Sitting on the Keys

In truth, the world, standing on its own, is a place of exile and captivity.

Even when a man stands upright on the tallest mountain and perceives all there is to perceive, comprehends all that can be comprehended, achieves a realization of the Ultimate Oneness and Void that is behind all this --

But in the end, he is still stuck on the ground where his feet have brought him, his eyes have not seen beyond his own eyeballs, his mind has only comprehended that which he can know and reached that which is reachable --he has remained within his own self.

And the proof:
he has remained with a G-d Who is above
and an earth which is below, and the two cannot meet.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
Bringing Heaven Down to Earth series
Liberated by Betrothal

Man is separated from God. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but for a thousand reasons, some of which you may know, we cannot ascend to God and God does not descend to us, at least in any way we can comprehend. Oh we try to reach God. We try to summon Him. We pray. We plead in our anguish. We cry out in our loneliness. But sometimes the only answer is silence.

Or so it seems.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. -James 4:1-3

The brother of the Master tells us that our selfishness and humanity get in the way of our prayers to God. In many ways, we are like the prostitute/wife of the Prophet Hosea, faithless and wandering after other lovers. Yet, we see a picture of God toward a faithless Israel in Hosea 3 that reminds us of ourselves:

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. -Hosea 3:1-5

Though we are faithless to God, He is faithful to us. Though we are unworthy, we will be redeemed.

This message should be very clear to us as we approach the time of Passover. The Children of Jacob were enslaved and through no power of their own, God sent a Savior and a Prophet to free and redeem them. The end of Rabbi Freeman's message which I quoted, but not in it's entirety, tells the message:

His only liberation, and the only liberation of the entire world, is when the One Above reaches down and tells us, "Do this. With this deed you are betrothed to Me."

And then there is no above and below. Then there is only One.

We cannot reach God on our own strength, but He does reach down to us. We, the entire world, are "betrothed" to Him and through that betrothal, there is only One. It sounds very much like this:

I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will know the LORD. -Hosea 2:19-20

This set of verses from the writings of the Prophet Hosea are also part of the blessings a Jew says when donning hand tefillin before prayer. You might say that the messages here of the Prophet and certainly of Rabbi Freeman, are intended only for the Jewish people, but the coming of the Messiah opens the door for the rest of humanity.

Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.” -Revelation 19:7-8

There are numerous "marital metaphors" in the Bible referring to Israel as the bride of God and the disciples of the Messiah (Jews and Gentiles) as the bride of Christ. All who join ourselves to the Messiah, both Israel and the nations, have a part in the life of the world to come. However, although this is abundantly available to us, escaping our slavery requires our willingness. Rabbi Freeman has a commentary about this, too:

Man, on his own, cannot reach higher than his own fingertips. He cannot break out of his own skin, he cannot lift himself up by pulling at his own hair. All of his achievements are tied to his ego. All that he may comprehend is defined by his own subjective perception. He is a prisoner by virtue of existence.

So G-d threw Man a rope. He gave him tasks to fulfill that are beyond his grasp, thoughts to fathom that take him outside the hollow of his subjective universe. All that is needed is his willingness to leave himself.

We are all prisoners. But we sit on the keys.

He is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5) and we can do anything if we are united with him, which includes escaping our chains. Sometimes however, we slump down in our jail cell, dejected and discouraged; lamenting our imprisonment and fearing we will never be free. Ironically, that freedom is always available to us. We just need to get up and see that, as Rabbi Freeman points out, we are sitting on the keys.

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

Prayer is a Ladder

I have blogged before on the Chassidic concept of Hitbodedut - the practice of being alone with G-d. In addition to regular davening from the Siddur, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov frequently recited extemporaneous prayers. In fact, he taught his Chassidim (his followers) that they should spend at least one hour alone each day, talking aloud to G-d in his or her own words, as if "talking to a good friend." This practice was to be in addition to the prayers of the Siddur. Breslover Chassidim still follow this practice, which is known as hitbodedut (literally, "to make oneself be in solitude").

