Risen... on heroes and martyrs. A study in John 20.

 Risen! On heroes and martyrs

A sermon given in Sydney

12 October 2025

By Bob Mendelsohn

Introduction

Dr. Russell Johnson is the Assistant Director of the Undergraduate Religious Studies Program at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on antagonism, nonviolence, and the philosophy of communication. I read an article he wrote back in 2020 during COVID after the terrible murders in the US of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Both black; both killed wrongly. Both memorialized in paintings, songs, and murals in urban centres and both a symbol of something Johnson wrote about. His article was titled “The Difference between Heroes and Martyrs.”

I found it a compelling argument that martyrs died for a cause and heroes lived in such a way to compel followers to not only admire them, but also to imitate them. 

I remember this article and his considerations and appreciated Johnson’s descriptions. 

One of my takeaways, which I don’t think he wanted as a highlight, was that in either case, for hero or martyr, the person is dead. Heroes don’t necessarily immediately die, but eventually they must. Martyrs always die.

We sometimes use terms like this. We say that a rugby player was heroic. We say that someone like Cathy Freeman ran a hero’s race in Sydney 2000. No matter what, however, Cathy and every rugby champion will die. That won’t change the narrative as far as what we call them. Even so, all heroes and all martyrs die. 

Ancients understood all that. Their heroes and their martyrs to us centuries later died for the cause or La Raza, or to win a battle. 

I’m guessing that most of you in this room today are believers in and followers of the Bible. And one thing we know about those authors of the sacred text is that they had to be telling the Truth. The truths about themselves and about the Jewish people; the truths about God and how we as people can and must be in relation to God.

Truth telling

Now most of us have read some of the sayings of Yeshua, of Jesus, and have discovered that he made some mammoth claims about his own identity and his own ending. 

You here in Minto have been studying the Gospel of John recently and you well understand this notion of claims. Yeshua said “I am the Bread of life”. He told a woman at a well that he would give water that never ran out. He told the disciples at Passover he was “the way, the truth and the life”. He claimed to be the only shepherd of the sheep in direct contrast to the false shepherds, that is, the Jewish leadership which surrounded the Holy Temple. He said that all who came before him, who claimed to be messianic were false and like wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

Those are outrageous claims!

So let me say this. If Yeshua is merely a hero or would die a martyr’s death, but he was substantially a liar, that is, that his claims were false, then he’s no hero at all. If he’s not the Lord of life, as he claimed, then he’s a liar and not to be heeded in any way. 

The story is told of a Jewish man in Melbourne who wins the lottery. He rings his mother who is living in winter where it’s warm up on the Sunshine Coast. He tells her that he has won the lottery and will fly her first class tomorrow to Melbourne, to ride in his new yacht. 40’ yacht! He will send a limousine to collect her at Tullamarine, and she complies. 

On arrival at the dock, she exits the limo and sees him wearing a new suit, a uniform of a captain, with epilates and proper captain’s cap—the whole 9 yards.

He salutes his mother and welcomes her aboard. She looks around and says, “What’s with this outfit?”

He says, “Ma, I’m the captain of the yacht. I should dress right.”

She replies, “Listen, darling, by me you’re a captain. By you, you’re a captain. But to a captain, you’re no captain.”

Listen, I’m not the captain of the cruise ship down at Circular Quay. I’m not the captain of the Wallabies. I’m not the captain of my neighbourhood pickleball club. So if I claimed the title on my business card, I’d be a liar. And you shouldn’t put any stock in whatever else I might say. See how this works?

With all that as introduction, let’s see what these 18 verses in John 20 have to say to us as 21^st century people, here in Sydney and for anyone else who might watch or listen to this in days or years to come.

Evidence of truth

If you are a person who is inclined to believe when truth and facts are presented, then this story packs a punch. If however, you are not one of those, who deems all such story telling as fable and myth, then what John tells us in his biography of Yeshua will fall on deaf ears. Have you read these words in sacred texts? “He that has an ear, let him hear.” (e.g. Mt. 11.15, 13.9, Mk. 4.9, 7.16, Luke 8.8, 14.35, Rev. 2.7, .11, .17, 13.9) What Yeshua is saying by this turn of phrase is that if you are willing to learn, this will be become for you substance and truth. He’s also saying that if you are not given to learn, then this will only be noise and worthless information. 

