But I Can Cook!

As I'm sure you've realized by now, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the entire question of the Messianic Judaism and One Law movements. What is the relationship between believing Gentiles and Jews? What is God's plan for each people group? Are we eternally locked into our own separate worlds or does God intend for us to be one flock with one shepherd?
I've also been considering my options for worship and service as defined by the MJ/BE movement. I basically have two choices:

1. I can attend an MJ congregation with the understanding that I really have no contribution to make, at least in terms of a formal "ministry".
2. I can attend a Sunday-keeping church, where my "ministry" options can be tailored to my skill sets but I have to keep rather mum on my knowledge and perspective on the Torah, the Jewish people, and Israel.

Then I started thinking about what I do in my own congregation that matches my personal skill sets...what you might call my "spiritual gifts" in a more traditional church setting. Essentially, I'm trying to answer the question, "what am I good for?" Here's what I do right now.

1. I designed and maintain the congregation's website.
2. I created and maintain the congregation's blog including researching and writing all of the blog content.
3. I research and teach most of the classes offered by the congregation, including the Shabbat teaching and any other Bible classes we offer.
4. As a board member, I participate in the overall planning and guidance of the congregation's vision, mission, and organization.

Of course, this is a very small congregation; not much larger than a home fellowship, but we've been around in the Treasure Valley for about 10 or 12 years, which makes us the oldest, continually operating Messianic/One Law congregation in Idaho. Doesn't sound incredibly impressive by human standards, but we strive to be one of God's lights shining in the darkness of a fallen world.

Being human, I have my faults and probably pride is one of those faults. I'm an introvert, but I do enjoy teaching. I particularly enjoy the research and learning aspects (I have two bachelors degrees and a masters degree, so I guess I'm a good student). I also enjoy the discussion process in the teachings; the exchange of ideas, the passion of expression of faith, watching the Spirit of God move among us as we seek greater intimacy and understanding.

I also enjoy writing. I guess that shouldn't be much of a shock. I work as a technical writer for a software company by day and write books by night and on Sundays. I also write articles, essays, book reviews, and blog incessantly (this blog is only one of several). For me, the writing and teaching aspects of my personality and my contribution to my congregation are more or less interchangeable.

NOTE: I should comment at this point that when I say "my congregation", I don't say it from a position of leadership or ownership so much as from a position of belonging and fellowship. I don't mean to say that the congregation is "mine" in the sense that I'm a boss or a leader or a big shot of any kind, but in the sense of being a part of a whole as in "my family" or "my community" or "my hometown".

Now let's return to my options as listed above. In an MJ/BE congregation, I wouldn't be qualified to perform any of the roles I do now because I'm not Jewish. In a Jewish congregation, only Jewish people teach, lead, write, build and maintain web content, discuss, contribute, and add value, at least as it has been explained to me. My "role" as such, would be to pray (omitting certain prayers that pertain just to the Jewish people), worship God, attend classes (being a notorious loudmouth, I'd probably ask questions and even offer opinions) and...and... What else? Oh, as a Gentile member of the congregation, just like the Jewish members, I would contribute financially. In other congregations, I've mopped floors, washed dishes, and pulled weeds, and those tasks are generic enough to where I would be qualified to perform them in an MJ/BE congregation. Is it just vanity that I feel a little deflated here?

My other option, as defined by MJ/BE, is to return to the traditional Christian church. Depending on the size of the church and the roles already occupied, I wouldn't necessarily be barred from most or all of the roles I now perform, at least not because of ethnicity. I can only imagine, if I were allowed to teach and write, I would either have to severely censor myself so as not to go against the grain of traditional theology, or just not enter those positions at all (or get criticized, edited, or tossed out on my ear for refuting replacement theology, the Sunday "sabbath", and the church being "spiritual Israel"). I could also mop floors, wash dishes, and pull weeds, and like I said, I've done that in church settings in the past and even occasionally in my current setting. In a small congregation, if you see a need, fulfill it.

So what really is my problem? Put another way, what really is the problem? Out of all the reasons that MJ/BE gives for the separation of roles between Jews and Gentiles in the MJ/BE context, I realized that one really big reason is historical. Look at what happened the first time Jews and Gentiles got together as branches on the olive tree (natural and grafted) and worshiped together.