Rabbi Joshua
Yinon blog

There's a lot of prayer going on in the world today, or at least on the blogosphere. I saw early this morning that the topic at Spiritually Unequal Marriage was prayer and, just a few minutes ago, I found out something about Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:11–19):

What was that ladder? According to the Zohar, it’s the ladder of prayer. A four-runged ladder, actually—and accordingly, we climb four flights of stairs to move through four floors in our prayers...

This is a two-way ladder. How can you tell? The angels are moving in two directions—just like in Jacob’s dream.

Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
Climbing Jacob's Ladder
Chabad of Mineola

I wonder if God is trying to tell me something?

I don't think prayer is magic. I don't think praying to God is like rubbing Aladdin's lamp. God isn't a "wish machine" and I don't think that, just because you "bathe it in prayer", you automatically are going to get everything you want out of God the way you get lots of loose change out of a slot machine that's just hit jackpot.

So what is prayer?

This is just my personal opinion, but prayer is spending time with God.

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. -Exodus 24:15-18

I can hardly compare myself to Moses or any holy man, but I do need to spend time with God. As Rabbi Freeman illustrates, prayer is a ladder between us and God. We get to climb up and down. A ladder is an invitation to reach a different height and interestingly enough, Rabbi's Freeman characterizes the ladder as having only four rungs.

The four rungs are symbolic and, pulling from the mysticism of the Zohar, that symbolism becomes mysterious and even incomprehensible very quickly, at least to people like me who are uneducated in Kaballah. But if you can get past your resistance to the mystic, there may be a few gems in there for you and for me.

Think about how you use a ladder (this is my own interpretation, now). A ladder isn't effortless. Assuming, like the ladder in Jacob's vision, God places the ladder as He wills. We see the ladder but, unlike Jacob, we approach it. We start to climb.

Ever climb a ladder? You have to use your arms and legs. You have to watch where you put your feet and hands. There's a certain amount of risk, assuming you go very high (it's hard to go too high on four rungs, though). In other words, prayer isn't just dependent on God, it's dependent on you.

In fact, it's mostly your responsibility whether or not you find yourself in prayer with God. After all, Moses had to climb the mountain to be in the cloud with God. God didn't supernaturally lift Moses to the top; Moses climbed using his arms and legs, just as we use our limbs to climb a ladder. God was (and is) waiting at the top.

What do you find when you climb to the top? I think the answer is a little different for each of us. Some people still feel very alone. Some people talk and feel heard. Some people want to scream and wail. Some people cry silent tears.

At the top of the ladder is the throne of the King of the Universe. Who wouldn't be intimidated at approaching the King? We ought to feel awed, humbled, and more than a little afraid. One does not approach the King casually.

But the Nachman of Breslov told his followers to pray to God as if "talking to a good friend." What does this mean?

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. -Romans 8:26-27

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. -Hebrews 4:14-16

We all imagine that we can approach God as if He were our grandfather or favorite uncle; as if we would only feel ease, comfort, and familiarity in His presence, and never mind that we're talking about the God who created the Universe and who commands infinite power, glory, and awesomeness. In fact, I imagine that the experience of Moses on Sinai was quite a bit different than how we normally picture it, yet Moses did spend a full forty days and forty nights in His presence and came down literally illuminated. We don't deserve to approach the King, but it is by His grace that we are allowed to do so. We are told we can boldly approach the throne, but I'd rather err on the side of humility. I'm not really such a big deal, after all.

Yet we can approach. If we take the time and spend the energy necessary to climb a mere four rungs (remember, I'm adapting Rabbi Freeman's metaphor to fit my own) of the ladder, we can be with Him in prayer. If we don't know what to say, we have an intercessor who can interpret even our moans and groans. We have access to Him. All we really need is to find a place to be alone and allow ourselves to be sheltered in His "cloud" and by His wings.

Update, March 9th: After viewing this documentary film I found in the Yinon blog, I decided to include it here as well. For Christians, the movie may seem a little different than what you're used to, but the concept of Hitbodedut, of praying in deep solitude, is something that I think can benefit us all. Perhaps some of you are already spending this time with God.



