Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel returned to his Christ the Good Shepherd church on the weekend – Psalm Sunday in the Eastern calendar – and revealed in his Arabic sermon that he had lost sight in one eye, according to a Guardian report.
In his English Palm Sunday sermon, he repeats that he has forgiven the teenager who attacked him two weeks ago. He thanks the many people who have sent him letters and adds, “First Corinthians 13:8, ‘Love never fails.’ This is our Christian faith.
“But above all, this is our Christ who is all love and always taught to love one another because God is love and the Lord Jesus, he is God revealed in the flesh period. He taught us to love everyone without any differentiation. This will never, for as long as Christ lives in our hearts, this will never change.”
Then he repeats that he has forgiven his teenage assailant despite the loss of an eye.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this young man who did this act almost two weeks ago – ‘I say to you, my dear, you are my son, and you will always be my son. I will always pray for you. I’ll always wish you nothing but the best. I pray that my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to enlighten your heart and enlighten your soul your entire beaten to realise, my dear, there is only one God who art in heaven, the creator of all mankind and everything else that is visible and invisible and I say with absolute love, confidence and humility that God is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, but you are my son, my dear. And the Lord knows it is coming from the bottom of my heart. I’ll always pray for you and for whoever was in this act. In the name of my Jesus, I forgive you. I love you, and I will always pray for you. For me, it’s a priceless gift that I am not worthy of. I pray the Lord accepts it.”
Freedom of speech
In the sermon, Bishop Emmanuel addresses the prime minister: “One last thing I say to our beloved, the Australian government and our beloved prime minister, the honourable Mr. Albanese. I believe in one theme and that is the integrity and the identity of the human being. This is my belief and this is above all my Christian belief for this human identity. This human integrity is a God-given gift. No one else.
“Every human being has the right to the freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Every human being. The Buddhist has the right to express their belief. The Hindus have the right to express their beliefs. The Muslims have the right to express their beliefs. The atheists have the right to express their beliefs.
“Also, the Christians have the right to express their beliefs, and for us to say that free speech is dangerous, that free speech cannot be possible in a democratic country. I’m yet to fathom this. I’m yet to fathom this.
“We should be able, as civilised human beings, as intellectuals, we should be able to criticise to speak, and maybe at some certain times we may sound or we may come across [as] offensive to some degree. But we should be able to say, ‘I should not worry for my life to be exposed to [a] threat or [for it] to be taken away.’ A non-Christian can criticise my faith and can attack my faith. I will say one thing,[to them] ‘may God forgive you and may God bless you.'”
Then, the bishop speaks about the condition of the West and the dilemma of freedom. “The Western world has succeeded exceedingly. The Western world has succeeded exceedingly in giving value to everything. But I always say this with utmost sadness in my heart. The Western world has failed miserably in giving purpose to everything. The Western world has succeeded in giving value to everything but has failed miserably in giving purpose to everything. But until we find the purpose of the thing, we can never give it value. We can never give it value. Human rights [are] human values.
“All these centuries, decades, we’ve been calling and crying and fighting for human rights. Human rights. When will the time come? When will the time come for us to fight for what is the right to be a human? Not human rights. Not human rights. The right to be a human. Nobody speaks about the right to be a human. Everyone speaks about human rights, and since we focused on value and we’ve denied the purpose, we have abused that human – abused in order to [find] out and [know] what is the purpose of the human. We need to go back to the origin of this human and with all love and respect to every scientist, to every professor, to every knowledgeable man and woman out there with all love and respect. The purpose of the human is written in Genesis 1:1. ‘In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth:’ God. It’s the purpose [of] that human: God. And until we come back to this true divine God, we will continue abusing that human race because we got glued onto the value of the human and totally denied the purpose of the human.”