Yesterday was a day of Jewish celebration called Simchat Torah.
During the day in the Jewish Quarter, and then after sundown at the Western Wall, we saw groups of Orthodox men enthusiastically dancing and singing around elaborate encased Torah scrolls.
They were celebrating the end of their annual Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle.
24 hours later, am back in my room after being on the road to Haifa and back. We did some work today at a preserved “detention camp” outside of Haifa that was used following the 2nd world war.
There’s quite a story behind this camp that the British used to hold illegal Jewish immigrants who were looking for sanctuary in their ancestral homeland. Boat loads of desperate Jewish immigrants were taken into custody, decontaminated with DDT, and kept behind barbed wire before being sent back out of the country or to other holding camps in Cyprus. We heard stories of immigrants who felt like they were once again in Nazi camps– here in what they hoped would be a welcoming and safe place.
Now for the clarification: I know that my last post has once again surfaced some tension among us. I don’t expect us all to be on the same page, and hope this doesn’t deepen our disagreements. Certainly nations and people groups have every reason to be concerned about and to defend their own security.
But for those who are wondering, here’s what I was asking in my last post, “What are We Celebrating? and why.”
I was writing in response to seeing, during this round of Jewish Holidays, an influx of international Christians who were not only sharing in the joy of the season– but also strongly aligning themselves spiritually and politically with Israel.
It was in that context that I was wondering whether such persons understand what they are actually supporting when they express political, social, or spiritual solidarity with either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (James 3:14-16; 4:1-4)?
My understanding is that followers of Christ are called to represent, first and foremost, the One who died for all Jewish and Gentile people. This, I’m convinced, requires that we not become entangled in political or nationalistic debates that demonize one group while failing to see the evil in the other.
To be a friend of Israel we cannot afford to overlook the fact that “not everyone who is born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew” (Rom 9:6). Neither can we afford to acknowledge that in the last days only 1/3 of the Jewish people will end up surviving judgment—to be “the Lord’s people” (Zechariah 13:9).
A similar proportion of the world’s population will also be judged.
Here’s the real issue. Those who are trying to show the love and good news of Christ to the Jewish community know the damage that is done to their reputation when Christians are heard supporting the Palestinian cause without regard for the security and well being of Israel. It is just as true that those who are trying to show the love and good news of Christ to the Palestinian/Arab community know the damage that is done to their mission when Christians are heard supporting the Jewish community without regard for the well being of Arab families.
To be peacemakers in Jesus name and “ministers of reconciliation” (with God and man), I believe Christ’s people need to be known as those who care for all.
The point of trying to express our Lord’s approach toward “evil” was to say that’s the way he sees all “unrepentant” or “self-centered hearts” (Luke 11:13; 34; Luke 13:1-5)—on both sides of a conflict that keeps the bad blood flowing.
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