Blessed be the Name of His glorious Kingdom for all eternity.

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

Imagining Ourselves

And he set up the enclosure around the Tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen for the gate of the enclosure. When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle a cloud of the Lord rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys. -Exodus 40:33-38

I've often tried to imagine what it must have been like to stand there with all those millions of people, surrounding the newly constructed Tabernacle. I imagine that the immense crowd is hushed with anticipation. Moses has just finished the last piece of construction, putting up the screen for the gate of the enclosure. Everything is set. We are waiting. And then it happens.

There's nothing in the text that suggests this, but I always picture this scene as happening at night. The "cloud" of fire is descending slowly, majestically, in awesome wonder as three million people collectively hold their breath. The cloud descends and enters the Tabernacle which, up to this moment, was completely dark.

Then suddenly, the structure explodes with light and the weight of His Presence causes the earth to tremble. Three million people gasp and then burst forth in cheers and songs of praise and worship. The Lord God Almighty finally lives among His people!

It would have been the thrill of a lifetime to just have witnessed those few moments when the Divine Presence rested upon the Tabernacle, even if, after it was over, I was asked to leave. After all, I'm not one of the Children of Israel.

It might surprise you to find out that I also imagine myself living in Jerusalem in the time of Yeshua. No, I'm not so bold as to even imagine a personal meeting with the Jewish Messiah. Encounters between Yeshua and non-Jews were rare and he had come for "the lost sheep of Israel".

But I see myself approaching the Temple. I'm only allowed as far as the court of the Gentiles, of course, and I pick out a place for myself at the back of the court, furthest away from where the Jews are able to enter to be closer to "the Presence". I try to stay to the shadows, being unworthy to even be this close. As a non-Jew, I wouldn't be wearing a tallit, but I hope for a hood or a shroud to cover myself in the wings of prayer and then to silently petition and praise the God of the Jews.

It would be an honor just to touch those stones and walk the ground on which the Temple was built, even for a few moments. I think I would wonder what it would be like to go in. What a moment it would be if someone like me could offer a sacrifice and have it be accepted...even just one time. But that wouldn't be possible and after my prayers, I would have to leave.

I sometimes imagine being in a small synagogue in the diaspora, worshiping in the back on Shabbat with other goyim God-fearers. I have trouble picturing this part, because as far as I understand it, people memorized the prayers in those days. Would I have learned Hebrew prayers from the Jewish worshipers to offer the King or would I only speak my thoughts and my heart in my native tongue? How I would tremble in wonder at the realization that we could pray to the One God, even though as a non-Jew, I'd be separated from the more formal worship that was occurring at the front of the synagogue.

While I could never approach it, let alone read from it, I imagine the removal of the Torah from the ark as the highlight of my Shabbat worship. In a way, its appearance in the congregation is an echo of the initial moment when the Divine Presence inhabited the Mishkan, those many centuries ago.

I wonder what it would all have been like?

I sometimes imagine myself being among the Gentiles accompanying Cornelius and his household and listening to the words of the Apostle Peter, a man who had walked with the Messiah himself, as this happened:

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised 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

We take so much for granted today. Who we are. What we believe. The condition of our faith. The nature of God. But we are all supposed to be connected to these people and these events and most of all, though the Messiah, we are supposed to be connected to God. I was thinking about this piece of dialog between Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) in the Star Trek, The Next Generation episode Samaritan Snare:

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: There's no greater challenge than the study of philosophy.
Wesley Crusher: But William James won't be on my Starfleet exams.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: The important things never will be. Anyone can be trained in the mechanics of piloting a starship.
Wesley Crusher: And Starfleet Academy...
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Takes more. Open your mind to the past - art, history, philosophy. And all this may mean something.

We blog about so many things but in the end, just as Picard says to Wesley, it takes more. While we obsess over our own versions of "Starfleet exams" and "Starfleet academy", the important things aren't going to be on those "exams" (or in many cases, in those blogs). It takes more.

In our case, we must open our minds (and our hearts) to God, His Word, the Messiah, His Glory, His Honor, and the unimaginable opportunity we have been offered just to be a small part of it all.

