Would You Baptize an olive tree? This is not a rhetorical question, but a story that happened to a man in Galilee.

His name is Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Arab Israeli who served as the Archbishop of All of Galilee from 2006 to 2012. He is a member of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and his family lineage goes back for millennia.

As a child, Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. He was a true native of this conflicted land. When tens of thousands of his friends and neighbors, also longtime natives of this land, were killed and one million forced into refugee camps in 1949, Elias began a long struggle with how to respond.

In his astounding and profound biography, “Blood Brothers,” Chacour seamlessly blends his riveting life story with biblical research to reveal a lesser-known aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict, exploring whether bitter enemies can ever be reconciled. Stories from this book offer hope and insight to help each of us learn to live in a world of tension and terror.

A highlight of a seminary trip I once took was visiting Archbishop Chacour in his home in Galilee. First, he began by asking our names and what denomination we were affiliated with. 

We then listened to his narrative. Two of his stories stood out.

The first was when his congregants had continued a long and bitter feud against one another. His solution, at the end of mass, was to lock them in. He told them he would not unlock the door until they settled their differences and learned to live in peace with each other.

My favorite of his stories, however, is when Chacour had the inspiration to baptize the olive sapling that a Muslim imam from the small town had gifted him.

The olive tree holds a great deal of significance in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. The dove carried an olive branch to the ark, showing the land was already growing food for the land-hungry inhabitants. 

In the Quran, the Muslim sacred book, olive oil is used for anointing in religious ceremonies, symbolizing God’s choice and consecration. It is often associated with blessings, divine light and spiritual significance.

It was probably no accident the imam presented Chacour with an olive sapling, as it is a tree that links all three religious traditions together. When Chacour received this small tree from the imam, he lovingly planted it against a wall of his home. 

But later, after hearing of this “affront”, a congregant followed him into his garden, demanding he chop it down, since Muslims were their lifelong enemies. Instead, Chacour went inside, emerging with a vessel of water, which he poured over the sapling, saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” making it impossible to remove this new member of their community.

Today, we face the same challenges, but with different labels, colors and shapes. What Chacour did with locking his little flock inside the church and baptizing a little olive tree shows us we need to come together as a united front. We must continue to seek solutions, even if it means baptizing an olive tree to bring about peace not only in our own hearts but in all holy lands.