Yusef Daher: “one day this killing and madness will stop”

Yusef Daher, coordinator of the Jerusalem Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches in Jerusalem, earned the Menno Simons Sermon Award for 2025. The winning sermon, “The Escape to Egypt and Back,” will be delivered in June 2025 and takes its starting point in the story of Joseph's escape to Egypt with his family (Matthew 2:13-16). Daher interprets this biblical story in light of the current situation of refugees in the Middle East, particularly Palestinian Christians. 

“It was a pleasant surprise to receive such an esteemed award, maybe because I am not a theologian,” said Daher, reflecting on the award. “On the other hand, I did not think that what I wrote was something outstanding. On the contrary, it felt very normal to live the Bible by giving that story, like any other story, some local lived context.”

In fact, for Daher, amid violence and devastation, the only place left for hope is the Bible. “We ask ourselves what Jesus would do in such circumstances,” he said. “When we look at the displaced people of Gaza or any other refugee camp in the West Bank, we see how important their steadfastness is.”

At the same time, Daher noted, in some refugee camps that have been targeted and leveled, we ask how long someone can stay there. 

Escape…and return

“When steadfastness reaches a level of suicide, then something else should be done,” he said. “This is where the story of the holy family’s escape to Egypt becomes timely.”

The family’s return after a few years inspires us with hope, Daher added. “After the death of Herod, the return was possible,” he said. “Nothing on this earth is eternal, even the evil we witness. One day this evilness in the political appetite of some leaders, this killing and madness will stop.”

Daher believes we all have the duty to bring this evilness to a stop, sometimes with words and sometimes with actions. “We all carry the responsibility of enabling refugees to return home,” said Daher, who is a father and grandfather, a Palestinian and a Christian. “Hosting the needy, the refugee, is among our traditions and religious teachings,” he said. “I think it is also present in the other religions.”

He sees the living lessons of hosting refugees in other parts of the world, too. “When you see how Germany and other Scandinavian counties treat refugees from Iraq and Syria, you can notice that they do it with love and compassion to the extent that these refugees sometime promote refuge as better than living in their home countries,” he said. “But this shall also not become the end result.”

Daher concluded: “People should be able to go home when it is safe again and when they can live back there with the dignity of human beings, created on the image of God. And this is our shared responsibility. Home is where we were born and meant to be. Refuge should never be permanent.”