Sages , Students, and Rebels: How to Tell the Difference

Our Sages said explicitly, "Between [honoring] his father and his teacher, his teacher comes first. "The Sages have already explained that it is forbidden for a student to dispute his teacher, i.e. to reject his authority, to give separate interpretations, and to teach or issue rulings without his permission. It is forbidden for him to argue with him, or speak angrily to him, or to judge him harshly, i.e. to give any kind of [non-literal] explanation to his action or speech, since it is possible that this was not his intention.

Sefer Hamitzvot in English
Respecting the Sages
Positive Commandment 209
Chabad.org

I can agree with that as far as it goes. When you agree to come under the authority of a Rebbe or a Sage, you agree to "the rules of conduct", so to speak, including the Sage's right to issue rulings, and your responsibility to treat him with the respect and honor that is his due. It would be foolish of a student or disciple to make such an agreement and then dispute and argue against the Rebbe at every turn. It would be (to use an extreme example) as if Peter, John, and other members of Yeshua's (Jesus's) inner circle were to get in his face and disagree with his directives and his commandments. Why bother becoming a Rebbe's disciple if you aren't there to learn from him?

However, this also means you should do your homework on the Sage and his teachings before hand. I can't speak to the nature and character of the teachers operating in 1st century "Roman Judea", but I know for certain that today in both the "Messianic" and "Christian" movements (and in the places where they overlap), there are many so-called "teachers", Pastors, leaders, and self-styled "Rabbis" who are not reliable or honest scholars, and who have assumed positions of authority over groups, not to sanctify the Name of God and to teach others of His ways, but to glorify themselves, create a personal power base and, in some situations, to make money off the deal.

Sadly, many of these "teachers" will misuse the commandments to try and make themselves "criticism-proof". I've seen it happen more than once:

Our Sages said in the Talmudic chapter "HaChelek", "Anyone who goes against his teacher is as if he went against the Divine Presence., as it is written [regarding Korach], 'when they rebelled against G-d,'"; "Anyone who makes a dispute against his teacher is as if he made a dispute against the Divine Presence, as it is written, 'These are the Waters of Dispute where the Israelites disputed with G-d'"...

We have sections of the Torah (Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Deuteronomy 18:20-22) that teach about a false prophet, but what do you do about a false teacher? We see in both the Torah and the Apostolic Scriptures that we are to revere a Sage and to treat a leader with respect:

Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. -Exodus 22:28

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. -1 Timothy 5:1-2

The commentary of Paul in 1 Timothy 5 can be applied to Sages and teachers since the Talmud interprets respecting the aged person (Leviticus 19:32) in the same manner. But while I cannot find (at least in this limited study) a Torah or Talmudic provision for dealing with a less-than-sincere leader or teacher, Paul offers one to the Messianic community:

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” (Deuteronomy 25:4) and “The worker deserves his wages.” (Luke 10:7) Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning. I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism. -1 Timothy 5:17-21

Here, Paul continues the general theme of honoring a teacher and a leader, but he also acknowledges that a leader can sin, and offers the congregation the ability to respond when a leader strays outside of behaving in accordance to the position of authority they have been granted by God.

In our modern, western culture, we have a strong history of defending the rights of the individual and questioning authority figures, sometimes to an extreme. Human beings tend towards abusing power when they acquire it (just look at the arena of politics) and even entering leadership with the best possible motives, an honest person can be seduced by the allure of self-gratification and thus abuse their authority and the people they are to be serving.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” -Mark 9:35

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. -John 13:12-17

More so than any other teacher who has ever walked, the great Rebbe Yeshua of Nazareth deserves high honors and authority and his teaching is not to be questioned. Yet he humbled himself to wash the feet of his own disciples (and humbled himself even to death for the sake of many) to illustrate to them, and to us, the proper role of the teacher.

As a mentioned before, we are used to, as a culture, questioning and disobeying rightful authority and to "having our say" and "standing our ground". While this is sometimes necessary, our "rights" can easily become a barrier to obeying the example of the Jewish Messiah in humbling ourselves before God and before His Sages (and remember what Paul said about not showing favoritism to one person as leader over another), so that we might learn his good and upright ways. Be a responsible student. Choose a teacher wisely. If you discover you've come under the authority of one not fit to teach or lead, Paul has provided a method of addressing such a person. Beyond that, if you've selected your teacher carefully, then obey the commandment and do not rebel. Most of all, do not rebel against the Rebbe to whom we are all disciples.

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

Blackball?

