Rejoice and Tremble on the Bridge to Heaven

In the deepest recesses of our hearts fear and love dwell together; they reveal themselves in joy. We rejoice in the consciousness of God's love and nearness but tremble at the same time because of the awfulness of His presence.
-Paul Philip Levertoff
Love and the Messianic Age

Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
-Psalm 2:10-11

According to Levertoff, the Chasidic interpretation of Psalm 2:11 (Be glad with trembling) is symbolized by Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham expresses the love of God while Isaac represents the fear. We tend to think of "fearing" God in terms of awe, but for Isaac after the Akedah, God indeed became "the fear of Isaac".

Depending on who we are, we obey God out of one of those two motivations; fear or love. Most people who have newly come to faith tend to obey God out of the awareness of their own previous lives of sin. We fear God's punishment for the things we've done wrong in our lives and, if we continue to struggle with sin as believers, we continue to experience that fear.

As we develop spiritually, our fear turns to wonder, awe, and love of our Creator and we serve Him, not because we are afraid, but because we love Him.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” -Mark 12:28-33

Jesus encapsulated the whole of Torah as well as the point Levertoff is making, in Christ's declaration of the two greatest commandments as recorded in the Gospel of Mark (quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18).

We can "rejoice with trembling" that God chooses to allow His attribute of mercy to outweigh His attribute of justice, so that we, and the world, can endure the presence of the living God. The Vine of David commentary on Levertoff tells us how we respond to God's grace:

Every commandment of the Torah is an expression of God's will. When a person obeys one of God's commandments, he is literally living out God's will on earth - uniting Himself with HaShem and partnering with Him on earth.

When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, part of what we call "the Lord's prayer" contains the same directive; "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10), so again, we see that the teachings of the Jewish Messiah can be viewed in Levertoff's understanding of the Chasidic Jewish mystical tradition (specifically from the Tanya).

If you are looking at Jesus and the Gospels from a more traditionally Christian perspective, you probably are asking yourself what Chasidic Judaism and quotes from the Talmud and Tanya have to do with the saving grace of Jesus Christ. As I've previously written, Paul Philip Levertoff didn't understand how it was possible to comprehend the teachings of the Jewish Messiah without having a background in Talmud and Jewish mysticism. Levertoff read the Gospels and the teachings of the Master like other aggadic teachers from the Tannaim era, and they unfolded before him like a rose in bloom, revealing an interior many of us do not know exists. He recognized concepts from the Talmud and Mussar in the lessons and parables of the Messiah, and thus felt the Gospels were more Jewish in their nature than "Christian", as we understand modern Christianity.

Yet if the message of Jesus is so uniquely Jewish and can only be comprehended and acted upon from a Hebraic lived experience, how can non-Jewish Christians ever sufficiently access the Messiah and draw close to God? How can we, who are not part of Israel, His chosen ones, extend our relationship out of the realm of fear and into the vast expanse of awe and love?

Fear of God is necessary to inspire us to initially repent of our sins and make us aware of our need to turn or to return to God. For all the world, and particularly for non-Jewish believers, Christ becomes our bridge between fear and love, filling the gap that separates us from the understanding of our Jewish brothers and from the divine; a holiness that was previously only available to the Children of Israel. The Messiah came to allow the same kind of access to God for all human beings, regardless of who we are, where we're from, or any other attribute we may possess. Paul was very clear on this point in Galatians 3:28 ("neither Jew nor Greek").

When Jesus sent his Jewish disciples out to make disciples of all the nations (non-Jews) of the world (Matthew 28:19-20), he was extending the love of God to the entire human race, using himself as the intermediary to connect us all to the Father. When Jesus said "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:16), he wasn't excluding Jews in favor of Christians. Rather, he was projecting God's love beyond Israel by offering himself as a "doorway", so to speak, to the Almighty, using his life, suffering, death, and resurrection as the means by which the rest of us can join the community of the redeemed.

When we join with the Messiah, we join God as junior partners in the work of Creation, acting as small "Messiahs", in a sense, living out the will of God on earth as one day, the Messiah will come and complete God's will with us.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. -Revelation 22:3-5

May the Messiah come soon and in our day. Amen.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

Straightening the Path

While we have the responsibility of being "a light unto the nations" (Isaiah 42:6), we first have to be a light unto each other. As the saying goes, "charity begins at home." Still, we can't let this task overwhelm us to the point where we are either only good to Jews or only good to non-Jews. The more consistently we try treat other people well, the easier it will become to achieve both outcomes. Whether we're in shul on Friday night or out shopping during the week, we must always strive for top-notch behavior. Because of who we are, the world scrutinizes everything we do. At times, this is frustrating, but it isn't always a bad thing. It can also be a great opportunity to show people the kind of character God truly desires.

from The Chosen People
on the Lev Echad blog.

