Sunday, October 29, 2017

Tales Ftom My Life - A Shocking Revelation



In the Catholic school of my boyhood, I was taught that the Jews were my enemies and that they had crucified my Jesus. They never told us that Jesus Himself was Jewish. I thought Jesus was Catholic and spoke only Aramaic! Only later did I learn that, although most of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem wanted Jesus killed (multitudes of the Jewish common people loved Him), Pilate also had a central role in Jesus’s death.
One day as I was walking to school, a friend mentioned that Jesus was Jewish. What! I demanded that he say it again. He repeated confidently that Jesus was Jewish.
I almost hit my friend. Surely he had blasphemed! The Jews had crucified Jesus, so there could be no way that Jesus Himself was a Jew. Besides, Jews in general were the enemies of us Palestinians, so how could the Jesus I loved have been Jewish?
Confused, I spent the next week repeatedly asking my teacher, my father, and others the same question: Was Jesus Jewish? Was He? Was Jesus Jewish?
They all answered yes.
So it was that, at age eight, I received my first revelation about Jesus’s identity—and it changed my understanding of my own identity.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

One Friday in Jerusalem


One Friday in Jerusalem is the most refreshing glimpse I have ever had into a Palestinian Maronite Christian’s deep personal experiences and spiritual insights. Having lived in Jerusalem, I appreciate Andre’s accurate and vivid descriptions of the Via Dolorosa, and I was riveted to the book as I walked each step, gleaning valuable insights. Andre neither defends nor undermines the traditional stations of the cross; rather, he shares an insider’s spiritual pilgrimage. His knowledge of his- tory and its importance in understanding Jerusalem’s modern conflicts makes this book a must-read.

Donald L. Brake Sr., PhD, Dean Emeritus, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, and Author of Jesus, A Visual History: The Dramatic Story of the Messiah in the Holy Land.