Do you also remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man. It’s in Luke 16. Yeshua teaches that after these two men die, they go to their eternal ending and the unnamed rich man wants Lazarus to continue to serve him, and he wants to warn his family of what might result if they don’t do the right thing. Yeshua says, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.” He lays out this ‘ear, hear’ thing clearly with the sentence, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Lk. 16.31)

With all that understanding of evidence and willingness, we turn to the Scripture of the day in the first part of John 20.

Three days/ Three nights

Verse one, it’s obviously Sunday morning. First day of the week, unlike some Aussie calendars, is Sunday. In Hebrew, yom rishon. First day. The question is why include that? I believe to showcase that Yeshua was in the grave three days and three nights. Now to understand this, we have to know the way Jewish people regard days. 

For Jewish reckoning, any part of a day is a day. If I say to you, I’ll see you in a couple of days, that could be in exactly 48 hours or even on the 3^rd day or …honestly we don’t know what that vague phrase ‘couple of’ might mean. To a Jewish person, any part of a day is a day. And one more thing. Jewish days begin the night before usually around sunset. So today in Sydney it’s Sunday, the first day of the week, which in Jewish rendering began on Saturday evening around sunset. 

This will help you with the 3 days and 3 nights of Yeshua’s prophecy about himself. (Matt. 12.40) I believe Yeshua died on Friday of that Holy Week. Friday in Jewish reckoning is Day 6 of the week. And when does Day 6 begin? On our Thursday at sunset.  3 Nights? Yeshua was in the tomb on Thursday evening, Friday evening, Saturday evening. 3 nights. 

No matter how you slice it, you won’t be able to get an exact 72 hours from the death to the resurrection. He died in the afternoon; he arose in the early morning. 

Three days? He was in the tomb Friday day, Saturday day, and Sunday day. Three days. 

Any part of a day is the whole day. So if he’s in the tomb Friday daytime, that included Thursday night. 

The scene at the tomb

Mary, in verse one, saw the stone already rolled away. So this is not a resurrection story, it’s a post-resurrection story. No one saw the explosive opening of the tomb. And Mary is upset and running away. She had come to bring proper spices and perhaps to remember again, in a mourning fashion, as his death and burial took place so loudly and with disruption to the Passover holiday. In fact, everything about the ending of chapter 19 is uncomfortable. Turbulence and emotional strain is characteristic of all the Holy Week events. 

So here it is, Sunday early morning, and Mary went to the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea to make final what was perhaps undone. And to settle once and for all her sadness. Her pain. To say ‘goodbye’ properly. 

What does she find? Disruption again. THEY have taken him away. She runs (this is long before jogging became fashionable and is out-of-character for proper women in those days) to the usual place where the disciples met. She finds Peter and John and declares that someone, in fact, probably the Romans or the Jewish leadership, we don’t know which, some people stole him away! And we are at a loss. He’s gone!!!

The narrative shows John running faster than Peter which is a funny inclusion to me. Is John more fit? Is Peter embarrassed about seeing Yeshua whom he had denied three times? We don’t know. But John lets us know that he’s quicker to the tomb and yet reluctant to enter. That could be honorific or purposeful to avoid personal contamination. Again, we are not privy to the rationale. 

Verse five introduces to us linen wrappings, both on the body and on the head. You may have heard some fanciful tales on the internet about Jewish customs and foldings, but I call them fanciful, for there is no substantiation of those internet speculations in anything of Jewish sources. 

What is of note is that the shroud and the headwraps were there, which means the resurrected one was naked on exit. We see him soon in the garden in verse 15, but we are fairly certain he is clothed. With what did he wrap himself? We are not given that information either. 

I don’t worry when the Bible leaves us with many questions. I rather enjoy ‘wonder.’ Today, wonder aloud about how far the earth is from the moon, and someone will jump on Google and answer you. They don’t know how to not know, to wonder, and to sit in ignorance. I’m ok with not knowing everything. I know the One who does.

