'What do you mean?': The most important question in mission

When sharing the gospel, we seek to contextualise without compromising, so that people can better understand concepts of sin, salvation and Messiah without being waylaid in unfamiliar ‘Christianese’. But we also remember that it is God who works through these interactions, and only He can save.

People bring their own attitudes into gospel interactions, ranging from hostile to friendly, and while their response is beyond our control, our commitment to godliness remains unwavering as we strive to make Jesus known. In fact, when people get mad with us it means something in their heart is moving.

Our godly witness may well be a good testimony and stir people during our conversations, but God alone is at work in the hearts of people. While our attitude is to be grounded in the fruit of the Spirit — love, kindness, patience, and self-control; we cannot move people’s heart toward God. We want to pray before interactions and invite God to be present. We depend on Him alone.

The importance of listening to objections

It can be easy for Christians to read the Hebrew Bible and think: 'Of course this is a description of Jesus.' But Jewish people have real objections: 'If Jesus is the Messiah, why is there no world peace?' So, listening to objections must be the heart of a positive interaction. It is the least we can do.

Understanding what they mean is key. In my years with Jews for Jesus I have come to believe that the most important question we can ever ask someone is this: 'What do you mean?' It allows us an opportunity to authentically learn and understand. It also gives our Jewish friends an opportunity to expand on their thinking and elaborate. Tempted to be quick to answer, we need to recognise this can be counterproductive, either because we answer a question they didn’t ask, because we haven’t understood their objection, or worst still we come across as if we know the answer to every question.

Rather, we must adopt an attitude of humility when challenged with serious objections that our Jewish friends have: 'Jesus could never be the Messiah because He didn’t bring world peace, because He didn’t regather the people of Israel back to the land, because He didn’t rebuild the Temple.'

Objections to Jesus coming from Jewish friends can be challenging and unfamiliar, but we can seek to honestly learn from and understand what their objections are. The picture of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures is multi-faceted, on the one hand a picture of victory (Daniel 7) and the Son of Man, and on the other a picture of suffering (Isaiah 53), and this can help us share the gospel.

The importance of seeking to understand

For some Jewish people their objections are deeply rooted, giving them great confidence that Jesus is a false Messiah. So our attitude is to understand rather than judge their objections. This involves listening deeply to discern what drives their objections. We can ask thoughtful questions, build trust, and challenge assumptions.

Beyond these objections, we can ask them, 'What would it mean that there is a God and Jesus is indeed our Jewish Messiah our Bible is pointing to?' We want to invite dialogue that demonstrates that we are genuinely seeking to hear them while gently, sometimes directly, challenging their perspective.

Ultimately, only God can reach the heart; our role is to be discerning, sincere, and prayerful. As disciples of Jesus, our attitude flows from our relationship with Him — cultivated through personal reflection, devotion, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.