The latest statistics I can find tell me that the worldwide Jewish population is 13.3 million people. That's roughly 0.2% of the overall human population of the planet. Kind of outnumbered. That's what happened to the early Messianic movement as far as history goes. As more and more Gentiles entered the Messianic Jewish movement in the early centuries of the Common Era, they (we Gentiles) displaced the Jews and eventually replaced them as leaders, teachers, and finally, we rewrote the theology and history of "the church" to favor Gentile Christians and disfavor Messianic Jews. This worked so well that eventually all Jewish people left the movement and totally denied the Christian Jesus as having any claim to Messiahship.

Here we are again. I mentioned that only about 0.2% of the world's population is Jewish. My best guess is only a very tiny percentage of that 0.2% are openly Messianic (I have a theory that some Jews are very quietly Messianic in Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues, but except for a few anecdotal tales, I have no hard evidence). So there are a tiny cluster of Messianic Jews in MJ synagogues and a horde of Gentiles clamoring to get in. Yeah, if I were a Messianic Jew, I'd be nervous, too. One of the lessons we all tend to accept is that history repeats itself.

I really think this is the answer to the issue of Gentiles in MJ. Jews are few and Gentiles are many. We have a tendency to enter into an environment, take over, consume all available resources, and then move on. I'm vaguely quoting Agent Smith (played by Hugo Weaving) delivering his comparison of human beings as a virus to a captive Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) from the film The Matrix (1999). Actually, when I was pondering these questions earlier while getting ready to go to work, my first thought was of the character Remy in the film Ratatouille (2007). If you've seen this rather charming Pixar film, you know that Remy is a rat. He comes from a family of rats and lives in a community of rats. All of Remy's family and friends are typical rats; hungry and dirty and thieving...however Remy is unique.

Of all of the rats anywhere, only Remy doesn't see human beings as the enemy. He admires human beings. He wants to be like human beings. He reads, walks upright, and understands spoken human languages...well, at least French. What he does best, like what even few human beings are able to do, is he can cook...and cook very well. But he's got a problem. He's a rat.

It doesn't matter how well Remy can cook, and what incredible delicacies he can make, and how clean and well behaved he is, and how much he admires and respects human beings, almost every human around him, when they see him, especially in a kitchen, tries to kill him.

He has to fight and fight hard, just to get one or two people to understand who he really is and what he's actually capable of, and to finally accept that he can cook very, very well. He has a unique skill set that is trapped in a rat's body. He can cook, but the overwhelming percentage of the human population would rather see him poisoned or die in a trap then live out his dream.

Gentiles aren't rats (most of the time) but there are a lot of us. We can behave rather poorly (well, that's true of all humans). Historically, we have entered into a Jewish worship form (by invitation, if we are to believe Peter, Paul, Yeshua, and God) and we've completely mucked it up. We've made life hell on wheels for the Jews who originally invited us into the club and now they don't really trust us. Who could blame them? How can they protect themselves from "the rats"?

The easiest way for a smaller people group to protect themselves from a much larger people group is isolation. We have seen that across the long expanse of history and not just as applied to Jews. Visit one of America's older cities such as Chicago or New York. You'll find neighborhoods that are strictly divided by people groups. Within those neighborhoods, all (or most) of the businesses, resources, and activities are organized around that one, specific people group. While I can go into most of those neighborhoods as a "non-resident" (let's say I want to visit a Japanese market in the Japan Town area of San Francisco), everyone will be friendly and I'll be able to do business, but it would be exceedingly rare for me to actually try to live there.

You can look at Jewish communities this way. You can look at Messianic Jewish communities this way but MJ communities have a built-in wrinkle. By mandate, they are supposed to invite Gentiles into the club. Read the end of Matthew 28 and you'll see that Yeshua directed his Jewish disciples to make disciples of the Gentiles, too. This means Jews had to teach Gentiles to be students of the Jewish Messiah by imitation, and you can only teach by imitation if you let people see you and interact with you. Hard to do by remote control.

