When Jesus attempts to come to present day Jerusalem, he is met with missles and tanks and barbed wire. Tear gas and rubber bullets bang against his body. He would like to return. People all over the world pray for his return. They just don't want him to come in the form he seems to prefer in this season.
Some want him to come in the clouds out of the east and establish a new kingdom. Some want him to come peacefully on a donkey. Some want him to come and turn over the tables and walls that keep people away from his place of prayer. Some want him to come as Messiah. Some want him to come as prophet. Some want him to come as king. Some want him to come as priest. Some don't want him to come at all.
The heart of the people appears to be violent toward Him in Jerusalem and throughout the nation of Israel these days. He approaches in strange dress and strange language too different to suit his keepers. His ways live in people speaking in Aramaic and English and Hebrew and thousands of other languages. The Israeli nation builds walls and fences to keep such words and ways at a distance. the affect of Jesus/ ways coming in by means of those who study his life is too frightening for them. Laws prevent open and decisive conversation of his life.
Today it would be easy to say the walls and lawas are meant to keep out the violent. They invite violence. As surely as the disparity of "colored" restrooms and restaurants and backs of busses in the United States in another era or the apartheid of South Africa, the walls and laws of the Israeli nation invite violence, anger, and grief. To deny fact is a symptom of insanity. These rules of separation prevent the purpose of the the city of peace, Jerusalem. It is a place of God designed to invite people to his solutions. Through history it has been a place of refuge and worship and prayer. Today it is a site of anger, division, and persecution.
Jesus, Yeshua, Isa - met that situation in his earthly lifetime. Jerusalem was much the same as today. Political pressure and religious rightness stirred anger and violence among the people. He brought an attitude of dedication to holiness, openness, service, and kindness to resolve such days. What if the Israeli nation opened to such thoughts? Many Muslims study and work ot live them. Many Christians study and work to live them. Many Jews study and work to live them. If we believe that Jesus was a rabbi or teacher from the Judaic heritage of thought, then there seems to be a point of agreement among these warring faiths.
What if the nation of Israel could return to God thoughts? What if the state of godless Israel would open to seek and allow him and his ways to prevail through those that already seek him? They are so close, yet walled apart.
Sure, there are violent Christians, Jews, and Muslims. They are the exception not the norm and only a small portion. Do we make walls and laws in reaction to the violent few or open the door to be flooded in blessing by the peacefilled many? Walls and laws invite violence and cursing. Open windows and kindness invite peace and blessing.
PrayerMetro puts out thoughts to provoke thinking not preach religion. Think. Meditate. Pause. Pray. Consider. Act.
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