Does any of that sound familiar? As believers in the Jewish Messiah, we struggle to live a holy life that is pleasing to God (and I should know...I'm wrestling particularly hard with my "angel", just now). In the above example, Asher at Lev Echad is focusing on a life of righteousness based on God's requirement that the Jewish people are to be a "light to the world." In Judaism, obeying God is less what you believe or understand as an internal state, and more of a lifestyle. How you act and what you do counts for a whole lot more than how you conceptualize God (more "deed" than "creed", as I've heard said).

In Christianity, no one is chosen in the sense that Jews are chosen. If you're Jewish, you were chosen by virtue of being born to Jewish parents (or in less common situations, you choose to be a Jew by converting, thus you "choose to be chosen", as did Ruth). In Christianity (including Gentiles in the Messianic movement), such is not the case. While we may see ourselves as chosen "before the creation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20), we, in fact, do have a choice to be a Christian or not. The responsibility isn't thrust upon us because we were born into a particular family, even if our parents are Christians.

Asher makes clear that being Jewish doesn't make a Jew better than anyone else; it simply defines the responsibilities of a Jew to God and to the world as different than the members of any other people group:

It has absolutely nothing to do with racial or ethnic superiority. It simply means we have a unique mission to make the world aware of God and his ethical demands. That's it. These demands are basic values of decency that everyone can understand and abide by, regardless of who they are or where they came from.

He makes it even clearer that Jewish behavior, as recorded in the Tanakh (Old Testament), is a very humbling example of why being chosen has nothing to do with individual or national merit:

We are not worthy of this title on our own merits. God only chose us because we are the descendants of the first ethical monotheist, Abraham (Genesis 18:19). That's the sole reason. In fact, to prevent ourselves from any arrogance that might be compelled by this title, one has to look no further than episodes throughout Tanach, where we have often failed to live up to God's standards. This is hardly a tradition based on inherent superiority. Instead, goodness is always based upon a person's overall behavior.

That last sentence is compelling because it seems to be extremely simple and straightforward. As I've been reading (currently from Bart Ehrman's Jesus Interrupted) and studying, the road that points toward holiness seems to be very complicated, with many twists and turns. It's like trying to untangle a knot in a string that was tied by Escher.

I think one of the attractions some people have toward Judaism is that it seems so much more "tangible" than Christianity. While the 613 commandments and their interpretations can be enormously complex, at the core, a Jew's behavior is well-defined and can be reduced down to a fairly plain statement:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn. -Shabbat 31a

Jesus (Yeshua) said something similar, but phrased it as a set of positive rather than negative commandments:

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:28-31 (Deut. 6:4-5, Lev. 19:18)

Put that way, it seems as if the core of both Judaism and Christianity (and Messianic Judaism) is quite within our grasp. If we didn't know what else to do to live a life of righteousness, we could read those brief statements of Hillel and Jesus and then begin to implement them in our daily lives. Just realize what is "hateful" to you and then do not commit such acts toward others. Jesus expands on the concept and says that the source of our ability to do so resides in loving God with an intense love, and then to treat others in a way you would prefer to be treated.

That doesn't sound too hard, at least conceptually, but Hillel provides the clue as to what else is required: "That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn".

That's where I am now.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians have, in some sense, taken on board the original mandate of God to the Jews to be a "light to the world" (Matthew 5:14) and therefore, we are also responsible to live holy lives, not just for our own sakes and not just for God's, but for the sake of the people around us. In closing his blog spot, Asher describes Jewish "chosenness" and responsibility this way:

Due to the antagonism and responsibility this title brings, there's an old joke that most Jews would have preferred if God had chosen someone else. Nevertheless, spreading ethical monotheism to the world rests on our shoulders. The Chosen People idea is not dogma but historical fact. It's a powerful concept, but nothing to brag about. It's simply a calling we must try to live up to.

While Christians aren't Jews, if we call the Jewish Messiah our Lord and Master, then we also must try to live up to our calling. Not having been born into it, we have chosen to adopt that responsibility as our own and to transmit it to everyone we encounter, not so much by evangelism or proselytizing, but by treating everyone we meet respectfully and decently, just as we want to be treated.

Asher quotes the Reverend Edward H. Flannery as saying:

"It was Judaism that brought the concept of a God-given universal moral law into the world . . . the Jew carries the burden of God in history [and] for this has never been forgiven."

