And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews. (John 19:19)
On one of our trips to Israel, my husband was asked to be interviewed by one of the top radio personalities. After the interview was over another interview was scheduled with a radio strategist. We were asked to go to a room to meet with him.
During the interview with the strategist, a Rabbi walked in with another man. The Rabbi started to prepare some soup, as he talked with the other man. I overheard him mention the word ‘’Gods.” This caught my attention. I turned around and said to the Rabbi, “Gods?” He ignored me. So I simply turned my attention back to the interview.
My husband noticed this, stopped talking with the interviewer, looked at the Rabbi and then me, and said, “What was that you said, Claudia?”
My husband was now getting the Rabbi’s attention. And I knew that my husband was opening the opportunity for me to talk to the Rabbi, because he knew that I would tell him about Jesus. I looked at my husband. With a smile, he encouraged me to jump in and take the opportunity. I was not sure what to say. I had to take courage.
I turned and looked at the Rabbi, who with a stick was stirring the soup in his cup. I said, “I heard you say Gods.”
Without looking at me, he said, “Yes?”
I then began telling him, “I have been walking this land for several years now, and every time that I come to Israel, I notice that there are so many gods everywhere. There is this kabbala hand and evil-eye idols in almost every restaurant, home, and hotel, and people are wearing them as charms on their jewelry. They are everywhere.”
He responded, “That’s nothing.”
I sternly looked at him, “Nothing, Rabbi! What do you mean, nothing?! People are trusting in these idols to answer their prayers, to have good jobs, to keep their families safe, to give them success, and for everything else they are hoping for.
“Tell me something, Rabbi. I have been reading the Old Testament. I learned that God would raise up a king and give him victory over the enemies of Israel and give him blessings, but not all the victory and not all the blessings, because there was one thing that God told the king to do, but he did not do it. So, God would raise up another king. He would also give him victory over Israel’s enemies and give him blessings, but not all the victory and not all the blessings, because God also told him to do one thing, and he, too, did not do that one thing that God told him to do. So, God raised up a third king. God gave him victory over Israel’s enemies and blessings, but not all the victory and not all the blessings, because he, as well, did not do the one thing that God had told him to do. Do you know what that one thing was, Rabbi, that God told them to do that each one did not do?”
He stirred his soup, “No.”
I continued, “He told each one of them to get rid of all the idols and to worship only Him.”
He stirred his soup, looking at me; he challenged me, “What about the cross? Some people think that is an idol.”
He kept looking at his soup, waiting for my response.
“Oh, the cross, Rabbi, let me tell you about the cross, Rabbi!”
I began to share with him, “When I toured the Holocaust museum in Israel, the first thing that I saw when I entered was this hideous character holding up a cross as a threat in front of a Jewish man.
“Rabbi, do you know who the devil is? He is an angel that God created. He looked at his beautiful form and said, “Look at me. I am handsome and intelligent; I will be God!” And God casted him out of heaven, into a place called hell. Now what did this devil use against the Jews in the Holocaust? The cross, Rabbi. And what did he use against the Jews in the Inquisition, where my family’s heritage is from? The cross, Rabbi.
“What about the cross, Rabbi? It is on what the Son of the God of Israel laid Himself on, for your sins and mine. What about the cross, Rabbi? It is where the blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God, His Son, a Jew, gave His life for you to be in heaven.
“That is why the devil used the cross, because it is the only way to heaven. This is the enemy of Israel’s work, because if there is one thing he does not want, it is for a Jew to believe in the Son of God, through whom is the only way to heaven to be with the Father.
“No more sheep, nor more goats, Rabbi, but blood of the Son of God, the sacrificial Lamb of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who laid His life on the cross for you and all the Jews. Dare not think of the cross, Rabbi!”
The Rabbi was silenced. He put down his cup of soup and put his hands in his pockets. With a sober look and voice, he said, “This is powerful stuff, powerful.”
“Yes, it is, Rabbi; yes, it is!”
“Abba! Father! How wondrous was the cross of Your sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ, for the sins of the world. There would be no way to You had it not been for the cross! Israel is where Your Son laid Himself on the cross. Israel is where He died. Israel is where He rose from the dead. Israel is where He will return. Messiah, Save the Jews, Your chosen people to be a royal priesthood unto You! Save Your own, Messiah—the ones You chose to tell of You to the world! Jesus, Son of the living God, reveal Yourself to them in Your love and truth! Abba, Lord, send Your laborers, by Your Spirit, to reap the souls of the Jews!”