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.