The Christian faith would not exist if not for the Jewish people, starting with Jesus, and continuing with the disciples who took the Good News to the pagan nations (the rest of us). While the process has seen many problems, and many difficulties exist in our understanding of who we are and what we must do, reading Hillel and Jesus also makes our mandate very clear. When in doubt (during the study of the Bible, for example), turn to God and out of an intense love for Him, love your neighbor (tangibly...not just "in your heart") just as you want God to love you.

For those of you who struggle with the concept of distinctions between people groups, I'd like to apply the words of Victor Frankl:

There are only two races of human beings: the decent and the indecent.

Jew or Christian, you can choose to obey God by loving God and by loving those around you, not just with your thoughts and feelings, but with your hands and your devotion.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.

What Would Gandhi Do?

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." -Gandhi

Nietzsche once said, "If you stare into the abyss long enough, the abyss stares into you." I once thought that faith would be a way for me to finally turn away from the abyss and for the abyss to finally turn away from me. Yet Gandhi's experiences with Christians remind me that what's wrong with a life of faith isn't the act of faith, but having to deal with the people of faith. We are the weakest link in the chain.

Mahatma Gandhi is one of the most respected leaders of modern history. A Hindu, Gandhi nevertheless admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when the missionary E. Stanley Jones met with Gandhi he asked him, “Mr. Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?”

Gandhi replied, “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Apparently Gandhi’s rejection of Christianity grew out of an incident that happened when he was a young man practising law in South Africa. He had become attracted to the Christian faith, had studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, and was seriously exploring becoming a Christian. And so he decided to attend a church service. As he came up the steps of the large church where he intended to go, a white South African elder of the church barred his way at the door. “Where do you think you’re going, kaffir?” the man asked Gandhi in a belligerent tone of voice.

Gandhi replied, “I’d like to attend worship here.”

The church elder snarled at him, “There’s no room for kaffirs in this church. Get out of here or I’ll have my assistants throw you down the steps.”

From that moment, Gandhi said, he decided to adopt what good he found in Christianity, but would never again consider becoming a Christian if it meant being part of the church.

How we treat those others tells people MORE about what we believe, and what following Jesus means to us, than all the fine sermons we deliver.

Found at John Mark Ministries
(original source unknown)

In visiting a number of blog posts and their accompanying comments over the past several months and particularly in recent weeks, I see an unswerving dedication of the believers making said blogs and comments to following the example and traditions of the Christians who threw Gandhi out of church in South Africa. If someone who doesn't fit the mold or says something that doesn't fit the prevailing theology of the group, they are insulted, belittled, and cast out.

I had a somewhat similar (though not as intense) experience in a church I used to attend once I started studying the Old Testament in a new way and started trying to grasp what the Torah must look like from a more Hebraic point of view. I no longer fit the mold and could not be accepted in the group while I asked questions the group wasn't prepared to answer. I did that just a few days ago and drew a lot of comments and conversation.

Don't get me wrong, the conversation is very worthwhile and I think there is much to be learned from such a dialog, but along with the interaction, some people found it necessary to get hot under the collar about the topic.

Why?

Are you so sure that your opinion is the only opinion and that it is the absolutely right opinion? Can you learn from no one else outside of you?

I ask these questions of myself all the time and this blog is the continually developing result of my attempt to answer those questions. Hopefully, my struggles, which are primarily with me, won't eventually degrade into developing and expressing a disdain for others. One of the things I am sure of is that putting people down because they disagree with me isn't the right thing to do:

There are other ways in which we are forbidden to injure another with words. Thus, we are commanded not to slander, gossip, or talebear, as the Torah states, "Do not go around as a gossiper among your people" (Leviticus 19:16). Concerning a slanderer, the Psalmist entreated, "May God cut off all slandering lips, every tongue that speaks distortions" (Psalms 12:4), thereby warning us that this is among the most serious of sins.

It is likewise forbidden to cause pain, anguish or suffering, or tease another, or embarrass him in any way, as the Torah states, "Do not vex your fellow man, but rather fear your God" (Leviticus 25:17).

It is forbidden to cause dissent and argument, as the Torah states, "Do not be like Korach and his party" (Numbers 17:5) -- who wrought dissent in Israel.

From Respecting God in Speech
Aish.com

The Master gave us a new commandment to "love one another" (John 13:34), which I've mentioned before, and I've also said that we don't seem to do a very good job at obeying this commandment. We also know this:

But the word love in Torah is primarily an activist commandment: Love your neighbor and the stranger; love God. Even to love God (says Talmud Yoma 26a) means we should behave divinely toward others, “making God beloved, through us.” And Maimonides brought an almost ecological consciousness to loving the One in the Mishneh Torah: “When we study God’s many wondrous works and creations, and thus comprehend God’s infinite wisdom, immediately we love, and praise.” The prophets warn us to pair every prayer with acts of love. As 20th-century Jewish philosopher Martin Buber taught: “Love of the Creator and love of that which God has created, are finally one and the same.”

