Israel

One of the things that caught my eye this week was a tweet where someone said they, "appreciate any Xtian who supports Israel/Jews."

I have not issue with Jews; I am not antisemitic. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and appreciate much about Jewish culture, traditions and holidays; but I cannot say - sadly at all - that I support Israel. Yeshua (Jesus) disagrees with me there...

As I said, this is a place where I can blog some of my innermost thoughts, so I am not doing the public image / politically correct thing here.

I have heard many things the nation of Israel has done that ... disturbs my sense of what is right and just and good: How they keep pushing out their borders, how they treat their neighbors, how they goad the neighbors to violence and then retaliate far beyond what is necessary, growing their Kingdom a bit more. I've even seen peaceful humanitarian aide groups raided and stopped because they were helping someone Israel saw as an enemy.

I have heard how Messianic Jews are treated in Israel, just because they decided to accept my Brother as the promised Messiah...

Yet....

I don't understand it, but...

Yeshua still Loves them. They are still HIS people. So many times have I tried to see things through His eyes, but I still fail.

I rationalized that perhaps my feelings for my own homeland was what He meant. Yes, much of what the US does - especially when our last leader was in office - has been atrocious. It made me embarrassed to call myself an American. Yet, when I see the turnout for help and humanitarian support following devastating storms and natural disasters... then I am PROUD to be an American. Maybe it's that way with Yeshua, I surmised, that He is proud of His people, but disapproves their political actions?

No.

Yeshua has made two things clear to me: Israel is His people; nothing will change that. It is "sad" what they do. If one were to attack Israel, Yeshua would "grieve." If Israel were to attack another, He would be "quite sad." But He will never, ever, turn away from them...

I don't know if He would even protest them public like I've been contemplating joining the Occupy moment here, protesting the unfair tax laws that provide loopholes to the corporations and wealthy and tax the crap out of the lower and middle classes.

I even support Obama's request that Israel goes back to 1967 borders. Interestingly, Yeshua's response to that is "Borders don't matter."

*Sigh*

Maybe this is along the lines of "give to Caesar what is Caesar's..."

Yeshua has tried - though I admit I still fail to grasp - the concept that Israel IS Holy Land. This is a place on Earth where God has pushed through the fabrics of time and space and touched our world. Not just Yeshua's presence (birth, life, death), but countless others. I don't know if this is where others will happen, as some surmise.

That and the Isrealites are His people. They are as much a part of Yeshua as my Celtic roots are a part of me. That's right, not my American heritage, my Celtic heritage. I am not a descendant of Abraham as Yeshua is; I am a Daughter of the Celts. Maybe this is why pagans and neo-pagans don't have me running off screaming or trying desperately to convert them. I see Pari's presence in their beliefs and practices too, as well as Hindu and many others.

As I said, I have tried to see Israel through Yeshua's eyes, but the closest I guess I can come is seeing the pagans and neo-pagans through my eyes. They are my brothers and sisters as much as Christians and anyone else.

That and when Israel, the US or ANY nation or power-group starts to employ tactics that are without love, compassion and mercy... forgive them, pray for them.

We are all children of God.