I've heard in the Denver area a non-Jewish MJ congregational leader was told he should resign because he was not Jewish. I've heard in the Atlanta area any MJ congregation not run by a Jew is blackballed by their area MJ association. I think it is time to bring these and similar actions out into the light and clean house. I believe this blog in its small way is has brought one such injustice out into the open...If an organization is not showing the love of Messiah Yeshua then it is time for such organizations to repent and change their ways or close as people of the light seek the light. -Anonymous comment at Kineti L'Tziyon

Well that's certainly an interesting revelation, if true. Considering the commentor has chosen to be anonymous doesn't improve the likelihood that this statement is factual, but it doesn't mean these events aren't actually occurring, either. True or not, this information does bring up a topic that's been on my mind since I started this blog: authority.

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul - men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. -Acts 15:22-29

This is what is traditionally known as "the Jerusalem Letter" and is at the center of much discussion in the Messianic/One Law-One Torah/Two House community. I'm not writing this particular post to explore the meaning of the letter but rather, the Jerusalem Council's right to send it and expect that it be adhered to by the Gentile Messianic congregations in the diaspora. I mean, just because James and the gang in Jerusalem send out a letter, why should anyone listen to what he has to say?

In that place and at that time, the Gentile Messianics had a lot of reasons to take the letter from Jerusalem seriously. Jewish and Gentile faith in Yeshua as the Messiah had a single source: the Jewish disciples of Yeshua. James (Ya'akov, actually) was the half-brother of the Messiah (same Mom; different Dads) and despite the fact that Yeshua said that Peter would be the rock on which the "church" would be built, James was the Council's leader and chief authority.

Gentiles would have no idea what a "Messiah" even was without the Jewish disciples to inform them (with the possible exception of the Gentile God-fearers who had already been worshiping in synagogues for quite some time). There was only one central, Messianic authority structure in the mid to late 1st Century of the Common Era: the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. While there seemed to be some disagreements within "Messianic Judaism" such as between James and Paul and, as we see in Acts 15:36-41, between Paul and Silas, from a Gentile believer's point of view, "salvation comes from the Jews".

How times have changed.

Since the initial schism between Jewish and Gentile believers in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, "Christianity" has split more times than Microsoft stock back in the heyday of Bill Gates' creation. Right now, there are so many "Christianities", and for that matter, more than a few "Judaisms", that we can't point to a single authoritative source that presides over them all unless we consider God Himself and even then, each of these faith groups has a rather different take on God and who they are in relation to Him.

Let's get back to "blackballing". How does that work?

Hypothetical situation (which actually may be a real situation): Let's say that an organization of Jewish people is created by Jews who are Messianic. That is, these are Jews who have come to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah. Further, these are people (I have to make a few assumptions here since I don't know any of them personally and their background information is hard to come by) who were raised in ethnically and religiously Jewish homes and who have a fully realized and lived Jewish experience from birth through adulthood. They really, really want to maintain that Jewish experience in their Messianic faith without turning into "Christians" and being relegated to the Gentile church, where they'd be required to give up "being Jewish".

What do to? This collection of Jewish people form a organization that has both educational and administrative branches and develop Messianic synagogues, modeled on an Orthodox Jewish framework, where Jews can be Jews, worship as Jews, live as Jews, and be Messianic. So far so good. However, there are a couple of problems.

The first problem is not all Messianic Jews worship or conceptualize their faith on a strict Orthodox Jewish model. While one of the foundational structures in strict Messianic Judaism is the concept of "boundaries" between Jewish and Gentile believers, the concept of "Fellow Heirs" held by other Jewish Messianics can make things really confusing. Some Messianic Jewish people are more accepting of Gentiles entering their sheep pen than others, so some Jews in some Messianic Jewish congregations aren't going to agree with the "strict" Messianic Jewish interpretation of scripture or of practice.

That brings us to the other problem: Gentiles. Frankly, if Yeshua hadn't muddied the waters at the end of the book of Matthew (particularly Matthew 28:19-20) by insisting that Gentiles also become Messianic disciples, strict Messianic Judaism would work out just fine as a faith group of Jewish people, by Jewish people, and for Jewish people. There would be no Gentile Messianics to "shake up the tree", so to speak.

However here we all are (more or less) together. Oh yeah, I was going to talk about "blackballing". How does that work?

Now that our hypothetical Messianic Jewish organization has been established (let's call it "SMJ" for "Strict Messianic Judaism"), congregations of Jews want to join. Usually, you only join or align yourself with an organization if you agree with their beliefs, goals, and purpose. If you bring yourself under the authority of SMJ, for example, you are agreeing with all of their tenets of faith, theology, bilateral ecclesiology, and saying you'll "play by their rules". Here's where you could justify blackballing.

