The Jew Sitting Next to Me

I was standing in line just before boarding the airplane and felt the need to put a pen in my pocket in case I wanted to do a crossword on the short flight. I found my aisle seat and noticed that the guy in the middle seat to my right was wearing a business ID lanyard with his (obviously Jewish) name on it. I thought, how “coincidental” to be seated next to a Jew with a trip to Israel only a few months away. I quickly knew better—this was sovereignly arranged.

I will pause here and say that if you’re like me when you travel, sometimes you don’t want to talk with the person beside you. I don’t naturally engage people (those who know me are laughing right now). But if you do feel up to talking, and God is even tugging at you to do so, how do you start the conversation? I opted to wait a little longer.

He soon decided to do the in-flight magazine crossword puzzle, but . . . wait for it . . . he didn’t have a pen, of course! He asked the lady in the window seat, who didn’t have one. You know who did. I gave him mine, but didn’t engage him in conversation just yet. He had his crossword to do. I enjoy them myself and like the peaceful process. He commenced to fully complete the puzzle as fast as he could write. I wish I had timed him. It couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes, tops.

He gave back the pen, and I chose this moment to begin the dialogue. “Do you get back to Israel much?” were my first words. I don’t know whether this out-of-the-blue question surprised him or not, but he answered that, yes, he goes back three times a year for the major holidays. I told him I had been twice and was returning again in two months, the same time as his next visit.

We proceeded to discuss a variety of topics: the state of Israel today, the recent presidential election here as it pertains to his homeland, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and other tidbits of Jewish history. I chose my words carefully, asked several questions, and only decided to mention Old Testament verses. I knew that a conversation of this nature would only plant a small spiritual seed at best. And this dialogue was for my benefit too (as it should be), for he was very knowledgeable.

Before you know it, we had landed. As we were standing on the plane waiting to get off, I felt led to ask an important question. “What advice would you give Christians in regards to Jews?” His answer was pretty quick: “Stop trying to evangelize us. Stop acting like you know the only path.” Judging by his demeanor, it wasn’t directed at me, even though he knew I was a Christian at this point. I hadn’t tried to evangelize him, so his sentiment must surely have been rooted in past experiences.

What was he really saying? Was this what he really meant? I believe he was also saying this: “Your attitude is wrong. It turns us off to what you are saying.”

Here is the conundrum for followers of Christ. We do believe we know the only true path to eternal life. Jesus is the way, not a way. The problem is, most of us go about sharing all wrong. There is a segment of Christians whose zeal has disabled their tactfulness (I personally experienced this and wrote about it here). This turns off nonbelievers in a big way. There is another segment whose religious pride is a stumbling block to people of other faiths. A lack of humility and respect is incompatible with grassroots evangelism. There is yet another segment who are naïve in thinking that God can only work in the window of their particular single conversation to change the other person’s heart. They rush right to the “altar call” and miss important signals. They forget that God is in control and will remove the scales from the nonbeliever’s eyes if and when He sees fit.

As for most of the rest of us? We usually don’t engage in this type of spiritual conversation to begin with. And the sad truth is that the majority of us do not know how to listen to the Holy Spirit and obey, much less be tactful, loving, knowledgeable, and prepared to adapt as the conversation evolves. It takes Bible study, prayer, and practice, and the only way to get there is to be available, have your spiritual radar up, and be ready to leap.

I didn’t handle our conversation perfectly, but I’m getting better at being in the moment, not rushing it, and showing love and respect just as Jesus would. As we walked off the plane together and looked for the gate information monitors for the locations of our next flights, I asked him, “May I say (to you), ‘The Lord bless you?’” He responded favorably, “Everyone needs to be blessed by God.” We all do indeed. We also all need a Savior. My prayer for him is that he will one day encounter Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, who came to redeem both Jews and Gentiles.

Until then, I hope our conversation gave him a new and positive interaction with a Christian to recall in the future. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be on the same flight to Israel in two months. I’d like to ask him some more questions.