruins of the Temple, central to Judaism.
The "Wailing Wall", one border of the Temple Mount, is the ruins of the Western Wall of the Jews Holy Temple destroyed in 70 AD.

2 THE MAGNIFICAT Luke 1:46-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.