as a Catholic catechist working and living in Jerusalem, here are my two bits:
of course we should support Israel! (though obviously not necessarily every political/military action)! We are living before a modern day miracle to see the people of the election returning to their land, just as the prophets foresaw, after 2 millenia of exile. The prophets, especially Ezekiel 36-37 (valley of dry bones), speak of a restoration of Israel in two steps: a) a physical restoration in a state of spiritual unrighteousness; b) a spiritual restoration/resurrection including the outpouring of God’s spirit and the giving of a new heart.
The promises of the land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was never revoked by Jesus or by the New Covenant. If as Romans 11 and Nostra Aetate say, God’s election of and covenant with the Jews is ‘irrevocable’, then this must include the land, one of the most central signs of this covenant.
Since the foundation of the state of Israel, and especially the return of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty in 1967, we see the largest growing body of Jewish believers in Jesus since the first century. Unfortunately, the great majority of them are converts to Evangelical Christianity/Messianic Judaism. I believe one of the reasons for this is that Evangelicals tend to be much more aware of Israel’s continued role in God’s plan of salvation than Catholics.
If God is at work in finally restoring his people to himself though Christ, a restoration that will be ‘resurrection from the dead’ (Rom 11:15), then we can expect fierce opposition from the devil in this restoration. This, I believe, is what is happening with the almost irrational Islamic anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hatred, increasingly echoed by the secularized West.
I humbly ask you for your prayers for Christians in Israel, that we would be more faithful to the gospel, repent from all remaining traces of anti-Semitism in the Church which block the Spirit of God, and be open to what the Lord has to say to us regarding his people Israel and their coming salvation!
See
www.israelcatholic.com,
hebrewcatholic.org/, and
www.salvationisfromthejews.com