Can you see how disruptive this whole scene is?

Don’t miss this little phrase about himself that John included. It’s in verse 8. “he saw and believed.”

If you have read much of John’s writings, either in the Revelation or the three epistles that bear his name, or this Gospel you’ve been studying of late, then you will know that John loves to write about ‘what we have seen and heard.’ Primary evidence as eyewitnesses is more important to John and his evangelistic writing than anything else. 

He says, “I saw” and “I believed.”  And at the end of this chapter, he urges his readers also to see and to believe, and with the resultant LIFE which Yeshua, the author of life, promised. Throughout the Gospel, John wants his readers to understand and to heed the testimony, to trust the eyewitnesses, and to believe SO THAT they might have life. Not because Yeshua was heroic. Not because Yeshua died for a cause as a martyr, but because he is risen. Of that, he is an eyewitness. He calls himself to the witness stand.

In fact, he tells us that he, John, was not so convinced right away. He admits to his own ignorance. Verses 9 and 10 show him and Peter returning home and not believing in the Scriptures.  Or at least not really understanding. Their confusion meter was very high. They didn’t get it. 

The tomb scene Part 2

Mary however stays back in the garden tomb area. She meets the risen Jesus whom she initially thinks is the gardener. She is weeping. And she wonders why and what he has done with the body of her Lord. He says, “why are you weeping?” (.15)  Seeing through her own tears is like a translucent glass, rather than transparent. (https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobmendo/54833158076/in/dateposted/ ) Her vision is blurred. Furthermore, when one is expecting a horizontal dead body, a standing vertical vibrant one would not match expectations. But Yeshua unpacks the whole story with one word. “Mary.” He says and in that moment she hears his unmistakeable voice and the tender call she heard long ago. (Luke 8.2)

She falls at his feet, and embraces his leg to which Yeshua says, “stop clinging to me.” Then he told her his plan, to ascend to the Father, but first she has a duty, to go to the brothers and sisters, to announce his resurrection and imminent ascension. He has won the victory—go tell the others. In other words, “I’m alive!”

Verse 18 we read ,“Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.”

Abrupt ending of the tomb scene. 

Abrupt beginning of the rest of the story.

And an unusual choice for the final witness to the story. 

Strange list of witnesses

You see, John’s biography includes a long list of witnesses called to the witness stand. Remember that one of the first witnesses whom John calls to testify is not the normal, powerful and respectable. Think back through his Gospel. He calls nervous Nicodemus, who sneaks around at night, to testify. He calls an unnamed woman at a well in chapter 4 who is not living an exactly kosher life, sleeping with her 6^th man, to testify to the truths of Yeshua. A woman caught in adultery joins the list in chapter 8. John writes his biography with one purpose, and the eyewitnesses he calls to the witness stand are not the prominent, not the leadership, not the heroes or the powerful. He calls ordinary people to the court, and you, the reader, are the judge of it all. If you have ears to hear, you will hear. And you will recognize the truths of these eyewitnesses, and you will believe. And you will have life. Life. That’s the purpose of John’s writings. 

John alone records this sentence of Yeshua. “I am come that you might have life, and that life in abundance.” (10.10)

So, for you this morning, and wherever you are, listening or watching this talk, I urge you to consider your life, to consider the life God wants for you. To take Yeshua as your Saviour and Lord and to repent of your sins and welcome him as your boss. He wants you to believe SO THAT you will have life. 

Right where you are, at home, or here in the gathering in Campbelltown, please welcome Yeshua, welcome Jesus, as your Saviour. He alone can save you from your sins and bring you into relationship with God. Do it now. 

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To watch this sermon on YOuTube, it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-lBMFaqUNI&t=1911s Thanks to the video people of the church.

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Johnson’s article in “Sightings”, a journal of the University of Chicago Divinity School.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/difference-between-heroes-and-martyrs#:~:text=Heroes%20are%20celebrated%20for%20what,commemorated%20for%20what%20they%20symbolize.

