Give them less Jesus. That is the message that can quietly creep into the church when tensions rise around Israel and the Jewish people. We might never say it out loud, but our actions can begin to whisper it.
We stop praying for Jewish salvation. We neglect the mission. In practice we begin to treat the Jewish people as if they are the one group somehow outside the reach of Jesus. As if the arm of the Lord was suddenly too short to save. But is that really the Christian answer? Over many months I have watched a familiar and ugly ghost re-emerge with renewed strength: Jew-hate. It is a stain that has troubled the world for millennia and, heartbreakingly, one that has sometimes found a foothold even within the walls of the church. I see it on Christian social media. I even sometimes hear it in the prayers of Sunday services.
Yet despite the public square growing more hostile, God is doing His amazing work on the ground. Jewish people are opening to the gospel, interest is increasing, and more are being saved. Jewish missions like ours saw roughly twice as many Jewish people in Israel come to faith last year compared to the year before. We know the Lord uses pressure to bring people to the end of themselves. If we choose this moment to give Jewish people less Jesus, we are pulling back just when the Lord is making the harvest ready.
After Bondi: I am Jewish - this is how it feels today
I write this with sorrow, and with a measure of fear that has been quietly exhausting to me.I am …