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"Jews can't be Christians"
Recently an Israeli friend
came to visit and agreed to watch a Christian video with me. It was
filmed in Israel and presented by a Jewish evangelist. My friend was
quite excited to hear a video in Hebrew and to see scenes and people
from her home country. As I could understand only a few words of the
dialogue, my friend translated it for me. Towards the end of the video
when the presenter explained the gospel, my friend turned to me and in
her strong Israeli accent asked, “You know him? Is he Christian,
Israeli … Jewish?”
I answered: “I don’t know
him personally but I know of him. He’s an Israeli, and a Jewish
believer. He believes in Jesus the Messiah.”
“No, he can’t be Jewish!
He’s talking about Yeshua – Jesus – all the time. Jews can’t be
Christians!” she said.
Several years ago, I had a
lengthy conversation with another Jewish friend who so wanted me to
understand why Jews “can’t be Christians” that she described in depth
the history of anti-Semitism, Jewish fears of assimilation, problems of
Jewish survival and the need for Jewish identity. While listening to
her, I began to enter her world of thoughts and fears. She told me of
her hurt and pain, and explained in detail why her Jewish identity was
so precious to her. She earnestly wanted me to understand that a Jewish
person could not be a Christian and urged me not to evangelise her
people. Because of our strong friendship, we were able to be frank and
honest with each other and she was willing to hear my Christian
testimony. She respected my firm commitment to the Bible and my
conviction that it was necessary to include everyone in my witnessing.
I’m encouraged by the fact that, over time, her attitude to the gospel
has softened and become more positive, and that we remain close
friends.
In my cross-cultural
communication with Jewish friends, I have learnt to practise “active
listening”, listening carefully to understand the true meaning of their
words. For instance, when Jewish people say “Christian”, they usually
mean “Gentile”. So I often ask my Jewish friends, “When you say
Christians, do you mean Gentiles or do you really mean Christians?”
Because they know me and know what I believe, they often reply, “Yes,
we mean Gentiles, not Christians like you!” Therefore, when Jewish
people say, “Jews can’t be Christians”, they often actually mean, “Jews
can’t be Gentiles”! So we may need to explain what the word “Christian”
really means and, more importantly, what it means to be a Christian.
Furthermore, a trusting
friendship always helps in evangelism. We’re called to make disciples,
and hence evangelism is about building relationships so that we are
able to break down barriers to our witness. With both the people
mentioned, it was because of our friendship that they were willing to
hear and to understand me. They allowed me to take time to explain that
the word “Christian” is a biblical word that simply means “a follower
of the Messiah”.
I also explained to them what it meant to be a follower of Jesus the
Messiah. I pointed them to the Scriptures and showed them, from Ezekiel
36 and 37 and John 3, that no one is born a Christian; we need to be
born anew spiritually. I also made reference to the promise of the New
Covenant, as found in Jeremiah 31.
We continue to meet Jewish
friends who struggle because of their belief that “Jews can’t be
Christians”. Pray that we may be effective witnesses who are always
faithful to the Word as we press on, breaking down barriers to the
gospel and endeavouring to persuade our Jewish friends that Jesus is
the Messiah.
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