 

 

On idols and freedoms... a study in Exodus 32

Introduction

I remember when Ronald Reagan died in 2004, on D-Day. His legacy is still being written, perhaps by contrast with current settings. This comment came from Charles Colson, who used to work on détente under President Richard Nixon and barely knew Reagan. He says that Reagan defined the 2^nd half of the 20^th Century. 

“He will define it because he had the boldness to make a sharp break with American foreign policy by calling evil by its right name. Whether it came from a well-formed Christian worldview or from his unfailing intuition, Reagan defined good and evil in a way that reflected Christian truth, and this is what changed the course of history.”

Reagan dared to challenge the Soviets on the basis of morality—good versus evil. Freedom and democracy were good, tyranny and communism evil. And so at the Berlin Wall, Reagan challenged Soviet tyranny with the unforgettable words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" And it came down, and the Iron Curtain came down along with it.”

 

Today these thoughts are about good versus evil in our days. Not in light of some political scene like we’ve been watching in Ukraine or Gaza, but in terms of our own lives. And I want to talk about heroes and idols. And finally we will talk about freedom and Jewish law. All from our text in Exodus 32.

On idols and heroes

I’ve had heroes; people who have made an impact on my life and whom I admire. As we read about the Golden Calf, the question pops into my mind: is a hero the same as an idol? They say everyone should have an idol, but maybe that’s not right in light of today’s Bible portion and the complete teachings of Torah.

We read about trouble falling on idol worshippers. I remember going to Thailand with my wife and one daughter and everywhere there were statues and shrines dedicated to this god or that one, and one time our tour guide wanted me to kneel down and toss some sticks and say a prayer or something to a wise man. I wouldn’t do it.  I thought it was idolatry. My daughter thought I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

Here in Australia, we have our own version of an idol. I wonder what it is about music celebrities or movie stars that makes us want to idolize them? And why don’t we do the same with inventors or scientists? Why not our schoolteachers? Why not our parents?  I have my heroes. Are they the same as idols?

Let’s use this definition of ‘idol.’ The dictionary calls an idol, “an image used as an object of worship, or a false god.” It also says it is “One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.” Maybe that’s part of what we need to understand.   God always was warning my Jewish people against idolatry, which probably had to do with the false gods who were out there. They had names back then like Marduch and Baal and Asherah, but most modern people wouldn’t name those as their idols.  Worship was supposed to be only to God, and never given to others in his place.

So are heroes who are good for us, who model for us good things, like heroes in stories or in ancient fables or in modern movies… are they all bad? Are they all idols in the biblically bad sense?

The Greeks used stories to warn us of acting like gods. Consider the story of Arachne, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was turned into the first spider for her pains. 

Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of his father the sun god and was killed. 

Asclepius, a son of Apollo, was a physician so expert that he began cheating the underworld gods of their due--for he was saving people from death. Hades, king of the underworld, appealed to his brother Zeus, king of the realms above, and Zeus blasted Asclepius with a thunderbolt, burning him to a crisp. 

I think the difference is that heroes are human. They fail. We see them hitting 6s in the cricket pitch, but we also see them ending their careers with a duck. The best golfers sink 50-foot putts, but they also miss short ones to lose the Open. Idols never fail, but of course, they are not real. Heroes are like us; only they have gone on and done really great things. I can become like my hero; I could never be like an idol.

Back to the story of the Golden Calf.  Remember, idolatry didn’t help the Jewish people. Never does, never will.  Moses was called to go to the top of the Mountain, and to talk and meet with God. He tells the people to wait for him. And they do. And he climbs up Mt Sinai and is there for 40 days, nearly 6 weeks. That’s a long time to wait for an old man. Moses was in his eighties at the time. Some of the people probably thought he had died up there, or maybe he lost his way.  

So the people down at the bottom of Mt Sinai grew anxious.  What would they do now? No doubt, someone suggested making an idol and praying to it.   Unfortunately, Aaron and many of the people agreed and they rallied others to take the gold for the Tabernacle and make it into a calf. I don’t know how big it was, but I’ve seen pictures that show it to be the size of the Big Merino in Goulburn, and that’s really big.

