Heart-breaking Hope 

A mum’s enduring love for her hostage son, and Yeshua’s love for Israel

I had some heart-breaking moments as I read the paper on Tuesday, October 7th, the second anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

The Daily Mail ran an exclusive story of how Ditza Or, the mother of Avinatan, one of the hostages still held captive by Hamas – is holding out a desperate hope of finally seeing her son alive after two long years. I had to put down the paper as I wept for her, as if it was my own son. “She dreams that soon she may finally put her ear to his chest and hear his heartbeat,” the article recorded. I pray she will, and there is real hope that this week's deal may achieve that.

Weeping over senseless tragedy

We are still reeling in shock over the barbaric attack on a Manchester synagogue just across the Pennines from where we live. Brilliant Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn described it as “a national scandal, the first time in modern history that British Jews had been murdered simply for being Jews”.

But we are also reeling from the unbelievable response of senseless mobs marking this tragedy by taking to the streets once again to vent their hatred for the Jewish people. I weep too for the teenage boy telling a TV interviewer that he couldn’t understand why his community were so hated.

I weep too for the teenage boy telling a TV interviewer that he couldn’t understand why his community were so hated.

But I recall how Jesus wept over the death of his dear friend Lazarus (before raising him back to life). And how he wept over Jerusalem for failing to recognise the time of God’s coming among them. But he will raise them up too, back to their land and back to their Lord and Messiah who has wept over them throughout the centuries since, especially during the Holocaust, and now amidst this resurgent antisemitism spreading its venomous tentacles across the globe.

Not alone

Yes, you are not alone, little Israel. God is most certainly with you, sharing your pain and grief and horror at such wickedness displayed in Western cities built on Judeo-Christian foundations. And you have friends in the media too. 

Littlejohn, mentioned above, is an avid fan of north London club Tottenham Hotspurs, and today lambasted the woke football world for their dreadful indifference to the Manchester atrocity. A stark contrast to their ever willingness to hold a minute’s silence for all manner of virtue-signalling causes. For when he sat down to watch his team play Leeds United, there was no such tribute. Yet both teams have many Jewish fans, including long-time British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari, a Spurs fan.

Piers Morgan, another major media personality, wrote a blistering denunciation of the campus protests – how our universities have become giant echo chambers of fundamentalist intolerance. He spoke of a generation living in the unreality of social media and struggling to accept personal failure. “But failure itself is not fatal,” he writes. “It will bring you to your knees – if you let it.” He almost sounds like an evangelist. 

Failure itself is not fatal ... It will bring you to your knees – if you let it.

Meanwhile, there are many Christians in England on their knees praying for Israel and for Jews throughout Britain and the world.

The lost can be found

The same Daily Mail edition carries the story of a former TV presenter whose Instagram post of how she now feels lost in her post-fame world has gone viral. Many identify with her.

But there is a way out for those who feel lost. Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep to show how much he cares for each one of us, Jew and Gentile. He will leave the 99 who are safe in the pen in order to search and find you. He said: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

But you too can call on the Lord. The prophet Isaiah wrote: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6)