How did we get here?
Controversy on the radio this morning over a video put out
by Jews for Jesus which depicts Jesus being sent to the gas chambers at one of
the Holocaust death camps. A rabbi very offended by this video, while the Jew
for Jesus argued that Jews blame Jesus for the Holocaust and they wanted to
show that in fact, Jesus is a Jew himself.
We were surprised, shocked even, that anyone would blame
Jesus for the Holocaust, but then saw the reasoning...Two millennia of
anti-Semitic persecution often perpetrated by the church have led to the
logical conclusion that if followers of Jesus spearhead such vile hatred, it
must come from their leader, Jesus himself.
Then we read from Ephesians, chapter 2, where Paul is
talking about how Jesus came for the Jews but opened the way for gentiles to
approach God and live forever with him. The church started with the Jews, and
we (today’s church) were the outsiders. Now we (today’s church) are the
insiders, and the Jews have been shoved out.
Praise God for his Word, though, which goes on to say ‘But
now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through
the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and
has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility ...’
We don’t yet see the outworking of this truth, so today that
is my prayer. That Jesus would be our peace, the peace between all warring
tribes and ethnicities, the peace between religions and creeds, the peace
within families who are cracking and breaking.
Jesus came to the disciples after his resurrection and said
Peace. He said to the elements in the storm, Peace. He says to you and me
today, Peace.
That is where we want to get.
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