Let me say right from the beginning—I am a huge fan of Ted Dekker’s works of fiction. I was unsure of what to expect from this book, though, as it is the first non-fiction work of his that I have read. I was not disappointed.
Tea With Hezbollah focuses on the central teaching of Jesus that one ought to love their neighbors, including their enemies, as they love themselves. This is a teaching that Jews, Christians and Muslims alike would acknowledge as beneficial, but it is also a teaching that all of us have failed to live out—both in our everyday lives and in the situation in the Middle East. In part, Dekker seeks to understand what it might mean to live out this teaching, and why it is hard to do so.
Dekker and Medearis take the reader along for the ride as they travel through the Middle East from country to country, as they have tea and interview religious and political leaders. These interviews form the core revelations of the book. These international leaders are sometimes asked about this specific teaching to love one’s enemies, but more often they are asked about day-to-day life—questions like “What do you do for a living?” and “What makes you laugh?”
The idea of drinking tea and spending time with leaders in the Middle East is, to some, terrifying, and to others, intriguing. The whole twist of the idea, though, is that as Dekker and Medearis are drinking tea and interviewing these Middle Eastern leaders, they are living out the very teaching that they are examining. What better way to love one’s enemies than to sit down and have honest conversation with them? Honest conversation is a way to say to one’s enemies, “We recognize that we are no better than you. We have an opinion, but so do you. Maybe we could seek to understand one another better.” Not only do Dekker and Medearis try to discover what it might mean to love one’s enemy, but they exemplify it for the rest of us.
If you only read one book this year, let it be this one. It will change your thinking about Middle Eastern situation. It will challenge your assumptions about who your neighbor is. Most importantly, though, the example of Dekker and Medearis will likely spur you on to fulfill the teaching they are examining—namely, to love your enemies.
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