The Bible says Aaron was responsible for making the Golden Calf and to be honest I wouldn’t want my name to go down in history connected with a bad situation like this one. I’d rather be like Elijah who challenged the prophets of Baal and made them realize that praying to an idol was a waste of time and that God is always going to win in the end.

This is classic Reagan-esque good vs. evil. Good is following God. Nothing else will do; it’s all summarized as evil.

So maybe you are wondering where Jesus fits into all this. 

My father used to tell me that believing in Jesus was like bowing to a tselem, that’s the Yiddish word for idol.  But what did Yeshua really say about idols and what did he do with worship?

Yeshua told everyone who was listening, that God was to be adored and worshiped. He wondered when people came and bowed themselves before him, what were they doing. Not that he refused worship, mind you, but he wondered if they knew what they were doing. Were they admitting that Jesus was God incarnate?

You see, the opposite of idolatry is the worship of the true God. And that’s what God always wanted. This makes sense personally too.

I need to remind myself that God is number one in my life.  Lots of things want me to give up what I know to be true about Jesus and to become like so many others. A Jewish man named Anton told me when he sees “Jews for Jesus” on our signage, that he wants to vomit.  On the other side, in the church, some want me to quit being Jewish and go eat a ham sandwich with them. But today I want to identify with my people and with my Messiah. I am a Jew, and I am a believer in Yeshua. 

Jesus is no tselem. He is not the idol who is so other-worldly that he cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. He was God who took on humanity and suffered like we do. In His death on the Roman cross, He smashed all idols of human invention. He took the punishment for our sins and opened the way for people-- all people-- to know right living with God, what the Bible calls ‘righteousness.’

The two sides of the Law: Freedom

 One final thing. In the last chapter (chapter 31. verse 21) we saw that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God.  In today’s lesson we read

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. (15-16) The writing was done by God and are known as the 10 commandments, 

 

A couple things to note. The writing was done on both sides, but could be read by people on each side the same way. Like we could do with the letter “A” or “H”, but we could not do with “E”. Thus the mention of ‘one side and the other side.”

 

The writing was done by God, engraved the Bible says, on the tablets.

Harut is the Hebrew word for engraved. Herut is the Hebrew word for liberty or freedom. Allow me to change the voweling on the text and translate it thus, “And the tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, freedom on the tablets” In other words, the Word of God is what brings freedom.

During these troubled days of war and uncertainty, when freedoms continue to be major news each day, we turn our thoughts to freedom. And we rarely think that freedom comes with restrictions. Yet to the wise man, the truly free is one who is taught freedom and its guidelines. The truly free is one who is bound to the rules and joys of freedom. 

Yeshua said it this way, ““If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8.32)

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests--and it was not there…Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" 

I say that to remind us of the good vs evil comments about Ronald Reagan. I say that to commend right living or righteousness to us. I say that to remind us of Jesus, our only mediator and Lord, who gives us righteousness by faith. It’s not in the Law, and our obedience to a set of rules. Our relationship with God determines our freedom. It’s not how many rules you can break, although that sounds attractive to many. Freedom comes from knowing the living God, being taught by Him and His word, and having those words engraved on our hearts. It’s in the Word of God that true freedom comes. We shall know the truth and that’s the truth about God and the truth about ourselves not being God, and that we desperately need God, That truth will set us free.

On Yom Kippur 2025... where is there hope from the Dark Side?

                  A Yom Kippur Sermon

Given 1 October 2025

10 Tishrei 5786

By Bob Mendelsohn

Introduction

Shalom friends. As we pause for the sermon tonight, let me ask you a question. Do you honestly believe there is real hope for the Jewish people, and for our world? In a world of strident bipolar hostility, and where people cannot speak with civility any longer—on what do you fix your hope? Is the answer to the woes in Israel and Gaza the same as the answer to the troubles in Ukraine? What about rising antisemitism here in Australia… is the government poised and capable to settle the conflicts? I will share my answers in a moment, but first let’s review some situations.

