Tuesday, February 15, 2011

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.

17 comments:

marko said...

Big LIKE!

(I'm n expert, but shouldn't it be "Straightening the Path"?)

marko said...

Oops!

I'm no typist either: should be "I'm NO expert..."

James said...

In my defense marko, I can only say that I was suffering from a lack of caffeine in my system when I created the title. Also, while I spend a fair amount of time editing blog posts after I write them (and even after I publish them), I almost always completely ignore the title after I create it.

Thanks for catching my error and I'm glad you like the write up.

benicho said...

George Whitefield had it right all along eh? Seed of the woman and seed of the serpent.

James said...

Sorry. I'm not up on my Whitefield. What are you saying?

Michelle said...

Very good article James. TY for all the little links you provide, they are helpful.

James said...

You're welcome, Michelle. I'm just a compulsive cross-referencer. ;-)

benicho said...

Whitefield was a preacher during the Great Awakening (I'm sure you know of it) who said there are two types of people, the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. i was saying in response to the quote about decent and indecent people.

James said...

Actually, I know virtually no church history. I had to Google the Great Awakening to look it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Awakening

My "education" has been fairly skewed, which is why I'm having to go back and try to plug the holes. Probably take the rest of my life and then some.

Yahnatan said...

That's a powerful quote from Victor Frankl.

James said...

I thought so too, Yahnatan. For me, it cuts through a lot of our "discussion" about distinctions and divisions. Not that Christians and Jews are the same, but that the standard by which we treat other human beings decently is.

benicho said...

We all have different interests and tastes, I love history, that's why I have to relate everything to historical context.

For example the Puritans of England were Torah observant (the same guys that came to Plymouth Rock). We aren't really taught in school that the Puritans opposed Christmas, Easter or any other non-biblical holiday, we are just taught that they were religious nutcases who wanted to get away from everything. The truth of the matter is that the Protestants and Catholics of England were the religious radicals who fought mercilessly against each for control of the monarchy. One exception to this was Oliver Cromwell (leader who overthrew the English monarchy) and ruled England for a short time. He was actually a Puritan and Torah observant, he was so impressed on biblical observance that he actually outlawed Christmas in England.

Gene Shlomovich said...

"Puritans of England were Torah observant"

What exactly does that mean, really? As far as I could tell they simply made conclusions on what is to be considered "sin" based on their reading of "Old Testament", no different than what Evangelicals do today. True, they had MANY laws in their communities (but so do most fundamentalist even today), but I am not sure those can be equated to the way Torah is observed among Jews.

benicho said...

@Gene

I don't believe they were Torah observant as the Jews are or as we understand it today at all. They were very much replacement theologists from what I can tell, but they at least (for their day) understood the importance of the law. Actually because of the Puritans much of the understanding of law became rooted in American Christianity. Much of basic laws of Torah were lost on Christians in Europe for lack of education.

But I'm certainly not trying to say Puritans were like the Jews in observance or understanding in the least.

benicho said...

@Gene

Just to add to that, you have to keep in mind they had no understanding of the law and how it was to be applied either (they had no Jewish guidance). They weren't as radical as they were ignorant. If you remember it wasn't long before the Puritan movement that the Protestant reformation took place. On top of that Bibles had just recently been able to be mass produced. There had to have been a flood of people who finally got their hands on their own Bibles (just recently translated to English, as well). Because of this you see ALL kinds of movements based around all these new interpretations.

Imagine if you finally got to read the Bible (King James translation for the common Englishman) for yourself only to discover that there were all these laws given to Israel. Upon discovering this you also notice that there is no evidence these laws were nullified. What's the natural course of action? "Looks like we better obey these laws". It was a primitive understanding. That's why they did things like perform execution of witches, they didn't know any better.

Gene Shlomovich said...

OK, benicho, thanks for clarification. I think, to avoid confusion, we could say that the Puritans were "Old Testament" observant:)

benicho said...

I can go with that. You have to forgive me, coming from a mainstream Christian background I use "Torah" to mean "law", obviously it's not just that.

The Puritans didn't recognize the promises to the children of Israel, so I guess they weren't technically OT observant either. :P oy vey..