The Redemption

Jeremiah 5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth that I may pardon her. Though they say, As the Lord lives, yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock, they have refused to repent.

Ever heard the saying, No one likes a Jeremiah? You could also say that no one likes to be confronted with their sin.

If you read my story about our trip to Israel last year, then you know about Abraham; the little elderly Israeli man who took advantage of us in Jerusalem. The man who broke my heart in Jerusalem. For a long time he was the picture of Israel to me. He looked Israeli. Browned by the sun. A sabra or Israeli born. A man of uneven weights and unfair exchanges. A crookster.

The trip this year was completely different. It was a redemption. We made friends in the Old City, the West Bank, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We learned our way around, fell in love with all the families at the house, the staff at Wolfson and Shevet Achim. Ken and I spent the day together and went to Yad Vashem and that was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I got to know people at the hospital, went to the OR and made rounds with Dr. Tamir. We took a girls trip to Galilee and that was awesome.

Ken and I also spent a day in the Old City. We went to the Western Wall, walked through the Jewish Quarter, visited the Christian Quarter Market and the Cardo. We stopped to take pictures of the Mount of Olives and in the distance, walking toward us, I noticed a familiar figure. A little elderly Israeli man and I knew it was him. Abraham. Same khakis. Same hat. Same smile. Harmless looking. As he walked toward us I thought of how I felt the year before; how I had murdered him in my heart. He stopped right in front of me and asked if he could assist us by taking our picture together. And I said, We met you last year. And a look of knowing crossed his face. But not a look of shame or regret.

....they felt no anguish....they have refused to repent.

How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken Me and have sworn by those who are not gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor's wife. Shat I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord.

Jerusalem is a very religious city.

For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men...Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this?

It is also home to crooksters.

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

Ephesians 5 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.