Situations of pain

Last year, the Harbour Bridge was shut, at a standstill. A southbound driver had slid into the northbound lanes, and a head-on crash ensued, killing 2 and injuring many others and stopping traffic for hours. The culprit broke the rules and as a result broke more than his share of trouble. People died. Their end came. 

Another moment: Our Jews for Jesus IT department had a major issue one morning a few weeks ago. The lights bubbled and throbbed relentlessly and as a result, all those 0s and 1s caused hundreds of emails to be sent, globally, to each recipient in an exercise. Our email servers were overloaded; the fix took hours. What an annoyance! Those of us who saw the emails barraging our inboxes almost immediately knew there was a problem, but what the answer was, that was way above our paygrade, as they say.

Another one. Last month, while my wife Patty and I were in Athens, whilst riding on a crowded metro train from the City Centre, on exit, I noticed that my wallet had been stolen; I’d been pickpocketed. Later in conversation, we replayed the scene repeatedly. Suspicion was high, and we think we know when and even how it happened, but that didn’t get my financial and health cards and driver’s license back. It was evil, and bothersome and wrong on so many levels, but how do we fix that, or can we?

Each of these scenes showcases what might be called in movie terms, “The dark side.”  In fact, movies and books and stories of all kinds almost require the eternal battle of light and dark. Otherwise why would we continue to read or watch the rest of the episode or the series? Who will win in the battles to come? Who will eventually bring justice and peace to a world or a neighbourhood or an individual at the end of their proverbial road? 

Can we know peace?

With all that as introduction, and with October 7 as the most recent dark side of our people, with antisemitism rising in Melbourne and here in Sydney, and with Yom Kippur as our setting, we are at a time in the modern days where the longing for justice and peace in our neighbourhoods and our world and even in us as individuals is a major concern. Is that true of you? Is that true of the news channel you watch? Is that true of your family? 

With these questions—where is justice? Where is peace? Or how do we fix the dark side … we turn our attention to the Scripture and to our Jewish tradition for answers. If indeed there even are answers. What do you think?

What’s your solution?

Migrate to Israel

One Christian recently wrote on his Facebook account,

“God is clearly doing something in Israel and perhaps the rise in antisemitism is God’s call to Jews to return to their land.  I believe that Israel is the safest place for them to be.”

Safe? You’ve got to be kidding, I thought. 

Politics

Many want to call on the US government to shake things up in Israel and call his good friend and Prime Minister Bibi or the Arab league leadership to force some handshakes and treaties, some hostage handovers, some bombing or no bombing, some peace deals or some takeovers… everyone seems to have an idea, but let me tell you, government won’t solve this one. The land of Israel was a hotbed of controversy since forever, and a handshake or a music festival or a weekend away won’t solve this ugliness. 

Governments will come and go, as will good will between nations. So where can we turn?

Religion

Religion is always on offer in our world. In fact, tens, hundreds, thousands of religions are broadcasting just now on the internet or live somewhere-- advancing their philosophies and ideas so that you would have peace or retribution or revenge or information enough to stand against the tides of evil in our world today. 

There is always more you can do, more money to send, more fasting or prayers, more service projects, religion never tires of asking its recruits and its generals to do more. Listen, I grew up an Orthodox Jewish boy and as an adult became more religious, by passing the religion of my parents and the modern Orthodox synagogue where I had my Bar Mitzvah. I became a ba’al teshuva and learned with rabbis and recruited other Jewish man to join me in laying tefillin and practicing our religion more fervently. But when push came to shove, I was able to perform ritually, but still didn’t have peace; I still didn’t have what might be called ‘the answer’ to the dark side. 

The problem wasn’t all external. I had plenty of dark side in myself. That was a shock to me; or as Pogo would say, “we have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Atonement via psychology

Queensland psychologist Anne-Marie Elias wrote in the Melbourne Jewish Report in September “atonement can play a vital role in societal healing…can foster a sense of closure and facilitate healing among affected communities.”  She lists some caveats like the “sincerity of the remorse expressed” and “if the wrongdoer is perceived as insincere or self-serving, the process is likely to fail.”

