A Christian Response to the Arab/Israel Conflict

On Saturday, October 7th, 2023, our family awoke to messages about an attack occurring within Israel. Hamas had fired more than 4,000 rockets into the land in which we live. By the end of the day, this attack had killed more than 1,100 people, and Hamas had kidnapped 251 people.

Since that day, Israel has faced its longest war since its inception in 1948. This war has caused suffering for Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Everyone has been affected.

The Assemblies of God operates Christian schools in Gaza and the West Bank, serving Palestinian children and their families. These families have endured significant suffering during the past 18 months. We frequently visit the West Bank and pray for the safety and well-being of everyone who calls this area home.

Every week, I work out at a local gym in Jerusalem with Israeli soldiers who serve with the IDF. Many of them serve on rotation throughout Israel. They are often in danger. I pray for them and their safety so they might return home to their families.

A few months ago, we visited the site of the Nova Music Festival, where more than 350 Israelis died, and many were kidnapped. Looking at the pictures of so many lives cut short is sobering. People cherished by God experienced unimaginable horrors at the hands of others who are also loved by God and created in His image.

That same day we visited Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. This public plaza features numerous art displays where people can examine and reflect on the events that led to so many being taken captive along the Gaza corridor. It is heartbreaking to hear the cries of families pleading for their loved ones to return home.

Processing our feelings regarding the suffering that many people around us have endured over the past year and a half has been painful. How should we respond as followers of Jesus? Should we take sides, like we do for sports teams? Should we stand with Israel or advocate for a free Palestine? Or is there something else that Jesus expects from us?

What does Jesus expect from us as His followers concerning people and conflicts? This could apply to Russia and Ukraine or any other conflicts in our world. This also applies to our relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. How should we approach our relationships with others, particularly those who are different from us?

Scripture provides the answers. In Luke 10, a lawyer asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. In typical Jesus fashion, He threw the question back at the lawyer. The lawyer responded by dividing his answer into two parts: A person must love God and love his neighbor.

The lawyer quoted from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5), a section of Scripture that Jews recite daily, which commands people to love God fully. The lawyer said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” The lawyer then quoted the last phrase from Leviticus 19:18, “love your neighbor as yourself.”

How did Jesus reply? He told the lawyer that he answered well. For the lawyer to connect these two verses, he must have already been familiar with Jesus’ teachings since Jesus was the first rabbi known to link these two phrases. In the first century, it was common for rabbis to “cut and paste” Scripture with connecting phrases. Jesus demonstrated this when He linked these two verses with the phrase, “you shall love” (Matthew 22:37-39, NKJV).

“And who is my neighbor?” was the question the lawyer wanted Jesus to answer. If fulfilling these commandments is necessary for eternal life, he wanted to define whom he must love. He wanted to limit his responsibility to whom he should show love.

Leviticus 19:18 states, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (ESV). Therefore, the question is: Is my neighbor the son of my own people, or does it also include others?

This train of thought was common first-century thinking. At the time Jesus shared this parable, Ben Sira, in his book of wisdom stated, “If you do kindness, know to whom you do it.” He advised people not to waste kindness on the wrong people; don’t assist those who are not part of God’s family.

If we are honest, we operate the same way. We may love our Christian “neighbor” or, those neighbors who are like us, but we struggle to show love to those who are different from us. Whether we have expressed it or not, we ask, “Jesus, who is my neighbor?” “Who must I love?”

Jesus provided us with an answer through the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, a compassionate Samaritan, who was a despised outsider, helped a wounded Jew after a Jewish priest and a Levite failed to assist this unconscious stranger. Jesus then asked the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer replied, “The one who showed him mercy.

Jesus did not respond to the original question, “Who is my neighbor?” Instead, he addressed a broader question: “To whom must I become a neighbor?” He answered the real question, “Whom must I love?” The answer is simple: anyone in need. Jesus has called us — as His followers — to show love to all those in need, regardless of language, religious belief, or ethnicity.

How should we consider our relationships with others, especially those who are different from us? The answer is that we should love, for God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love.

How do we show love? By demonstrating mercy (Luke 10:37) and addressing needs.

Instead of asking, “Who do I have to love?” we need to ask, “Who needs my love?” The answer is anyone in need. As followers of Jesus, we must meet needs wherever we see them.

The Assemblies of God has Russian, Hebrew, and Arabic-speaking congregations throughout Israel. Thanks to the generosity of churches in the U.S., we have partnered with our Russian and Hebrew-speaking congregations to address the needs of displaced Israelis near Gaza and Lebanon in very practical ways. Our AG pastors have distributed food vouchers to those in need. As we become aware of the physical and spiritual needs of Israelis in the land, we work to meet those needs in loving and practical ways.

