What Jewish People Think When They Hear “Jewish Evangelism”
Can a Jewish person believe in Jesus? We’ve heard Jewish People say, “You can’t be a Jew and believe in Jesus any more than you can be a vegetarian who eats meat.” It’s not that they’re belligerent. It’s just that their worldview doesn’t allow them to see how a Jew can believe in Jesus given 2,000 years of persecution at the hands of the Church.
Because of this, sharing one’s faith in Yeshua (Jesus) – or what some refer to as Jewish evangelism – takes a special sensitivity. We must keep these things in mind when talking to a Jewish person about Yeshua.
History and Jewish evangelism
The persecution that the Jewish People have undergone in the name of Jesus is disturbingly real. During the Spanish Inquisition, many Jews were deported, tortured or killed. Lands and property were confiscated, and there is some speculation that this stolen wealth was used to finance the voyage of Christopher Columbus.
In Russia, thousands of Jewish People were massacred in pogroms by so-called Christians. Christian peasants would put crosses on their doors so the murderers would know to leave them alone.
The very phrase Jewish evangelism often brings to mind these atrocities so that many Jews ask, “How can I accept a religion that has shed so much Jewish blood? I would be a traitor to my fathers who died if I renounced their religion and accepted Jesus.” The violent, forced conversions of centuries past have made many Jewish People skeptical of even the most compassionate Jewish evangelism.
We must help our Jewish friends and neighbors to understand that the people who carried out these horrible acts were not following Yeshua. They were going against everything He taught, and they denied Him when they lifted their hands against the Jews.
Jewish People must come to see that they should believe in Yeshua because He is the Messiah, not because Christians are such nice people. We must show them that Yeshua is the God of the whole earth, of Jews and Gentiles alike. We can show them Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. We can explain that Yeshua was Jewish, as were the apostles and most of the early Believers.
Here are some Messianic Prophecies from the Old Testament:
Psalm 22
Proverbs 30:4
Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah 9:6-7
Isaiah 53
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Daniel 9:24-26
Micah 5:2
Zechariah 12:10
The driving inspiration for sharing our faith in Yeshua with Jewish People is love and a clear understanding that the Bible says there is only one way to the Father God, and that is through Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). For more, see “Do Jewish People Have Another Path?” on our Messianic Judaism page.
For more on sharing your faith in Yeshua with Jewish People, visit the Jewish Voice webstore where you’ll find How to Share Yeshua, by Rabbi Jonathan Bernis.
