Last night we watched the first part of the 3 part series on PBS The U.S. and the Holocaust. It showcased the sentiment in this country toward immigration during World War II. The Great Depression left little room in people’s hearts for “foreign” people coming to find shelter here when jobs and food were so scarce. What was especially difficult to watch was the anti-Semitism so prevalent here and around the world. I couldn’t help but think that if Jesus was alive in Germany in that awful time, He, too, would have been rounded up and would have had to wear that yellow star so He could be victimized, hated, murdered in concentration camps of hate. Mary descended on her father’s side from the tribe of Judah and on her mother’s side from the tribe of Levi. A Jew. Our Lord was fully human…Jew…and fully Divine, God.

Reading Exodus 13 this morning The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal. v. 1-2. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons. v. 12-13. I confess I’m glad I live in a time when we don’t have to sacrifice animals. My husband tells me if I had grown up on a farm my heart would feel differently toward animals. So I asked Him in prayer this morning what does it mean to redeem, help me understand in the context of so much hate in the world of humans for other humans…what does redeem mean? His answer? You are My redeemed child. I gave My life for you. I paid the price in full. In this world you experience the penalty sin has wrought in your heart and mind. You know the struggle you can’t break free from on your own. Your heart is weighted down with the hate so visible in the hearts of men. You experience despair and confusion. You long for the light and healing of My love poured out on everyone. My redeeming love. I give your heart peace and hope. Set your heart on My love and the light of My truth. Wait in patient love and trust in Me.

I’m reading about my ancestors in the pages of Scripture. Watching the PBS documentary last night I saw newsreel images of my ancestors: my own Scottish ancestors, Germans, Eastern Europeans, Asian, African, Russian, Middle Eastern…so many people and all so different in appearance but all so dearly loved by God that He gave His only Son for each of us to redeem…to buy back…from the slavery of the sin of hate so prevalent in our hearts then and now. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:1-10.

History and Scripture is full of the works of men; and hate is right there in every age of mankind, our ancestors all, and we are seeing that same hate played out today in mens hearts and minds. Gods great mercy? By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. v. 21-22. God never left them. He never leaves us. But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. John 16:13-15.

The one truth we can cling to? God is love. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God? And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3.

That’s the hope I cling to. The world lives in darkness and great is that darkness of hate. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5. Take His hand and walk with Him in the light of His love for you. He’s here. We have so much to learn about His love and He is patient with us…all of us.