Blogging creates the illusion that we're very important people in the greater scheme of things. Yet anyone can create a blog in just a few minutes and start publishing his or her words and "wisdom" into the blogosphere for any one to read. But in all our blogging and posting (and I'm just as guilty of this as anyone...probably more), does it matter so much what our opinions are or the concepts we're trying to convey? Are we missing the point?

When Moses had finished the work, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.

Aren't moments like these the real point? Isn't quietly sitting in the back of the synagogue, or in a corner in the court of the Gentiles at the Temple (for me) contemplating God and His awesomeness really what's supposed to be happening?

I hope that, blogging and commenting on blogs for six days of the week, that on the Shabbat, we can find a small, quiet shadow to visit and, standing before His Presence, we humbly realize truly who we are, and who He is and ask ourselves why we treat people who are sacred to God as profane.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark, ignoring the light of the world. Look for the lamp to light the path.

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

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?

Knowing the Path and Walking It

For Hillel, study was the essential prerequisite for knowing and fulfilling one's obligations, because virtue is not achieved through good intentions alone. Good intentions need be coupled with ongoing and vigorous intellectual effort...But central as Torah study is to Hillel, what one does not find in his aphorisms are teachings about God and about prayer.

In contrast to Hillel, one looks in vain in the New Testament for statements from Jesus advocating rigorous Bible study. It is not intellectural sophistication that Jesus seems to value most, but simple faith...
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
Hillel: If Not Now, When?

Yes, I'm still reading Rabbi Telushkin's book and I will undoubtedly continue to blog on portions of this text long after I've finished reading it. Here, in the above quotes, we see Telushkin continuing to compare the lives and acts of Hillel and Jesus (Yeshua), this time pointing out a major difference.

In a nutshell, Telushkin characterizes Hillel as a man devoted to the deeply human and compassionate expressions of Judaism but who discovered and deepened those expressions, not through intense prayer, but through intense study.

This isn't to say that Hillel didn't value prayer, but from Telushkin's point of view, Hillel found faith and God primarily through Torah study while Yeshua advocated for a holy life devoted to prayer and good deeds.

Or did he?

What we know of both men is limited to the written record we have of both their lives. In terms of the life of Yeshua, we have a record that is inspired by God, so we have no reason to doubt anything about the Bible, but does it contain everything about Yeshua?

Probably not.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. -John 21:25

While John is speaking specifically of the post-resurrection activities of the Master, I think it's fair to say that we could apply this to Yeshua's life in general. We only know a certain amount, just like the knowledge of the life of Hillel is limited.

I offer the following as evidence that Yeshua did expect his followers to have a deep understanding of the scriptures, which would, of course, require a great deal of study:

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. -Luke 24:25-27

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. -Luke 24:44-47

The evidence, even during the earthly lifetime of Yeshua, that the Messiah had to die, be buried, and be resurrected was always in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. While we don't find his teachings pointing directly to the requirement to vigorously study Torah, these quotes from Yeshua indicate that Torah study was a necessity. He chided his disciples for failing to study sufficiently to be able to understand the events that were happening all around them concerning the Messiah.

Now lets's turn back to Hillel. The most famous quote attributed to Hillel, from which Rabbi Teluskin takes the title of his book is:

Say not, 'When I have free time I shall study'; for you may perhaps never have any free time. -Avot 2:4

When comparing this to Jesus though, Telushkin says:

There are no such statements (from Hillel) such as "Do not say, 'When I have free time, I will pray,' lest you never have free time," or even "One who does not believe in God cannot be fully a righteous person."

This is just a guess on my part, but perhaps both teachers were operating under certain assumptions, or at least assessed the needs of their students in different ways. Hillel may have drawn students for whom prayer and devotion to God was a given and therefore, his students didn't require a strong urging in this area. From Yeshua's point of view however, given the fact that most of his disciples were very poor, the opportunity to study at a Yeshiva would have been rare to non-existent. Peter and his companions were fishermen by trade. They had to earn a living. Torah study is very time consuming and usually such students came from wealthy families who would support them. In the case of Yeshua's students, perhaps the nature of their lives combined with limited access to a Yeshiva resulted in his emphasizing prayer over study.