Say a congregation that has previously put themselves under the authority of SMJ does something insane, like allowing Gentiles to be called up to read the Torah or even (gasp) putting a Gentile in a role of leadership (and let's say these are acts that are strictly against the rules established by SMJ). SMJ would be within their rights to go to said-congregation and tell them to knock it off. They would further be within their rights, if the congregation didn't "knock it off", to restrict, censure, or otherwise disciple the leaders of the congregation up to and including kicking them out of the SMJ organization. This is the short definition of the term blackball, or more formally:

1 : to vote against; especially : to exclude from membership by casting a negative vote
2 a: to exclude socially : ostracize
   b : boycott

Thus, if the errant congregation continued to refuse to come into line with the practices and beliefs of SMJ, SMJ removes them from their organization and perhaps even "spreads the word" that this particular congregation is no longer part of the group or even, is no longer a valid Messianic congregation.

The problem for our hypothetical SMJ is that they can only exercise authority over those congregations who have voluntarily joined the SMJ ranks, paid a fee, and agreed to comply with SMJ practices. Consider how many Messianic Jewish/One Law-One Torah/Two House congregations, home fellowships, loose associations, and family gatherings that exist out there. SMJ may disagree with those groups and even periodically engage them in debates in the Messianic blogosphere, but they can't actually make an impact on them in any authoritative manner.

Unlike James and the Jerusalem Council, there currently is no single authoritative source for Messianic and Christian worship and practice, thus SMJ cannot impose their will on any non-aligned group. It would be like the President of the hypothetical SMJ organization walking into a Baptist church on Sunday morning during services and delivering a written manifesto to which the church would be expected to adhere. After all, "salvation comes from the Jews" so why shouldn't SMJ, representing the Jewish source of Messianic salvation, expect that any group or organization who professes faith in Yeshua/Jesus come under SMJ authority?

Because SMJ isn't the sole source of authority. The Gentile Baptist church has their own authoritative organization. Remember the schism and all the various and sundry splits and schisms that have occurred in the faith over the past 2000 years or so? Lots and lots of authorities have been created over these many different faith groups.

No one has actually said so, but I suspect that in the back of the minds of at least some folks in the Messianic movement, they imagine that, if not now, at some future date, they will be in a position of authority to drive the practices of all of the congregations, churches, and groups who profess Yeshua or Jesus as Lord, Savior, and Messiah. Imagine believing that and then continuing to encounter Jews and Gentiles who are "Messianic" yet who keep on disagreeing with you and who keep on engaging in practices with which you find completely problematic. How would that make you feel?

Think about it.

Do I care what is or isn't said or done in a Baptist church, in a Lutheran church, in an Orthodox Synagogue, or in a Messianic Jewish (a la SMJ) Synagogue? No, not particularly. We may disagree on some issues and we may have different religious practices, but I have absolutely no say in what those other groups think or do. I have no authority over them nor do I want any authority over them. Yet, assuming there is some sort of "SMJ" group out there practicing "blackballing" on other groups who have not come under SMJ authority, why would they care what other non-aligned groups do, and even if they do care, what can they do about it (at least that's morally, ethically, and Biblically valid)?

Of course, I have not one shred of evidence to establish that the comments registered by "Anonymous" are at all true, so this may be a moot point. There is no one, central authority for Christianity or Messianism in the world today. Groups can establish an authority over congregations who agree to come under that authority, but that's the extent of their influence. They can attempt to persuade others, publish papers, write blog posts, author books, create podcasts, but we on the other side of the wall (so to speak) can choose to agree or disagree. When the Messiah returns, he will establish the authority. Until then, we can acknowledge, at least in theory, that we are one flock listening to one shepherd, but in fact, there are a lot of "sub-shepherds" running a lot of different sheep pens, with each pen, apparently, jockeying for position.

One final note, lest you think I'm trying to start a war. I really don't think things are as dire as the picture I've just painted. In order for my increasingly hypothetical "SMJ" organization to behave in the way I've described. they would have to be more interested in establishing and maintaining power and authority over human beings for their own sake and "glory" than they would be in establishing and maintaining the glory of God and the righteousness of Yeshua over the Earth. If different people and organizations disagree, it doesn't mean they're "power hungry" or want to "lord it over" other people. After all, how can any organization who calls themselves "Messianic" ignore the fact that the Messiah's metaphor for leadership was acted out when he washed the feet of his own disciples (John 13:1-17) and that anyone who wants to be first should make themselves last?