The house on the rock

Dear coworkers,

Have you seen this video of one house that stood firm in the path of the sudden, terrifying and devasting flood in northern Nepal on Wednesday?

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

How we need to both hear and do his words this week in Israel. The torrent of bad news about Jewish terrorism in the West Bank has become a deluge, disheartening many Israelis as well as many of Israel’s Christian friends.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

That whole “Sermon on the Mount” is so other-worldly; it’s always been a tiny minority that would actually hear  his words and seek to do them. And when they do, something powerful is released.

So let’s pay attention to the handful of Jews who took to the street in the settlement of Efrat, near Bethlehem, carrying signs like “For settlement, against violence.”

The protest marked the first time ever that residents of Efrat and Gush Etzion were gathering to clearly, unequivocally speak out against Kochav Yehuda, an illegal outpost east of Efrat that the army has dismantled 65 (!!) times, whose “residents” commit violent attacks against Arabs in surrounding villages (and any Israelis who have the nerve to try to help protect them) on a regular basis.

The outpost, which sits on private land owned by a family from East Jerusalem, receives support, guidance and supplies from the nearby Eitam Hill, an authorized farm that is designated for future expansion of Efrat. For example, after each time it is demolished by the army, a pick-up truck can be seen descending from the Eitam with supplies for rebuilding.

Before the protest, a group of us sat down with the head of the city council and heard that he is absolutely opposed to the outpost, and that he sees it first and foremost as a moral issue, which does not contribute to the security of Efrat’s residents, but actually detracts from it, as it forces the army to constantly react to their violent antics, as opposed to doing their work.

But while we heard words of condemnation, we had not seen effective action, and so we decided it was high time that we made our voices heard, in support of the army, in support of law and order, and against Kochav Yehuda. We have no doubt that if there were an illegal outpost of Arabs who were constantly terrorizing Jews on that exact same spot, anyone remotely connected to those involved would be arrested and interrogated within hours. And if the army would fail in their duty, the head of the city council would stridently demand and ensure that they fulfill it.

So it’s clearly not a question of capacity; it’s a question of priorities, and we wanted to make it clear that for us, as residents of Efrat, this issue – a moral stain on Efrat which undermines law and order and endangers us – must be made a priority.

This is such an important voice, from those able even in wartime to see Palestinians as neighbors deserving of equal respect, and not endless enemies. And how important to know that there are ears able to hear on the Palestinian side, including this Muslim-background writer:

Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves in Matthew 22:37-39, and in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 he explained that “neighbor” includes people we don’t like and who don’t like us.

In these difficult times, I want to tell you about my neighbor: He is every human who lives in sin, darkness, and far from the true God. My neighbor is the one who does not know Jesus and what Jesus did for him.

I also want to tell you about the situation of my Palestinian neighbors. It has become very difficult to provide a living in these difficult times due to the ongoing Gaza War…From the day that Hamas decided to attack Israel, it was a black day for Palestinians. Many did not realize at that moment that the worst was still to come for Palestinians, even though we saw some videos on social media of some Palestinians rejoicing over the news on October 7 and ecstatic over what Hamas did. These are Hamas’ Islamist supporters. I do not hide that there is great support for Hamas among many Palestinians, whether in the West Bank or Gaza, but there is still a group among the Palestinians that is dissatisfied with Hamas and what they have done.

During this war, the number of this group has increased, but they don’t have a voice. If they speak or express their opinion, they will be persecuted and accused of treason. Hamas has never cared about Palestinians, and what they did had a very big impact on all sectors of Palestinian society…

Since I was born in this country, I have been hearing them talk about politics and the Occupation in schools and universities. I have not seen anything change for the better, but things are getting worse.

In all this time, no one told me about the God of hope, until a foreigner came and told me about Jesus! Because he followed the teachings of the Gospel as stated in Romans 10:14-15, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

My life changed forever because, through faith in the God of hope, I obtained salvation and the guarantee of eternal life, which I could not obtain even if our political freedom reached up to the sky.

Yes, on both sides of the West Bank it is a tiny minority who will speak out like this. But we also remember these words of Messiah:

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

So we will not lose heart when only a few speak out, or when we gaze upon the insignificance of our own community’s role in addressing these big problems. We serve a Lord who takes whatever little thing we have in our hands, and multiplies it to feed a multitude.

It’s happening with little Montaser, who lives just behind the Efrat settlement, quite near the violent settler outpost referred to above. He’s now in the hospital in Israel, with unstable oxygen levels. And after some significant support received in recent days, we see that he needs just $2000 more for his big surgery scheduled for this week.

Jonathan for Shevet Achim

“Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133).