“Truly I tell you, God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” – Acts 10:34-35
Every. Nation.
Walking that 6 mile stretch from our hotel in Tel Aviv to the ancient city of Joppa, modern day Jaffa, on this day last year, listening to the words of old echoing as the waves crashed into the shore, seemed like something out of a dream.
As a kid, I remember the name Jaffa being thrown around. I remember seeing the name show up across the screen of our television when we turned on the news. I remember thinking to myself, “Someday, I will go there and see what it’s all about.”
I never thought in my wildest dreams I would ever get to actually be there. How could I ever have imagined truly roaming the land of my ancestors, let alone as a welcome believer of the Lord?
To be completely vulnerable, I felt a small twinge of unease entering into the country. The history of pain between the brethren (Arab and Jew) was a history of pain for me too. I have to admit, loving my Jewish neighbor didn’t come naturally for me. It was ingrained in me from childhood that they are the enemy, that they had hurt my people. Seeing images of blood covered streets and children without families, tore me apart. Inside, I wondered, how I would be received, as a woman whose own home had been dismantled, from a nation of refugees, who are simply trying to find a family once again.
Yet the echo of truth rung in my ears, “God shows no partiality.” It brings me to tears remembering the feeling of belonging wandering through the streets of Jaffa. Everything was familiar. The smells of nostalgic foods, the voices booming in a tongue I understood, the busyness of the market place, the vision of Arabs and Jews living side by side together as one people. I admit, I was struck to the core.
I was gently reminded by the Spirit, that I too, a cast out Gentile, was welcomed in because of what happened in a vision here 2,000 years ago. For Joppa is where the Lord told Peter that He will no longer only accept Jews, but now, every nation who fears Him and does what is right, can enter into His covenant. In spite of my prideful fears, I was reminded, that there is no longer fear in love, for perfect love casts out all fear.
On top of all this, to think God in all of His goodness, allowed so major players of HISTORY to have crossed paths here in Joppa, floored me. Egyptians from the time of Rameses had a fingerprint here. Solomon built the temple with wood that was floated down the coast of the Mediterranean from Tyre, another foreign relation, a group of Gentiles. It was carried through the Jerusalem gate in Joppa all the way through the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem to build God’s house. Peter received his vision and shook the Christian world permanently. Napoleon even had a stronghold here.
Suddenly, we were all human, children of Adam and we are welcomed in. Welcomed home. Salvation is here.