The absence of tourism has resulted in financial difficulties for Palestinian families in the Bethlehem area. This decline in visitors impacts local tour guides, hotels, restaurants, and markets.

Thanks to the generosity of Convoy of Hope, we have prepared food packages to distribute throughout the Bethlehem area to those in need. We have been mentoring Hassan,* a new believer from a Muslim background. Hassan was previously a part of Hamas. Now, he serves Jesus wholeheartedly and leads his family in helping others in the name of Christ. He includes notes with the food packages that read, “From your brothers and sisters in Christ.”

During one of their food distributions, Hassan’s family felt led to knock on a specific door. When the mom from this family came to the door, she wept at the sight of the food Hassan’s family held. This family had been surviving on tea and bread for months. Seeing food staples, including meat, profoundly moved this mother. She invited Hassan’s family inside and asked, “Who is your God?” Hassan replied, “Jesus Christ. Why do you ask?”

“Because,” she responded, “we have been praying for help, and your God heard our prayers.” Jesus is hearing prayers and meeting needs in the West Bank.

As we recognize the needs of all people in the land where we live, the Lord has provided a way for us to participate in meeting those needs alongside Him. He has given us opportunities to love because God’s kingdom is a kingdom of love. It’s not about taking sides; it’s about loving people.

How can we show love to the people in Israel and Palestine? We begin with lament. We should join Israelis and Palestinians in their sorrow. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4, ESV). This mourning is both personal and global. We grieve over the sins that led to the current situation in Israel and Palestine: the sins of Arabs, Israelis, the Church, and the global community that failed to intervene and alleviate suffering in the land before the conflict arose.

We grieve for the situation in Israel and Palestine, acknowledging the moral turmoil, sorrow, and suffering by all individuals in the region. We grieve with the awareness that the wrongdoer is not well and needs healing.

We mourn when groups fire rockets from Gaza because the wrongdoer needs healing. These groups terrorize the residents of Tel Aviv and others throughout the land, forcing them to hide in bomb shelters and stairwells. We also mourn when bombs are dropped on Gaza and lives are lost. I watched a video of a toddler being dug out from the rubble — a child, barely able to walk, growing up in a profoundly hostile world. This land needs peace.

Next, we pray. Psalm 122 encouraged us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. When we pray, let’s remember all of Jerusalem’s inhabitants: secular Israelis, religious Jews, Palestinians, Ethiopians, Armenians, and Russians — all who call Jerusalem home. Pray with us that the peace of God, experienced through surrender to Jesus, the Son of God, may be found in every home across the land.

Third, visit our local Assemblies of God congregations in Israel. If you come on a tour, let us know; we’d love for you to meet the men and women serving Jesus in the land today. Don’t just come for the ancient stones, looking at what God did in the past. Spend time with the living stones, experiencing what God is currently doing. Believers are a minority in Israel and Palestine (less than 2% of the population), and your visit with them is an incredible encouragement. It reminds them they are not alone on their spiritual journey with Jesus.

Not only will local believers be blessed, but you will also be blessed by meeting these incredible heroes of the faith. Their joy amidst conflict is inspiring.

You can also be a part of financially supporting God’s work in the land. We are currently constructing a new school facility in the Bethlehem area, renovating a ministry building in Ramla which will serve Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and training new workers to plant churches in Israel and Palestine. Help us bring hope and healing to the Holy Land through your financial contributions.

Lastly, live a life of peacemaking. Jesus lived during the “Pax Romana,” or Roman peace. Rome established and maintained this peace through military force, but this was not the type of peace Jesus came for. Jesus desires that people experience a deeper peace (shalom) that makes them whole rather than merely the absence of conflict. Peace is characterized as a state of mind that reflects inner soundness and well-being.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9, ESV). People naturally desire to live in peace. However, Jesus is not saying that those living in peace are blessed, but rather that the peacemakers are blessed. Peacemakers exist amid conflict. In other words, blessed are those who confront conflict while working to establish peace. There is something God-like about them because God has made peace. He has humbled himself in His Son to create peace. This is why peacemakers are called “children of God.” They replicate what God has done.

Peacemakers possess an element of godliness, lovingly restoring right relationships. Paul described Jesus as our Peace, mending relationships and fostering unity: “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility … and he came and preached peace to you who were far off [Gentiles] and peace to those who were near [Jews]” (Ephesians 2:14,17, ESV). God regards peacemakers as one of His own. Jesus did not “make peace” or “proclaim peace;” He is Peace.

We can express love to all groups of people in Israel and Palestine through lament, prayer, visits to the Holy Land, and by adopting a peacemaking lifestyle. Let’s show love together.

— Nathaniel H. Lucas
AGWM global worker

For more information, contact us at: holyland@rebuiltruins.com on how you can be a part of bringing hope and healing to the Holy Land with us.

*Names changed for security.