Where is there peace and reconciliation then, if not in government, if not in religion, if not in psychology? 

Was Germany safe in 1925?

Think back 100 years ago with me. Imagine the safety of Jewish people living in Germany in 1920. We had significant power and status, good neighbourhoods and some fine positions in society, but not every rabbi was comfortable with who we were then. 

For instance, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman (1874–1941), a Pre‑Holocaust Lithuanian Rosh Yeshiva, warned that Europe’s Jews were in trouble and therefore, divine retaliation was unavoidable. He wrote, “The Jews in Europe declared war on Hashem. And now He has declared war on them. And that’s why He’s sending His armies against them.” (cited by Rabbi Avigdor Miller quoting Wasserman on the cause of Europe’s downfall https://www.torasavigdor.org )

Rabbi Avigdor Miller, an influential American haredi rabbi, said this was neither isolated nor random (1908-2001) and said something shockingly similar after World War II, “This colossal tragedy of history ... was God’s open demonstration against assimilation whether physical or mental, ... only the most blind could ignore it.” (The Holocaust (bauk.org)    He maintained the Shoah was a divine wake-up call against secularism.

Before Messianic Jewish author Art Katz passed away 18 years ago, he had a significant impact in my life, and his books still speak to me. We had first met in 1973 in Pennsylvania, and we last spoke in person in the US in 2003 or so. His notion of the Holocaust as judgment on the Jewish people never sat comfortably with many messianic leaders and people, but, and I say this with deep sadness, his thesis sits very well with me. Basically he argued that if God did not judge the Jewish people for the manner in which we had disobeyed and disregarded the Lord, he would have to apologize to the Jewish people of Jeremiah’s day. 

Now I don’t pretend to imagine that this is a popular thesis. Some of you may have just stopped listening to me, live or on YouTube as a result of this comment. Fair enough. 

Judaism’s non-answer

Contemporary Jewish leadership—especially in mainstream and denominational circles—focuses on collective responsibility, external threats, and psychological resilience, rather than framing national trauma through a theological lens of divine discipline.

This reflects a shift toward modern, pragmatic responses to crisis, differing from older paradigms that interpreted calamity as Heaven’s correction—a motif more often found in certain traditional or Messianic schools, not in present-day mainstream discourse.

But if you can, please listen to these words from different Jewish prophets who wrote just before the destruction of the First Temple and the exile by the Babylonians in 586 BCE.

 

The prophets spoke long ago

“For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, 

With the punishment of a cruel one, because your iniquity is great, And your sins are numerous. ‘Why do you cry out over your injury? Your pain is incurable. Because your iniquity is great,  And your sins are numerous, I have done these things to you.”    (Jeremiah 30.14-15)

 

“In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” (Jer. 2.30)

 

“ O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? 

You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; 

You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. 

They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.” (Jer. 5.3)

“Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by sword, famine and plague! He who is far off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I spend My wrath on them.” (Ezek. 6.3-5,11)

“Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them out of His sight.” (2 Kings 17.19-20)

Judgment by God on his people, on us, on our people, is ever warranted. The rabbis teach that we lost the First Temple due to adultery, idolatry, and murder. Sin has consequences.

The purpose of the judgments

You might think I would leave us here, with judgment deserved and without hope to conquer the dark side at all, but I won’t do that. 

Art Katz said, “Judgment is not an end in itself. It is God’s last, severe mercy to turn a people back to Himself.”

Never forget that the purpose of these judgments (again, not punishments, not permanent disregards) was for one purpose, “that we might know that He is the Lord.” (Ezekiel 6.7-13, 1 Kings 20.28) The purpose was not academic or to win a trivia contest. The purpose was to forge and shape a relationship between us and the Lord. No pretence; no gamery. God wants and wanted and will want our attention. And our devotion, and our love. And he wants us to receive his love and devotion and attention. That’s what a relationship is all about. 

That means you, oh Bondi. That means you Eastern suburbs. That means all of us Sydney, and all of us Jews in Australia, and all of us Jews worldwide. 15 million or so of us, 7 million living in the land of Israel. 100,000 or so of us here in Australia. 