Given all that, how do MJ communities fulfill their mandate and at the same time protect themselves from the dangers that history so specifically illustrates? By not letting us "cook". This makes sense. Listen.

This is just a guess, but it's probably a good one. Let's say that, as the first century Gentile population grew in the Messianic movement, we started doing things like teaching and leading. This would have been necessary in congregations that were mostly or exclusively Gentile, in parts of the then civilized world that didn't have a large Jewish population. I can imagine Paul coming into a town or an area with few Jews. He'd go to those Jews first with the message of the Good News of the Messiah, and then move on to the Gentiles. The Apostolic Scriptures record that many Gentiles were hungry for the message and eager to accept it. While monotheism and faith in the One God was historically common to Israel, it was unique, fresh, and invigorating to Gentiles who had been trapped in the darkness of pagan polytheism. Gentiles could receive the Holy Spirit and be saved, too. Even Peter was amazed.

However, as more and more Gentiles streamed in (Yeshua did say "all the nations"), they learned more, started leading local congregations, started teaching, and eventually took over. Maybe they resented their Jewish mentors and their "chosen" status. I don't know what they thought. I do know that as human beings, we have a tendency to rewrite what God gives us and to recreate it into our own image. It took less than three centuries for "the church" to replace "the Messianic Congregation" (though if you examine that history, "the church", though exclusively Gentile, was far from united and probably far from God).

If I were a Messianic Jew, aware of the overall history of Jewish people in relation to Gentiles, I'd be cautious of even those Gentiles who seemed benign and friendly. One way to avoid repeating history is to recognize the "mistakes" of previous encounters and avoid them. If allowing Gentiles to teach and lead results in Gentiles taking over the show and either marginalizing or kicking Jews out of their own synagogues, then don't let Gentiles teach and lead. You may have to graft the alien branches onto your native root, but you can choose where and how to do the grafting, to minimize the danger to the health of the natural branches.

While all this sounds reasonable and has the support of the historical record, this perspective also has to admit that the vast majority of Gentiles are "rats" who can't be trusted. This may be something of an exaggeration and perhaps I'm being unfair in my depiction, but when you look at the core statements and desired results of MJ/BE, I think it can be supported. Sure, MJ may contain the occasional "Remy" who is jumping up and down in the back screaming, "But I can cook!" but how do you know you can trust him (or her)? Will MJ even recognize that one small voice crying out among the choir of the other Gentiles?

From this perspective, it doesn't matter if I can "cook". It would be just too dangerous to let me do so. Maybe as an individual I would do little damage, but when other Gentiles saw what I was doing, they'd want to do the same thing...first a few, then more, then more, then more, and more and more and... You get the idea.

If I want to "cook" I either have to do so within the context of my current OL congregation and be willing to accept the perpetual criticism of my MJ "neighbors" for (supposedly) being anti-Church, a replacement theologist, and all of the other horrible assumptions that are made about anyone wearing my label, or I can retreat into the church where paradoxically, Messianic Jews will feel safe from me while I participate in a worship form that almost always preaches replacement theology.

Yes, I've been more than a little "tongue-in-cheek" and probably kind of rude in my blog today, but I wanted to illustrate what MJ/BE looks like from Remy's point of view. While in the Pixar universe, Remy is one-of-a-kind (and in the real world, as far as we know, all rats are vermin, dangerous, and worthy of extermination), there may be more than one "Remy" among the Gentiles seeking God's Word and God's way. When Yeshua gave the directive to make disciples of the Gentiles, I believe he didn't expect he was automatically dooming the Jews in the Messianic movement to displacement by Gentiles nor condemning Gentiles perpetually to the "cheap seats" in the Kingdom's "opera house".

So far, I've been looking at all of this from a historical and human perspective. I think we're missing something. If I'm just a rat, why did God wire me to "cook"?

Afterword: Actually, one of the things I can't do is cook, at least not well. I'm really good a barbecuing (charcoal only...no gas) and making omelets, but that's about the best I can do. In all other areas of cooking, I'm so-so (I do know how to iron, however).  Let's face it, I'm no Remy.