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Whatever is Lovely
In the light of the recent press
statement from
the British Messianic Jewish Alliance calling on churches to renounce
all forms of anti-Semitism, British church leaders may well be asking
why such a statement was necessary. However, not only are anti-Jewish
sentiments present in some of our churches but also when Jewish
believers complain about negative comments about the Jews in sermons,
they are frequently dismissed as being “overly-sensitive” or, more
bizarrely, “Judaisers”. Rather than simply dismissing the worries of
Messianic Jews, it would surely be far more Christian to try to address
the issue at hand.
In Mel Gibson’s film The
Passion of the Christ, the “bad guys” were portrayed as ugly,
vicious and fierce-featured Jews, whilst the “good guys” were played by
beautiful, exotic Italians. Unfortunately, such a stereotype still
exists in the minds of many British people. Sadly, the image some
British Christians also have of Jewish people is that we are avaricious
rather than generous, judgemental rather than forgiving, hypocritical
rather than godly, and ugly rather than good-looking. Yet whilst the
New Testament criticises some Jews for their behaviour, it also
criticises Greeks and Romans. The problem is sin, not ethnicity.
Jews are frequently
demonised and marked out as bad examples from our pulpits. I recently
heard a visiting preacher warn our congregation not to be judgemental, like those Jews! So why do many Christians
concentrate only on the sins of the Jews and write them off as a wicked
race of evildoers, when all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God?
Paul instructs us in
Philippians 4:8 to let our minds dwell upon whatever is true, whatever
is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and
whatever is admirable. Should this not be the attitude we Christians
adopt towards the Jews? Why do we not want to remember that Jesus was a
Jew and, moreover, a rabbi? Or that Paul referred to himself as a Jew
and a Pharisee, even after his conversion? Let us dwell upon what is
true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable about the Jewish people.
Yes, the Jewish
people have frequently sinned and rebelled against God but so have the
English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish. Ultimately, the problem
with the Jewish people is not that they are Jewish,
but that they are people, and people are sinners. But
just as thousands and thousands of British people genuinely trust in
Jesus, so too do thousands of Jewish people. Out of a global population
of approximately fourteen million Jews, an estimated 300,000 believe
Jesus is the Messiah, Mediator, Son of God and King of the Universe. So
Jews should not be defined primarily as rejecters of Jesus. If God did
not cast away the Jewish people in Elijah’s day, but spared them
through a godly remnant of seven thousand believers, then why would he
reject the Jewish people today, when there is a godly remnant of over a
quarter of a million?
Ultimately, we
know that God does not delight in death, but instead he delights in how
he has saved people. Thus God frequently reminds his people that he is
the Lord our God, who brought us out of Egypt. It is his redeeming
work, his mercy and his grace that God wants us to focus on most, not
his judgement. Mercy always triumphs over judgement so let us focus on
how God has saved so many Jewish people, rather than focusing on
unsaved Jews. Let us dwell upon what is noble, pure, lovely and
admirable. So what if some Jews choose not to believe in Jesus. Let us
continue to trust in God and remember that his anger lasts only a
moment while his favour lasts a lifetime, including in his dealings
with the Jewish people.
With this in mind,
I hope that the churches will hear the cry of Britain’s Messianic Jews
today, so that tomorrow’s generation need not suffer.
Joe Weissman
Joe
Weissman is a second-generation Jewish believer and is the president of
Yahad, the national body of young Messianic Jews in Great Britain. He
is also a member of Leeds Messianic Fellowship.
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