someone once (assuming my disdain for bumper stickers) gave me one that says: "My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter"
no comment.
I have a friend that I don't see often enough who regularly challenges me. over the past few years he's been on a journey to delve into jewish(ness). to view his following of Jesus in the light of Jesus' own human heritage.
what does it mean that Jesus is Jewish?
are we capable of understanding what it means to follow him without doing so in the context of Judaism?
does it matter to you?
should it?
thoughts?
5 comments:
In that Jesus was a Jew, fundamentalist christians would deny him entry into Heaven at the Rapture. His parents, too.
Quirky thought, eh?
I've put some degree of thought into what it means for Jesus to have been a Jew, and I think that this is of far more importance than we can understand being so far removed from the Judaism of the Ancient World. It was a very different social and political Judaism than exists today, considering it was weak and conquered (and if the spirituality of slavery has taught us anything it should be that our sense of spirituality changes immensely depending upon our perceived reliance upon God).
When I was in Israel and Poland a couple of years ago with a Jewish organization, I was struck by the culture of beauty and reverence, with a notable disdain for confusing worldly grandeur with that of spiritual grandeur. The synagogues were simple and beautiful. Every inch of the woodwork appeared imbued with an absolute reverence for God and a desire to understand him (in contrast to a contemporary Christian desire to be his friend).
When I came back, I promised myself I would more thoroughly consider what this meant for me spiritually. I have not thus far kept this promise - but Judaism surely was a beautiful thing.
I don't know what this tells me about Jesus though.
I agree with canadianhumility in regards to his comments concerning the importance of Jesus and his Jewish upbringing.
I am taking a class called "Jewish Backgrounds to early Christianity"... it is epic. I am learning alot about Jesus and the context in which he was in. I believe you can love Jesus and be loved by him without a knowledge of Judaism, but I think understanding his Jewishness and pursuing that can help you better understand and grow in him.
I know that challenging friend. He is challenging indeed. He challenges me more than you know.
And from what me and him have been learning, Jesus Jewishness is not a part of him. It is him. He was not christian. Ever. He didn't go to a church. He wasn't a pastor.
Nor was Paul, the disciples, or John the Baptist.
Theres a thousand things I want to say. I went to a baptist church for 18 years. The last 5 I was heavily involved, even leading some small groups. But in the last year of studying the "old testament" (which I now understand to not even be a correct term), I have learned more about my God, my Saviour Yeshua (Jesus hebrew name, which is the word "salvation"...coincedence?), and what the church he established was meant to look like.
All I will say is this. The new testament is like the organs and blood. The bring life. But the old testament is the skeleton. It is the foundation which gives the life true life. True, old testament without new would be nothing for most of us, but imagine your life without most of your bones. We NEED to learn the context in which Jesus taught and lived. Out of context, we are a far off greek based church.
Look at verses like James 1:22-25 and 2 Tim 3:14-17. They weren't talking about the new testament. It didn't exist. Paul and John were talking about the old testament as we call it. Process that for a while.
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