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation
Bethesda, MD
Found at Moment Magazine

I question my faith a lot and sometimes I wonder, given all of the problems we seem to have with each other, if a life of faith is worth it. Wouldn't I be happier if I just dropped a life that no one seems interested in actually living, and simply devoted myself to things like art, philosophy, literature, and music? Many people find great rewards in those pursuits and they don't hassle each other about it.

However, there's nothing wrong with God, Christ, and faith. As Gandhi's famous experience points out, there's something wrong with us. We are not being a light to the world (Matthew 5:14) and we are salt that has lost its taste (Matthew 5:13). What good are we if we don't actually live out the teachings of the one we are supposed to revere?

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep what I command" (John 14:15), but we don't keep his command to love one another, at least as far as what I can see.

Is there no humility and a desire to reconcile among the disciples of the Jewish Messiah? Is our faith and love that small?

The well-known Torah scholar Hillel (ca. 60 B.C.E.-C.E. ca. 10) famously summed up all of Torah by saying, That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the commentary; go and study. (Tractate Shabbat 31a). Yeshua taught, Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39), very much mirroring Hillel, but our actions in the blogosphere prove we don't give much consideration to either Yeshua or Hillel.

I like the text found under the main title at Lev Echad:

Jewish unity is possible - really! It begins with acting decently toward one another, it follows with tolerating others as they pursue lives of goodness; it culminates with many different Jews, but just one heart.

Why can't we do that?

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark...

The Presence of Faith

In Your presence, thats where I am strong
In Your presence O the Lord my God
In your presence that's where I belong
Seeking Your face
Touching Your grace
In the cleft of the rock
In your presence O God.

Words and Music by Lynn DeShazo
Performed by Paul Wilbur
1995 Integrity's Hosanna! Music

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. -Matthew 8:5-10

Back to Basics Tour, Part 2

I'm trying to find some of those things in the Bible that everyone in the Messianic and Christian communities have in common without stepping on toes and tails. Issues of defensiveness and divisiveness often characterize the larger "Messianic movement", especially in the eyes of the greater body of Christian believers, and these arguments tend to discredit our chosen method of worship, even discrediting the Jews in Messianic Judaism. What do we have in common with our Christian brothers and sisters? How can we all say together that we are disciples of the Messiah?

I ask that question, though technically a Christian, as one who is off, slightly to one side, since my perspective on many matters favors Israel and Jewish worship styles rather than what you would find in a traditional church. As a Christian man married to a Jewish woman who keeps a Jewish home, my perspective and orientation tends to be more "Jewish". But see, even now, I can easily find ways in which the different members of the body of believers are different and apart.

But how are we together?

I just quoted the words of the Master as recorded in Matthew 8:5-10 and he said something amazing. He recognized the faith of a Roman centurion, a non-Jew, and praised the depth of his faith. The Jewish Messiah even held up this Goy's faith as an example to his Jewish disciples and followers. Can the Messiah of the Jews acknowledge the faith of a Gentile as an authentic faith?

I ask that last question somewhat tongue-in-cheek, because Yeshua's (Jesus's) words are plain. Jewish faith isn't of superior quality or better accepted by God than Gentile faith. We can agree that the Jews are God's "treasured, splendorous people" and nothing removes their status before Him, yet we who are not Jewish are not unloved by God. Paul said "neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah, you are seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:28-29 CJB) Can we agree on that, or am I speaking in vain?

In Romans 11, Paul describes faith as the "glue" that attaches both the natural Jewish branches and the alien Goyim branches to a common root. Even an alien branch can be grafted in to the source by faith and even a natural branch can be knocked off because of lack of faith. It's the same glue.

It's easy to forget that we all have this in common, each and every one of us who acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah, Lord, and Master. Regardless of how we may view each other, there is only one "type" of faith that we have accessible to each of us. How we express faith and worship may vary between Jew and Christian, between one congregation and the next, between one tradition and the next, but the ineffable essence and quality of faith is the same. I pray no one sees this as incorrect.

There is also a need for persistence and endurance of faith as recorded in the following parable:

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” -Luke 18:1-8

The "birth pangs" of the re-association between Jewish Messianics and Gentile Christians is painful indeed and we're just seeing the start of it. I don't believe that God intends for our two communities, which are "united" by a single shepherd, to remain totally estranged and isolated forever, and we are someday to have fellowship in Him. Yet, looking at the entire continuum containing the various congregations of the Messiah, it would be easy to lose faith. Certainly mine has been significantly dampered in recent weeks and months, and I can see how the "Son of Man" can ask "will he find faith?"

