I am a Jewish believer in Jesus, and in 1982 I was working with Jews for Jesus at their Toronto branch.
Toronto has a large and strong Jewish population. Many of them were not happy that we had opened our branch in their city toward the end of the previous year. Our office constantly received nuisance phone calls, some of which used strong language.
Jews for Jesus
Jews for Jesus is not ashamed of the gospel, which God’s Word tells us is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first” (Romans 1:16). So we would go out to locations with heavy Jewish populations, including the University of Toronto. We always wore the words “Jews for Jesus” on our apparel and handed out “broadsides,” our gospel tracts, which were adorned with cartoons and often had a humorous slant.
Although we almost always went out in twos, our branch was just starting up and consisted of our director, Steve, and me as evangelists, and one administrative person. Steve was very busy trying to connect with local churches where we could speak and garner support for our mission. So I often went out broadsiding on my own, including outside one of the main student buildings at the University of Toronto.
Up Against the Wall
The Jewish students were not thrilled with my presence on campus, but usually ignored me rather than engaged. However, on one occasion, I stepped inside the building to take a break and warm up (winters in Toronto are very cold). A young man accosted me in the hallway and threw me up against the wall. I forget exactly what he said, but his point was that he didn’t want me on campus.
There was never a question that I would return to the campus, but what to do about this young man, who reminded me of what Saul must have been like before he became the Apostle Paul. (I’ll call him Saul for the remainder of this story.) When I regrouped with Steve later that day, he told me that if I saw Saul again on campus, I should phone the Toronto police, tell them of the assault, and have them come out and deal with Saul, perhaps even arrest him if they saw fit.
So one day I was back on campus handing out my broadsides and spotted Saul. He didn’t approach me, but I found a phone, contacted the local police, and asked them to come out to the campus. It so happened that Steve had scheduled a talk on campus that day about why we believe Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, with an open invitation for any students to attend. The meeting was still a good hour and a half away after I made the phone call, so I kept on broadsiding and waited for the police to show up.
A Tense Meeting
But by the time the meeting was to start, they had not come. So I joined Steve just before the meeting was to start, and we waited in the classroom to see who would attend. Lo and behold, who should walk in but Saul. He still had his angry, glowering countenance, and he entered with a few other Jewish students. So it was a small gathering, and Steve began his talk.
At one point, Steve read Isaiah 9:6: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
I spoke directly to Saul and asked him if he agreed that the meaning of names is very important in the Jewish culture. He agreed. I then pointed out that in this passage about a miraculous virgin birth, the son, who we believe is Jesus, shall be called Immanuel. I told him that Immanuel means “God with us.”
I watched Saul’s face closely as he processed this information. I could see that he was impacted by the implication of this name. His countenance changed from angry to puzzled to incredulous as he asked me, “You mean you are saying that Jesus is God?”
I told him, yes, exactly right. He was stunned and not antagonistic for the remainder of the meeting, though he did storm out immediately when it was over, looking angry again, probably because this was a lot to take in.
God’s Plan, Not Mine
And still the police had not arrived. We packed up and left the meeting to return to our office. Perhaps the police never arrived. We had planned to have Saul arrested. God’s plan was for him to hear the gospel.
I don’t remember running into Saul again, and if I had, we would not have contacted the police again. But I have always hoped and prayed that, like the apostle Paul, he became as zealous for Jesus as he had been for Judaism.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
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