The purpose of the Holocaust was not to make a nice shiny new nation and government in between Lebanon and Egypt. It was to make us repent and cry out for forgiveness and to know God. 

The purpose of 7 October was not to gain world sympathy, as if it did come, it didn’t last very long at all. God’s judgment on the Jewish people is designed to make us turn to face him and to repent and to ‘go and sin no more.’

Won’t reform work?

Patty and I met many Jewish people while on leave, and two Jews in Athens stand out in my memory. One was from Colombia, the other from New Jersey. Each wondered aloud as we discussed global problems, “What did we do wrong?” when pondering global antisemitism. Each of them averred that we as Jewish people took care of others and were kind. We didn’t deserve this tragedy. But I challenged them both. And Yom Kippur challenges us boldly tonight. We have sinned. Is it not obvious? 

A Jewish woman and God’s finger pointing

Do you remember the story of Yeshua and his finger? A woman who had been caught in adultery was grabbed and forcefully dragged to be brought before him. (John chapter 8) When they literally threw her in front of Yeshua in the makeshift courtroom, he stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. (8.6) 

I imagine the prosecution was hoping he would point his finger at the woman and like them, label her as a sinner, and worthy of execution. (Leviticus 20.10) That’s in fact what John tells us in the biography here, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” (8.4-5)

Obviously, this was a trap, and the men accusers didn’t really care about this woman at all. It was designed to catch Yeshua out and have grounds to disregard or even arrest and rid them of him.

God in Exodus wrote on stones; Jesus here writes on dirt; what did he write?

Many aver opinions, but I’m convinced that Yeshua was writing the sins of the people who accused the woman by writing commandments they broke. He might have been writing “Thou shalt not murder” or “Thou shalt not bear false witness” or “Thou shalt love thy neighbour” or any number of commandments that he found the men breaking that day.

Listen to another passage from Jeremiah, “All who forsake Thee will be put to shame. Those who turn away will be written down on the earth” (Jeremiah 17.13) 

I believe Yeshua was writing the men’s sins and they were seeing their own error.

John brings part of this story to a close by saying that “one by one beginning with the older ones, they began to go out.” (v. 9) I like that. The older ones knew their sins and admitted them faster than the hot-headed younger ones. 

God’s finger wrote justice for the men and at the same time it wrote forgiveness for the woman that day.

The story ends with Yeshua declaring forensic freedom for her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (John 8.11)

God’s finger still writes God’s laws, in our days. He writes them on hearts of flesh. He writes them in the consciences of people who have hearts and ears to hear what His message is to humanity. I hope you are a person who wants to know God’s ordinances. I hope you want to know God personally. If so, then the commandment and the choice and the freedom of forgiveness and the love and the God of it all is available to you. And for you. And ultimately for Him and His glory.

And it’s summed up in the person and work of Messiah Yeshua. He is the great atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

The most quoted characteristics of God are first said in Exodus, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” (34.6-7)

This is the first of 8 times this sentence is spoken in the Tenach. Three of them in the Psalms (86:15; 103:8; 145:8) and one each in Num 14:18; Joel 2:13; Nah 1:3; Neh 9:17; Jonah 4:2)

This was said to Moses. And he told us. And we are still learning about God. So that we can call him Father. So that we can call him friend. So that our lives will be with him and in him. 

Tonight. 

Tomorrow.

From now on. 

Amen?

Pickpocketing will still happen. Thieves are gonna steal. IT departments will still need to repair glitches the computers create. Car accidents will still happen, and wars and rumours of wars will continue until Yeshua puts his foot down on the Mt of Olives in Jerusalem. 

But until that time, each of us has a chance to be forgiven by the sacrifice of Yeshua, and to know God personally through the kindness of God our Saviour. If you repent, just now, and receive Yeshua as your Lord, you will know eternal life and his forgiveness of your sins. The dark side will be quashed; your new life will begin. Neither does God condemn you; go and sin no more. 

Have an easy fast. 

Shalom.

 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/794488249615663  Elon Gold on repentance.