However, this should be a condition that Hillel would have understood because he himself was a poor person, a day laborer who had emigrated from Babylonia to Jerusalem. It was only the kindness of his own teachers that enabled him to begin dedicated Torah study and ultimately go from being a poor common laborer to the foremost scholar and teacher of his day.

I don't come with the answers to these questions and seeming contradictions, but I do want to introduce a "wobble" in this apparent differences between the approach of Hillel and that of Yeshua. While each teacher seemed to emphasize a different path to righteousness, I don't believe that they neglected the values of the other.

The life of Hillel is a testament to compassion, mercy, and graciousness, especially to the poor and the disaffected. How like the teachings of Yeshua his actions were. At the same time, Yeshua had an expectation that his disciples would know the Law and the Prophets sufficently to be able to understand that, when Yeshua died, it was because the Messiah was supposed to die. Even today, you have to study and look for the specific portions of the scriptures that point this out. They aren't always obvious (they seem that way, because in the church, they are highlighted quite a bit...to an Orthodox Jew who studies the same scriptures though, not so much).

Both Hillel and Yeshua came from poor and working class families. Prior to his early 30s, Yeshua no doubt worked quietly in carpentry while, as we've said, prior to entering into formal studies, Hillel was a day laborer. They knew what it was like to do without and they also both had a vision that extended far beyond their stations in life.

We know that Yeshua's purpose and goal was sent from Heaven and from the Throne of God but in more humble ways, that can be said of all of us. Certainly this is also true of Hillel. We know that both of these men were (and are...God is not a God of the dead but of the living, and Yeshua is our High Priest in the Heavenly Court) different in many ways but perhaps, where it truly counted, they were also very much alike.

They both knew what their students needed and they knew how to guide them down the path of righteousness.

Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize just as I did that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
Morpheus
The Matrix (1999)

Study after all, is no good unless you put it into action. Prayer, as the brother of the Master points out, is more effective when you act in order to be the answer to prayer (James 2:14-26).

What Did Jesus Teach About Being Servants?

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. -Matthew 28:19-20

Update: February 13, 2011: As part of my Discipleship and the Torah class, I've made an audio recording of a class discussion on this lesson. Enjoy.

Leadership and Servanthood

This is the third part of my series on what Yeshua (Jesus) directed his Jewish disciples to teach the newly minted Gentile Messianic disciples to obey. It's also the second of a series of Yeshua's teachings in the Book of Matthew on Leadership and Servanthood. To summarize Part II: What Did Jesus Teach About Being Salt and Light:

In a nutshell, we learn that Yeshua taught that once we, as Gentile disciples, accept him as our Master and begin learning his lessons through being taught by Yeshua's disciples and by Torah study, we are supposed to pass the word along through the example of our lives and through our good deeds (Matthew 5:16) so that those seeing our light will praise God in Heaven. Learn from disciples. Learn from the Bible. Do good deeds. Be salt. Shine your light. Don't hide under a bowl.

That is what we can say about what Yeshua taught the Jewish disciples to teach the Gentiles disciples about being salt and light. Remember though, he also told the Jewish disciples to teach the Gentile disciples "to obey everything I have commanded you". In order to understand what everything means, we need to press on. After all, we've just scratched the surface.

As I go over my notes and look at what I've considered lessons in "Leadership and Servanthood", I realize they actually cover a wide variety of topics and could reasonably be considered to fall under different classifications or categories. On the other hand, being an example; being "salt and light", covers most of the things we do on a day to day basis. With that in mind, let's keep on exploring this topic and see what we, as Gentile disciples, are to be taught and to obey at the command of Yeshua the Messiah, especially about being servants and good examples.

Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. -Matthew 6:1-4

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. -Matthew 6:5-9

These two passages are artificially split into the topics of charity and prayer but Yeshua is really talking about the same thing: how we are to live out the commandments. On the one hand, giving to the poor is a commandment and an act of justice or righteousness. It doesn't take a doctorate degree in theology to understand this. Also, while we can't actually point to a commandment that says, "thou shalt pray to the Lord thy God", there is a great deal of precidence in the Bible to show that prayer is an expectation of God from us and part of our relationship with Him. Neither act is difficult to understand and here, Yeshua isn't telling us to give to the poor and to pray: those are "givens".

What he is teaching is not to make a big deal to other people about giving to the poor and to praying as if to say, "look what a holy and righteous person I am by how I give to the poor and how loudly and intensely I pray in public places". It reminds me of a parable the Master tells that I'm sure we've all read before:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 18:9-14

This should be an obvious lesson for just about any believer, but I continually see examples of people in the community of faith who spend more time exalting themselves than exalting the Messiah, especially from those in leadership roles. When you're put in the spotlight, even a very small spotlight, there's a temptation to use it to put on a performance. At first, you might think you're doing so in order to inspire others, but once you start hearing people say what a "holy person", you are, it can and likely will go to your head. Referencing the Master's words in Matthew 6:1-8, it seems he is saying that it's better to serve quietly and anonymously than to do so loudly and publicly. Whatever you do, even if it is to fulfill an obvious commandment, ask yourself if you're doing it for his glory or for your own?

"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." -Matthew 10:40-42

On the surface, you could say that Yeshua is talking about how, when someone receives you as a servant of the Master, they are receiving him. It would be nice to be treated as if we were the Master himself, but don't let it go to your head. Remember, to follow him is also to take up your execution stake and to suffer for the Kingdom. What he is also teaching is that even giving a cup of cold water to the least member of the Kingdom will be rewarded.

If you back up in the chapter to see the larger context, you'll see that Yeshua is asking for something special and something not entirely comfortable to most of us: he's asking to be more important to us than our father, our mother, our families, and even to endure the fact that some members of our own households might end up being our "enemies".

That doesn't mean we aren't to love our families and treat them well, but we aren't to deny the Messiah and to abandon the Master, even if some members of our family don't believe in or honor Yeshua. If you want to be a leader and a servant in the Kingdom of the Most High, this is the place to do it. Remember the Master also said:

"A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. -Matthew 10:24-25

This statement goes to the very heart of discipleship and what it means. We, as disciples of Yeshua, are not above him in any way, nor will we ever be above him. We should not exalt ourselves to even think we could approach the level of the Messiah. It is enough for we disciples to be disciples of the Master. It is enough for us as servants to be servants to Yeshua. It is enough for us as students to be students of our Teacher.

Conclusion: What did Yeshua tell his Jewish disciples to teach the Gentile disciples to obey about being servants and students, even if we're in roles of leadership?

1. When we are doing acts of charity in his name, don't make a big deal about our name.
2. When we pray, pray in secret, not in public so as to make a big deal about ourselves.
3. When we pray, don't pray loudly and babble on for hours at a time, as if we need to make a big speech to get God's attention. We aren't telling God anything new. He already knows what we need.
4. If we want to serve him, we must serve his people, from the greatest prophet, to the least of his servants, just as if we were serving the Master directly because, in fact, we really are.
5. If we want to serve him, we have to accept that some members of our family might not join with us in that service, and we are not to reject the Master, even for peace in the household.
6. Don't aspire to be as great or greater than our master. It is enough for us to be his servant, student, and disciple.

From the greatest evangelists and the most learned Torah sages, down to the people who do the dishes and take out the garbage in your church, synagogue, or congregation, we are all his servants and nothing we do should be designed to elevate ourselves in the eyes of men. The minute we start giving glory to ourselves instead of Yeshua, we've failed him. Remember, this is what Yeshua taught to his Jewish disciples and expected them to obey. Remember, this is what Yeshua taught his Jewish disciples and commanded them to teach the Gentile disciples to obey.

