Hope for Hardened Hearts
Missionaries Karol Joseph (left) and Shoshannah Weinisch (right) on a street outreach in NYC
By Aaron Abramson, Executive Director and CEO
Recently, I noticed a connection between two miracles that stopped me in my tracks: Jesus feeding 5,000+ people and His power to calm the storm. After the miracle of the loaves and fish, Jesus sent his disciples across the sea while He slipped away to pray. Soon, their boat was caught in a violent storm. As they struggled for their lives, they saw a figure walking toward them on the water. They were terrified, believing it was a ghost. But it was Jesus. He got into the boat, and instantly, the storm ceased.
Mark 6:51 tells us that the disciples were ‘amazed in themselves beyond measure.’ And verse 52 reveals the reason: ‘For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.’ Had they understood who Jesus was from the miracle of the loaves and fish, they would have known He had authority over the wind.
The reason why this stopped me in my tracks is that it hits so close to home. It doesn’t say the Pharisees’ hearts were hardened – it was Jesus’ own followers. They witnessed miracle after miracle as they spent day after day with the Son of God Himself; yet, their hearts remained hard, and they didn’t understand who He was. How could that be?
Spiritual hardness is the natural default of the human heart. And if that is the case for believers, what hope is there for unbelievers? The only hope we have is the only hope we need: God promises the Jewish people in Ezekiel 36:26, ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.’ We have not yet seen this fulfilled en masse, but God has been faithfully delivering on that promise through a believing remnant of Jewish people in every generation.
Look at the apostle Paul. We read about his zeal for pursuing and persecuting followers of Jesus. God had to physically blind Paul before he could see. But once God opened Paul’s eyes, and not just his eyes but his heart, Paul’s intense enmity toward the gospel became intense love and commitment to the gospel.
Everyone has a degree of spiritual hardness and blindness, but the Bible tells us (ironically, through Paul) that Jewish people, in particular, experience that hardness and partial blindness (Romans 11:25) – and that this will continue ‘until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.’ But in the meantime, God still wants us to reach out to Jewish people with the gospel despite the hardness.
That’s why everything we do at Jews for Jesus – every strategy, every resource, every ounce of effort – is focused on reaching Jewish people with the gospel. We pour ourselves into this, knowing that only a fraction of the thousands we engage will consider the possibility that He could be their Messiah. Regardless of how compelling our videos are, how beautifully designed our website is or how engaging our missionaries can be, many hearts remain hard. This isn’t something human effort can fix. It’s a spiritual condition, and only the Spirit of God can cure it.
This became clear to me early on when, as a new and passionate follower of Jesus, I shared my faith with a close friend. I’ll never forget his response: ‘Even if you could prove Jesus is the Messiah, I will NEVER follow Him.’ His words cut deep. But I didn’t stop praying. Months later, that friend gave his life to Jesus. Twenty-five years later, he’s still walking with the Lord.
Since then, I have seen God’s power to soften hearts time and time again. We send this newsletter to share stories of that power. We want you to know that while the majority of Jewish people are not open to the gospel at this time, together, we can reach a steady stream of those whose hearts God is softening.
This is why we pray and why we ask you to join us – knowing that with God, there is hope for hard hearts! Remember, without His work in our hearts, I would not have come to faith, and neither would you. I’m guessing that most of you know at least one person who prayed for God to give you the grace to trust Jesus.
So let’s ask God to keep our own hearts tender and open to His voice, and let’s keep praying for Him to do what only He can do: soften the hearts of His people, Israel.