Why should I care?

The answer is a very important word in the question. The word is CARE!

The online Merriam Webster dictionary defines care as a verb. Early childhood education taught us that verbs are action words. That is significant for this discussion because, ultimately, care leads to action and activity. The Scripture informs Christians of the obligation, intention and object of our care. These words from the Epistle of John are especially relevant for our involvement in the aliyah (return to Israel) of the Jewish people: “… let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18b ESV).

Care has several meanings, but the one that best applies here is to feel concern or interest. I have spoken with many in the Ebenezer family who definitely are moved by an abiding interest in the Jewish people, whom they do not regard imperviously or hold at a distance with a kind of unfeeling detachment. As I have spoken with Christians who traveled on the ships carrying Jewish people from the former Soviet Union (fSU) to Israel, inevitably tears began to flow as they remembered a bond of friendship born of God’s Spirit. In Holland during World War II, the Ten Boom family was one of many families and individuals who suffered, yet authentically cared for the Jewish people brought to their door.

Today the Lord is calling us to CARE about the Jewish people. They are not objects or pawns in His plan; they are individuals, fellow human beings. God cares for each person and all peoples. Why should I care? We care for the Jewish people, individually and corporately, because God created and loved them with a covenantal, steadfast, abiding love. They are individuals with dignity, hopes and dreams, sufferings and burdens. They are young and old, happy and sad, fulfilled and lonely, just like you and me. Perhaps it helps us to see them as individuals first, and as an ethnic group second. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:38-39).

Love is a watered-down word in our culture. The King James Bible renders the word love as charity in
1 Corinthians 13. Charity is an act of goodwill or benevolence. This gets us back to the activity of caring, which motivates us to help the Jewish people make aliyah. These words of the prophet Isaiah speak about the activity and the depth of caring:  “… fear not for I have summoned you; I have summoned you by name, comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed … they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders … for a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him” (Isaiah 43:1-2, 49: 23, 54:7-8, 57:18).

Care in aliyah includes a lot of activity. Ebenezer teams in the fSU come alongside Jewish people to help them locate their documents. David and Gail Antrosio are a source of information to those who may be coming into contact with a Christian agency for the first time. Christian churches and individuals donating funds is a faith step to care for the unseen and unheard. And humanitarian aid helps many to know that Christians have given CARE in the name of Christ.

The future may deeply tap our resources of CARE in helping the Jewish people make aliyah from the United States.  Sometimes we may feel tapped out, and the question posed in this article—Why Should I care?—may arise. The answer: because every Jewish person matters to our Lord, because a Christian is someone who acts with CARE!

I am the Pastor of a church that contributes monthly to Ebenezer Emergency Fund USA. Our people were excited and responded generously to help a Jewish family make aliyah. They have also made personal contributions to Ebenezer.

Ebenezer is receiving more requests from Jewish people who need help to make aliyah. Your contributions will make it possible for the ministry to promise and deliver CARE to individuals and families, and send an important message of CARE to the Jewish people asking for our help. We look forward to hearing from you!  God Bless you!

Mark J Hill, Pastoral Team