In a nutshell, for today's lesson, we learn that Yeshua teaches his disciples, all of us, to obey him by doing acts of kindness and righteousness for his sake and for the sake of others, but not to glorify ourselves. A student is never greater than his master and it is enough for us to be his students and to imitate him. When we are faithful and serve even the least or the weakest of Yeshua's servants for his sake, we are serving him.

What Did Jesus Change? Prayer

"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
-Matthew 6:9-15

You may not think of prayer as something that Yeshua/Jesus changed and it may even seem mysterious to think that his Jewish disciples needed him to teach them to pray. After all, Jews had been praying to God for thousands of years. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prayed. Why would John the Baptist need to teach his disciples to pray and why, seeing this, would Yeshua's disciples ask him to teach them to pray?

I don't have a specific answer for all that, but the clue may be found here:

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. -Matthew 6:5-8

It may well have been, in an age where the Holy Land was occupied by a harsh, Gentile ruler, and much of the religious hierarchy was in the control of Rome, that some of the focus of how to live a holy life had been interrupted or even influenced negatively by outside sources.

Why do we pray?

There are a wide variety of reasons, the most common being to ask for what we want and what we need. Sometimes prayer more resembles Aladdin's relationship with the genie in the lamp than man's relationship with the One God of the Universe.

A detailed analysis of the meaning of prayer is beyond the scope of this blog and frankly, many more worthy individuals have written chapters and even whole books on the subject, so what could I possibly contribute?

That said, it seems as if Yeshua helped to address the specific components of prayer that are most important to human beings. After all, God doesn't need us to pray because he requires a source of information from us. He already knows our needs. Prayer changes us, not God. So what does "the Lord's Prayer" mean?

In simple language, God is holy, we ask that our world more resemble His Heavenly Court where the only will that is done is His will. We get hungry and have other needs and God wants us to rely on Him for those. This next part's really important. We ask for God's forgiveness relative to how we forgive others. We're really big on being forgiven by God but forget that we're supposed to pass that along to everyone around us, whether they deserve it or not (because after all, we don't). After that, we ask to be delivered from harsh testings and from the evil one. This doesn't mean bad things won't happen to us, just that God is with us and will deliver us from them.

Was this revolutionary to the original Jewish disciples? Maybe and maybe not, but based on what Yeshua said in Matthew 6:5-8, it was probably revolutionary to the Gentiles who would later be brought "into the fold" as disciples of the Jewish Messiah.

Yeshua described the prayers of the Gentiles (pagans) as "...do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words". The form of Yeshua's prayer isn't very long at all and he makes a point of saying that it's not for imparting information or getting God's attention (we've already got it). It's for developing and maintaining a relationship with a personal God, which may well have been something the early Gentile pagan converts had no idea how to deal with. While teaching his own Jewish disciples how to pray was important, teaching the Gentiles how to pray would have been vital. Of course Yeshua wasn't teaching Gentiles how to pray then, but we have his words now, don't we?

There's another important component to prayer that we don't get in the Gospels:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. -Hebrews 4:14-16

Now a strict MJ/BE interpretation might say the book of Hebrews was written to...Hebrews, but how can these verses be applied differently to a Gentile believer? Our High Priest is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and was tempted in the same ways we're tempted. We know that when we pray, we won't be looked down upon from the heavens for being "only human". The writer of the book of Hebrews also says we pray to "receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Again, while this may not have been any sort of conceptual change for Jewish disciples, I'm willing to believe it was an earth-shattering revelation for Gentiles who formerly worshiped "gods" who "behaved" just as badly as human beings behave and who had a tendency to be very capricious, sometimes granting mercy, sometimes granting wrath (and they were fictional anyway, but that doesn't mean the pagans weren't afraid of them).

While we are encouraged to pray to God unceasingly with our needs and our hurts, prayer serves as the means to spend time with God, and God asks that we approach our time with him the way we would with a beloved spouse, someone who we love deeply, and who we want to spend as much time with as possible, and with whom we want to share the moments and cares of our lives.

While Yeshua may not have significantly changed the nature and character of prayer for the Jewish people, he introduced the Gentiles to a way to pray to a personal and caring God who desires that all humanity draw near to Him.