There's so much confusion between who we are, what we do, what "Torah" to obey between Jews and Christians, and issues of faith. It's easy to confuse or substitute form for substance. Paul wrote about this:

..even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous on the ground of his observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua's trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah's trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous. -Galatians 2:16 CJB

We need to define, not just what separates us, but what binds us. If we can't do that, we have no hope. We might as well continue to operate in two separate camps, being distinctive, and unique, and perserving our identities at the cost of the desires of the Messiah to also make the Gentiles into disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We have all been (and I believe this means all of us, not just Jews and not just Gentiles) commanded to love one another as the Master's disciples (John 13:34-35) and it's by this love that the rest of the world will know we belong to Yeshua.

This is a command we don't obey very well. However, love is even more important than faith in the Messianic realm:

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:8-13

As Paul says, we don't see very clearly yet. That's probably why all the different denominations and factions in Christianity and the Messianic movement seem so confused. When Messiah comes, much more will be revealed, including how we have succeeded and how we have failed in matters of love and faith. I can only hope and pray that we all consider these words and question our own "self-righteousness" in how we treat our fellow disciples, no matter how different they may be from us.

There's a quote uttered by actor Harrison Ford in the film Air Force One (1997):

Peace isn't merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.

Adapting the quote, I'd like to believe that righteousness isn't just the absence of sin, but the presence of faith. We can only be persistent in our faith and love if we are attached to the Master. In his own words, apart from me, you can do nothing (John 15:5).

In His Presence, we are strong, and we are the body of the Messiah...all of us.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark, ignoring the light of the world. Look for the lamp who lights your path or you may become lost in the dark forever.

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

String

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:34-35

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. -John 15:5-8

Imagine there’s an infinte string stretching from one end of eternity to the other and we are all floating in the space around the string. All we have to do is take a hold of the string and while we’re each still floating in our own space as who we are, we can become connected. When I once said that a person whose only weapon was rage had already lost the war, I was talking about those people too angry, too hurt, or too proud to take hold of the string. They’ll always be in their own space alone, disconnected from the rest of the disciples of the Messiah and perhaps even from God. Eventually, those who do not take hold will be "picked up and thrown into the fire", though that is not what God desires.

Paul used the metaphor of connectedness through the Messiah, our “infinite string”, and we can relate like individual pearls on a necklace; separate and unique but still part of a whole. Yeshua said that he is the vine and we are the branches. Paul said that Jews and Gentiles are individual and unique branches connected to a common root. We can be different and distinct in our identies, roles, and duties, and yet part of a whole.

The hardest thing God will ever ask you to do is what you don't want to do. God is One. There are not two separate Gods for two peoples. There is One God for us all.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.. -Hebrews 12:11-15 (ESV)

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark, ignoring the light of the world. Look for the lamp who lights your path or you may become lost in the dark forever.

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

What I Won't Miss

First things first "Just between the two of you" This is the way the issue should of been dealt with according to The King of Israel. Getting high blog activity vs. Yeshua' ruling, choose whom you will serve. This is very very sad. Judah you should of taken this up privately with Boaz first. What a mess and now people are hurt, full of anger, insults are thrown. This is not brother hood.

Comment by "Anonymous" at
Kineti L'Tziyon

Before I begin, although I'm quoting from your blog Judah, I'm not singling you out...I'm talking about all of us, especially me. Now I hope you are all listening. This is about everyone.

As I continue to contemplate my transition out of the "Messianic" (sorry, I still can't think of a better way to say it) community, I'm thinking about the things I'll miss or rather the people I'll miss (and hopefully, I'll be able to maintain relationships even after I am no longer "formally affiliated"). Very recently, I've started thinking about the things I won't miss.

As I mentioned by way of an introduction, I didn't choose the above quote to take a shot at Judah or to create any sort of insult. However, I needed an example of a "conflict" in the Messianic blogosphere and this one seems to "hottest" right now, though it's not the first and probably won't be the last.

Here's what I won't miss.

I won't miss the fighting, the back and forth "bashing", the hurt feelings, the insults, the snide remarks, or the jockeying for positions of importance or significance. Again, I'm not pointing at one or two individuals or one or two blogs. At one time or another almost every Messianic blog has had some of this going in the comments sections and some of the time as part of the blog topic.

Divisive and controversial blog posts get the most attention, the most hits, and the most comments. Blog posts about simple acts of kindness, loving your neighbor, or the need to have faith in difficult circumstances tend to not be considered "interesting".

