In 1991, Debbie came to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Nothing too unusual, you might think. Lots of people came to faith in 1991, and a surprising number of them may have been called Debbie. The more unusual part of Debbie’s story is that she grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home.
As she confessed Yeshua as the Messiah, she recalls: “I went through torment thinking that I shouldn’t believe this because I was Jewish” (p99). As she prayed for forgiveness, she thought she “was the only Jewish person in the world ever to have done so!”
Thankfully, Debbie soon discovered she was not the only Jewish person ever to have done so. But nor is she the only Jewish person to have experienced feelings of isolation, confusion or “torment” because of their desire to follow Jesus.
Her story is told, together with 24 others, in a now out-of-print collection of testimonies from Jewish people who have found the Messiah — a collection that ended up in my hands because a friend (who isn’t called Debbie) wrote one of the chapters.
In the words of the editor’s introduction, these people are “an enigma to both the Jewish community and the Christian Church” (p7), facing misunderstandings and hostility from both sides. Their stories capture a range of the inner struggles and outward challenges Messianic Jews face in a UK context. The resulting book is a helpful way of better understanding the experiences of these much-misunderstood brothers and sisters.
Here are four things that stood out to me as I was reading…
The legacy of antisemitism
Tragically, the name of Yeshua has often been associated with anti-Jewish hatred. Antisemitism can be found in every period of church history. And this history is not easily forgotten — much as many Christians might prefer to gloss over it.
In Debbie’s view, this legacy is one of the “major stumbling blocks to Jewish people even considering that Yeshua might possibly be the Messiah” (p96). More than one of the contributors described hearing “Christ-killer” slurs as children, a potent epithet in the history of “Christian” antisemitism. In this context, Julian’s thoughts on being invited to church are understandable, but still upsetting: “I wasn’t about to go willingly to a place I believed was full of my enemies” (p16).
Hearing these comments should prompt serious reflection for us as Christians. If the credibility of the gospel message can be undermined by the legacy of historic antisemitism, it will also surely be damaged by inadequate responses to contemporary antisemitism. Too often, evangelicals have been silent about the rise of anti-Jewish hatred, and even the propagation of antisemitic views by church leaders. Are we ready and willing to publicly condemn this evil in our society?
The witness of Jews
Sheila had read a lot about the claims of Christianity, but she experienced a serious inner conflict that held her back from responding in faith. What helped her to overcome this conflict? “Meeting and talking to some Jewish people who believed in Yeshua” (p112-113).
This isn’t an isolated experience. Bernard recalls his amazement when he learned that a Christian he was speaking with was Jewish. He writes: “Here was another person who had gone through what I was going through and had realised that the Gentile Christ was also the Jewish Messiah… This lady had been divinely sent to help me, and I accepted Yeshua as my Saviour” (p24).
It shouldn’t surprise us that such conversations proved to be valuable for several of the contributors to this book. Messianic Jews are in a unique position to show others that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, and will often be better able to relate to the struggles other Jews may face in following Him. Of course, Jewish people learn about the Messiah through Gentiles too! But this book has encouraged me to pray for the witness of my Jewish brothers- and sisters-in-Christ.
The struggle of belonging
Questions of identity are prominent in many of the testimonies — can you be Jewish and believe in Yeshua? At one level, the answer is straightforward, and similar to how you would answer the question, “Can you be Welsh and believe in Jesus?” But the journey to understanding this answer is often complicated by the misunderstandings and ignorance of both Jews and Christians. This can leave Messianic Jews feeling isolated from the communities they would look to for support.
Several of the stories involved rejection from Jewish family members. On sharing the happy news, Estelle recalls: “My aunt cursed me, wished me dead and that was that” (p132). The churches mentioned were generally more friendly than this, but were still capable of making life more difficult. For some, this was just a case of misunderstandings. Yacov remembers the puzzled reactions when he began identifying as a “Messianic Jew,” and the need to answer questions like: “So you used to be Jewish?” (p160). Joe has a sadder experience, writing: “The members of our family all have valid criticisms of how British churches treat Messianic Jews” (p172).
For Gentiles like myself, reading these experiences is eye-opening. In the UK evangelical circles I’ve inhabited, we haven’t made much space to hear the voices of Messianic Jews, despite the recent renewed focus on racism and the church. It would be good to see more Christians, and especially church leaders, listening to testimonies like these.
The diversity of experiences
With all the recurring themes mentioned above, it’s striking how different all of the testimonies are. These 25 Jewish people represent a wide diversity of backgrounds. Some grew up in religiously observant homes, others were brought up by atheist parents. Some remembered a happy childhood, others had a more challenging upbringing. Some had a strong understanding of their Jewish identity from a young age, others only discovered this later in life.
But they all came to have one thing in common — a joyful belief in Yeshua as the Messiah.
There is much we can learn from their testimonies, especially as Gentiles. But this book is also just a wonderful opportunity to be encouraged by seeing God’s grace at work in such a range of lives. And each of those lives testifies to the truth of Paul’s statement at the beginning of Romans 11:
“Has God rejected his people? By no means!”
Amen!
Shopping list
The Unusual Suspects (Christian Focus, 2008) is out-of-print, but it can easily be found second-hand online for under £5.
For more testimonies of Jewish believers in Yeshua, take a look at John Fieldsend’s Messianic Jews (Monarch, 1993), which is also out-of-print, but available to buy online for under £5.