Today is a Day of Prayer for the peace of Jerusalem; it is a day to pray for Israel and the Jewish people, God's people; it is a day to pray for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, a time to pray for Jews, Arabs, Christians, and everybody else in and around the Holy Land. Over 200,000 churches in 175 nations around the world are praying for Israel today. We are privileged to be a part of this today.
Yet such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable 1,500 years ago, when the Church Fathers called the Jews 'Christ-killers' and 'the most worthless of all men,' inflamed Christians at Easter to beat Jews to death for what they allegedly did to Jesus, and condemned the Jews as an evil and perverse sect.
Such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable a 1,000 years ago, when the Crusaders on their misguided tour to reconquer the Holy Land plundered Jewish homes, slaughtered thousands of Jews, and burned synagogues while triumphantly carrying large wooden crosses and singing hymns from the Book of Psalms, the Jewish prayer book.
Such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable 800 years ago, when the institutional Church at the time officially approved the oppressive and violent conduct of Christians toward Jews and forced them to wear a yellow badge to single them out for ridicule.
Such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable 600 years ago, when the Spanish Inquisition forced Jews to convert to Christianity, calling them marranos, Spanish for 'pigs,' and eventually expelling them from Spain in 1492 (one of many expulsions in Europe). Ironically, Columbus, himself thought of as having Jewish blood, set out the same month to discover what later would become a safe-haven for the Jewish people.
Such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable 500 years ago, when Martin Luther, the great German Reformer, after speaking so highly of Jewish learning, turned against God's chosen people, calling for the burning of synagogues, destroying Jewish homes, depriving them of their books, forbidding rabbis to teach, forbidding Jews to travel, and driving them out of their system in order that 'we may all be free from this insufferable devilish burden—the Jews,' thinking all along that this was honouring to God.
Such an event, the Church praying for the Jewish People, would have been unthinkable 80, 70, or 60 years ago, during the rise and rule of Nazi Germany who saw itself as serving God seeking to rid the world of the Jews. Nations, such as Switzerland, have failed to provide refuge for Jews fleeing the Holocaust Those who opposed Nazi policy against the Jews, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, would often pay the ultimate price. Most churches would shut their eyes, ears, and hearts to the Jewish People even though they knew what was going on; congregations were ordered to sing louder so that the cries of women and children who were buried alive could not be heard.
Yet today, millions of Christians have gathered together to pray for a People the Church once condemned as despised and rejected by God, a people harassed and persecuted from one corner of Europe to another.
The Church wrongly believed that she replaced Israel as God's People; the Church wrongly assumed she was the New Israel, and the old is no longer God's People and that God no longer has a plan or place for Israel; the Church wrongly pursued a course of action we now feel so ashamed of.
Indeed, as Marcel Rebiai wrote in his book on Islam, Israel and the Church,
'With a few exceptions, the Church has failed during the centuries to comfort the Jews... The result is that the heart of the Jewish people was endlessly wounded by all the humiliation and injuries... The problem is that with a few exceptions, the Jewish people has never experienced the Church as the one who is at God's heart.'
But today a large part of the Church of Jesus Christ stands with Israel in all her struggles and sufferings, prays for Israel in all her difficulties and battles, and supports Israel through all her trials and tribulations. Things are different today within the Church, and Israel and the Jewish People know it!
But not only failure of the Church historically should make us support and pray for Israel and the Jewish people. The Apostle Paul himself prayed and interceded for his people, wishing himself to be separated from Christ for the sake of the salvation of his countrymen according to the flesh (Romans 9); in that he followed the example of Moses. And, of course, Jesus gave His own life for the sake of His own people, the Jewish people. These men have demonstrated that a true believer's heart goes out for the salvation and welfare of Israel, God's eternally chosen and covenanted people.
In the last 30, 40 years a tremendous shift has taken place in the Church and biblical scholarship: not only has the Roman Catholic Church corrected its position towards the Jewish People in the 1960s and publicly repented through John Paul II, scholars from different quarters of Christianity have been researching Jesus the Jew, exploring the real setting of His life, and seeking to understand the true meaning of His teaching accordingly. Things are different today within the Church, and Israel and the Jewish People know it!
Thanks to Christian support for Jews and Israel, many rabbis are taking another look at Jesus, and Israel as a nation and people are beginning to trust Christians despite the terrible past. And not to forget a precious movement among Jews who find that Yeshua is truly their Messiah and Saviour, the movement of the Messianic Jews, who sometimes themselves suffer persecution.
All these things have had a tremendous effect on Jewish–Christian relations. Things are different today within the Church, and Israel and the Jewish People know it!
Yet we are not only called to pray for and support Israel. Christians are called to pray and act for the welfare of all people and peoples, but especially those in need. Our hearts must, therefore, also go out to the thousands of Arab civilians, including Arab Christians, who are drawn into the Islamic struggle against Israel as a Jewish State. They are left with no choice but to hate Israel and Jewish people; they are drawn into a hate-filled propaganda that distorts facts and figures, misuses human dignity, and sacrifices its own people to achieve their ultimate goal: the total destruction of Israel. But how can one blame a Holocaust people for defending itself in every possible way after what the Jews have experienced and in view of the aims of their hostile neighbours? Israel needs our prayers; the Arabs need our prayers.
In the midst of all this chaos and injustice, with failures on all sides, God is fulfilling His plans for His people, Israel, and this despite her shortcomings and failures. God is fulfilling His plans for all nations.
The Church must proclaim peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and not take sides over against another. While we can stand with Israel, we are equally concerned for the well-being of Arabs—Muslim and Christian—and all other peoples involved. We must not be misled by the Western media-bias and ignorantly condemn Israel with the rest of the world; we must make informed decisions, and not be manipulated or emotionally drawn in by false propaganda.
As the Church we must seek to fulfil our biblical mandate to proclaim peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation through Jesus the Messiah; He is the Prince of Peace.
This is no easy task, yet ministries like that of the Community of Reconciliation lead by Marcel Rebiai in Jerusalem are a witness to love in a world of strife; evidence of forgiveness in a world of bitterness; proof of reconciliation in a world of enmity. Their basis is peace through Jesus the Messiah.
This is no easy task, yet we can always pray; prayer is the very thing we can all do.
In closing, let me refer to the words of a Messianic Jew, Ruben Berger:
'The Lord wants to give his burden of prayer for Israel to many more persons in the Church. The Church is called to seek him in fasting and prayer, in weeping and travail, for the fulfillment [sic] of God's ultimate redemptive purpose in Israel. This event will flow over into the end-time, worldwide salvation and the revelation of God to all humanity.'
God's ultimate aim, my friends, through both Israel and the Church, is to bless all nations, all peoples, and all people. This must be at the centre of our prayer.
Let's pray.
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