I know I'm painting a picture of the Messianic movement as conflict driven and perhaps even a bit hostile, and that's not really true...exactly. However, by definition, the Messianic community in its widest scope throws some very unalike people and groups together in the same basket and they can fight like a mongoose taking on a nest of cobras.

In the midst of all of the emotional head on collisions, I sometimes recall the following scripture with irony and even chagrin:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:34

Regardless whether you're Jewish or Gentile; regardless whether you call yourself Messianic or Christian, you have gone on record as saying you are a disciple of Yeshua (Jesus). If you really mean that, then this "new" commandment is meant for you, too. As we are in the midst of verbally bashing one another, standing our ground, having our say, and defending our honor, do we ever consider what Yeshua thinks about all this?

We've all gotten our tails stepped on by someone else in the blogosphere and we rarely choose to "turn the other cheek". We also rarely invoke the commands of the Jewish Messiah or the will of God. Really, have we lost our minds or just our faith?

Someday we will face judgment for everything we've said and done in our lives. Not just for the "big stuff", but also for each and every careless action, thoughtless word, casual and cruel thought. Look back on what you've blogged and how you've commented on other people's blogs. Look at what you've said and how you've felt a "moral right" to defend your position, even if you had to drag another person's name and reputation through the mud to do it.

When we're challenged by others for our words and deeds, rarely do we take the time to stop, consider the possibility that we might actually have been wrong, and then try to make amends. Instead, we behave defensively, redouble our "assertive" efforts, and push back twice as hard as we did before. Do you really want to try that strategy with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Do you actually think he will be impressed?

I want to say again that, even though I quoted from a comment posted on Judah's blog, I am not picking on him or singling him out. I am not picking on any one individual, blog, or particular viewpoint. At one time or another, I've seen at least questionable behavior out of many of the "major players" in the world of Messianic blogging. I'm sorry if you don't believe me and I'm sorry if you don't see it in yourself (and I certainly see it in myself, and I'm sorry), but God can't be fooled and He knows the heart.

I can't count the number of "the tongue is wicked" verses there are in the Bible (though I suppose they are finite and therefore countable), but they're in our Bibles for a reason. Our "tongues" now extend into the text-only world of Internet blogging, which makes them all the more dangerous, because we have the potential to affect hundreds and even thousands of people with a sudden burst of temper. Our tongues are all the more dangerous because blogging fabulously increases the risk that our words will be misunderstood, because there's no vocal tone, facial expression, or body language to modify the meaning of the text.

I love many of you who are reading these words. I don't say this to hurt anyone and I hope and pray that I maintain relations with you regardless of the outcome of this one little blog, and regardless of the passage of time or the changes I am in the process of making in my own faith lifestyle.

I also would be a very poor believer (and I'm hardly saying I'm "great") if I didn't "practice what I preach". I'm sorry. I apologize for all of the times I've carelessly or deliberately hurt anyone, including anyone who has read my words but never commented. If I don't ask for forgiveness from you, and don't practice forgiveness of others, how can I expect God to forgive me? How can we expect God to forgive us?

I am truly sorry for anything I've said or done against you.

But how can I be honest before God and be a friend to you and just gloss this mess over? If I come to a point where I don't have relationship with some of you, I will miss you...but I won't miss how we hurt each other in the name of Jesus Christ and in the Name of God.

We got to stop damaging each other. How can we be recognized as disciples of the Master by our love if we don't show love? How will what we do today, injure the faith of others? And how many people will we prevent from coming to faith in the future because of what we say today?

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Gears, Wires, and Batteries

I have seen people who, shaking their faith at one level, throw out everything in a few years' time.

My brother is an example who did this and ended up denying Yeshua. My cousin is an example of a person who did this and ended up an atheist. A friend of mine years back did this, and rejected Yeshua, became a Jew, then went finally went atheist.

James, I know this sounds dumb and maybe even controlling (gosh, I hate religious control) but I am fearful you will reject Yeshua in a few years time.

I have yet to witness someone who, cutting themselves off from their religious community, remains faithful to their convictions.

Judah Gabriel Himango's comments on
A Far, Far Better Thing

You'll probably want to read that blog post plus Sacred before continuing on here, just to keep the context.

I've received a number of well wishes and comments of concern similar to Judah's over the past day or so. When I said I'd be leaving the Messianic movement, it was almost like I said I have an incurable and fatal disease. Some people are treating me as if I'm dying.

Don't worry, I'm still around and I'm going to still be around. Now that I've said that, you're probably worried (just kidding).

After the first time I described what I'm doing as stripping my religious assumptions down to their "gears, wires, and batteries", I became really attached to the metaphor. If you think about it, once you take the body, moulding, and other stuff off a machine that, strictly speaking, doesn't contribute to the device actually running, you are at the mechanism's most basic level. It's all laid bare and you can see how it "ticks".

There are a variety of definitions of the word "deconstruct", but wiktionary.org defines it as (often metaphorical) to break something down into its component parts. Since I'm often metaphorical, the definition seems to fit what I'm doing right now. I'm deconstructing my understanding of who I am in God and how I should express that identity.

Don't worry, though. I also plan on reconstructing myself again, hopefully into a more viable and valuable believer in Yeshua.

Another fitting metaphor is this:

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. -1 Peter 1:6-9

Of course, Peter was making a commentary on the Prophet Malachi:

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in days of old and as in previous years. -Malachi 3:2-4

The Bible has a number of other "refiner's fire" metaphors but they all convey the same basic message: difficulties and trials don't exist to make you suffer, but to burn away the imperfections that prevent you from becoming a more "pure" product. That's how I'm choosing to understand the current part of my journey in faith (and I wrote something about fire and silver last summer).

Yes, I'm concerned about the lack of community I'll face once I leave my current congregation, but I feel as if I've hit an impasse where I am, doing the same thing over and over without the ability to expand and refine my environment. I can't just demand that the people around me change or tolerate my changes simply for my sake, yet I don't believe I should stop my spiritual development or explorations, either.

While the path ahead seems filled with booby traps and land mines, it's also presenting me with something fresh and new. There's a certain freedom in having the "open road" before me. I have the same anticipation as I would if I were about to get in my car and head out on the freeway to someplace I've never been to before but always wanted to visit. The irony is I don't know exactly where the road will take me.

In Genesis 12:1, God said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you". My journey hardly has that sort of scope or promise attached to it, but I believe it doesn't have the same risks or responsibilities, either. I'm no Abraham, but I have to believe that God has a plan for my life, too.

Sometime between now and May, June, or July, I expect something to happen to add substance and form to my stripped down chassis. When I find out what that is, I'll be sure to let you know.

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh

When I quote Rabbi Ginsburgh's statement, I'm not saying I'm a Jew. I am saying that we are all here to prepare the world for the coming of the Mashiach. In order to do that, we have to keep striving to be better than we are right now. We have to keep building ourselves up and building each other up. Let's make sure that the desires of God are our highest focus.

Blessings.

The Roman Centurion Had Faith

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

-Matthew 8:5-13

After some of the conversations I've had on the web and the struggle of trying to make binding connections with other people and communities who believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah, I have to take time out from the process and remind myself why any of this is important. As we see in the scripture from Matthew, for a brief moment in time, the Jewish Messiah and a Roman Centurion, two very different and unalike people, connected through the medium of faith. In fact, Yeshua holds up the Roman Centurion to his own Israeli people, as an example of faith:

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith..."

That's really an astonishing statement if you think about it. The Roman Centurion was a person who had faith but who had no reason to have such a faith in Yeshua or in the God of Abraham. And yet he did. Even the Messiah himself was "amazed" at the Centurion's faith, it was so unlikely and uncommon.

I say all this because a common Jewish and Christian faith in the Jewish Messiah and in the God of Abraham seems in short supply. While we struggle over our distinctiveness, we ignore the faith and love which is supposed to bind us. When Paul wrote neither Jew nor Gentile in Galatians 3:28 he wasn't obliterating the distinctions between Jews and non-Jews, but rather illustrating that we all have standing before the Messiah, despite our differences.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. -Galatians 3:29

If we claim to belong to the Messiah, along with all the differences and distinctions we have as individuals and that define us as Jews and Gentiles, we (according to Paul, anyway) are all "Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise". In other words, Jews and Gentiles who have faith in Yeshua as the Messiah have something in common. You don't always see that in our conversations. You more often see the opposite.

I spend some time alone in the building where my congregation meets for Shabbat services in the morning before anyone else arrives. It's a good time to read and pray, if only for a few minutes. This morning I was wondering, especially after this past week's conversations around Messianic Judaism, "Judaically-aware" congregations, and Bilateral Ecclesiology, if we are experiencing faith. I've been wondering if I've been experiencing faith lately. I know that I've let these conversations divert me from something much simpler and essential. If you, as a Jew, wear tzitzit, and I as a Gentile do not, am I less a person in God's Kingdom and is my faith made of an inferior material?

The Bible says "no", but in all these conversations, I sometimes feel otherwise. No one has really said it as such but what we do talk about with such zeal seems to overshadow what our faith is supposed to really be expressing. I sometimes forget the fact that, according to Yeshua's own words, "...many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." I suppose that will include me, though I suppose it wouldn't be so terrible if it didn't. Maybe people like me are only the catalyst or conduit for the Jewish people to be able to sit down with the patriarchs. I sometimes imagine myself in those days, after having arranged "the party", backing off and just watching it from a distance.

Yet if Peter could witness Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit and enter "the community of saints", why can't the same thing happen today?

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised (Jewish) believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. -Acts 10:44-48

I recently purchased The Concise Book of Mitzvoth compiled by The Chafetz Chayim. In the Preface of the book, he writes that our (well, he's speaking to a Jewish audience, actually) intent is vital if people are to obey God. It's not enough to perform the actions, people must obey God with the express intent of doing so. If not, the actions, in and of themselves, do not "count" as far as performing the mitzvoth and must be performed again.

We discuss and debate the roles of Jews and Gentiles in the "Messianic movement", Christianity, or whatever label you want to hang on people who have faith in Yeshua. But if we focus on the mechanics and the minutiae and yet lack the proper love and intent to obey God and to treat each other with the same love as God has for each of us, what do we really accomplish?

Justin recently wrote the following in his blog:

My friends, all of these books, papers, blogs and lectures that we have done will one day disappear; before they do, are you sure that your faith in Him is solid? Are you standing on the Rock, or what someone else has represented as the rock? He is the Good News! Be not afraid, all who call upon the Name of the Living God will be saved! Omein.

After a two week hiatus from my congregation and particularly after this

past week which, in addition to some rather pointed Internet conversations, contained a number of personal trials and challenges, I was a little nervous facing my group again as a teacher. I'm supposed to be a "leader" of faith, but often I find the greatest faith, not in the intellectual and educated conversations that are put forth on the web, but in a kind and loving person's prayers for sick children and lost souls. Of course, it's not just faith that is an essential ingredient:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. -1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The Roman Centurion had faith, but how much faith do we have? Paul writes that even beyond faith and hope, love is the greatest, but do we love?

Obeying God

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." -Matthew 22:37-40

I know I probably quote the Two Greatest Commandments too often, but there is a lot to consider, especially when addressing the debate regarding what obedience to God is supposed to look like between those Gentiles and Jews who honor the Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). As part of my Bible readings for this week, I consulted Romans 13 and 14. Paul has a story to tell in this part of his letter.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. -Romans 13:8-10

Without doing so explicitly, Paul recalls the words of the Master as previously quoted and also invokes Yeshua's commentary on the Torah as recorded in Matthew 5 and on which I've previously blogged. Paul's conclusions regarding Yeshua's teachings seem about what I'd expect; that we should do no harm to one another and everything done in the name of love is a fulfillment of all the commandments.

Of course Nietzsche said that Anything done for love is beyond good and evil, but given Nietzsche's general philosophy and history, I don't think he was talking about the same thing.

When Paul said that love is the fulfillment of the law, he didn't mean having a warm, fuzzy emotional feeling for someone was the end or the conclusion of obeying the written Law of God, but rather, when he referenced the specific commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,", he was saying that loving God and loving our neighbor is behavioral. It's not a feeling, it's an action. In fact, it's a specific series of actions that can be found in the Bible.

Unlike Nietzsche's viewpoint, anything done for love is not beyond good or evil, but anything done truly out of love as God defines it for us is good.

Paul goes on to say, Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy, (Romans 13:13) defining behaviors that are the opposite of doing good and loving each other. He continues:

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. -Romans 14:1-4

This should be an eye opener for those of us involved in the Messianic, One Law/One Torah, and other similar communities, because most of our conversations in the blogosphere have to do with making such judgments about one another. I was recently criticized on the Gathering Sparks blog by someone in the comments section (not Yahnatan) for suggesting that the commandments are a goal to be achieved as a process when we walk with God, rather than a point event that we have to achieve perfectly in a single moment and then perform flawlessly for the rest of our existence.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. -Romans 14:9-10

We judge each other rather than learning to live at peace with each other as Paul also teaches. We judge each other and in doing so, usurp the rightful place of the Messiah as our judge.

Regardless of what commandments you think you are obligated or invited to obey, if you perform all of these behaviors perfectly, but you don't obey the commandment to love, what are you?

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. -1 Corinthians 13:1-3

These verses weren't written to spice up your wedding ceremony. They were a letter to the Corinthians and to us about obeying God. Even if we have all manner of spiritual gifts, college degrees, lead huge congregations, and are called by many exalted titles, but if at our core, we do not have love, we are nothing.

It's no mystery why both of the two greatest commandments declared by Yeshua involve the process of loving something and someone outside our own skin. Do we love or not? Do we go left or right? Are we the black sheep or the white sheep in the Master's flock? Even if we believe we obey all of the Torah, are we obeying God? Do we love?