Messianic Judaism

8/14/2019 Messianic Judaism

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Jews,ChristiansThroughtheYears


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JEWS,CHRISTIANSTHROUGHTHEYEARS 2

Introduction

Though I was raised in the religion of my mother, a Roman

Catholic, my fathers ethnic family was Jewish and while I was living

in the Old City of Jerusalem I met a group of Jewish followers of

Jesus. They could have easily been mistaken for a Baptist gathering;

however, some adhered to kosher diets and observed traditional

Jewish holidays. One elderly scholar in the group pointed out that

Jesus never renounced Judaism.

Messianic Jews accept Jesus as the Messiah. In the modern

world they might seem strange to some, but God has taken the

followers of Jesus through many twists and turns in the last 2,000

years. Christianity began as a Jewish sect with the brother of Jesus

as a major leader, and was later taken over by Constantine and the

Romans.

God used Rome and Greece to bring the message of salvation

to the world; but, the originators or Christianity (Jews) are back on the

scene in increasing numbers. A recent Israeli television station1

claimed that there are 15-20 Messianic Jewish congregations in

Jerusalem alone, and the Jerusalem Post published an article in the

late 1990s claiming that more Jews have accepted Jesus in the past

20 years than the entire previous 2,000 years.

1Channel2,MessianicJews,April 26, 2007, Youtube


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Changes in Church Culture

The Jewish mannerisms of Jesus found in the New Testament

are different than modern Christians. Jesus and his followers had a

dress, diet, and set of religious customs that have disappeared from

modern Christianity.

Strangely, many modern Christians overlook the Jewish

customs of Jesus and consider Christianity a gentile religion; but, was

Jesus plan to form a new religion apart from Judaism?

Jesus was not a Jew, said a young student in one of my high

school classes a few years ago. Thats what my mother told me.

The only message many young Christians hear in Christian churches

is that Jews crucified Jesus.

In reality, Jesus was very popular among the religious Jews of

his day. Whenever he spoke, Jews gathered in mass. Some

theologians believe Jesus was arrested and tried on a Jewish holy

day because the Jewish leadership, consisting of many non-religious

Jews, knew religious Jews would not be on the streets to stop the

crucifixion.

The Sadducees played a major role in the trial and

condemnation of Jesus and took a secular approach to life. They

were criticized by Jesus for using the Temple for business purposes,

and were similar to a political party and not entirely a religious sect.2

They did not believe in an after-life and probably would have not been

troubled by using a holy day for crucifying Jesus.

2Dorot Ha'Rishonim


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The religious Jews in the first century read the Tanakh, or Old

Testament, and knew that God made a promise with Abraham to

bless the world, and the coming Messiah would be born during a

specific time period. The prophet Daniel said the birth of the Messiah

would come after the order to restore the Second Temple, which took

place 500 years before the birth of Jesus; and before the Second

Temple was destroyed, 40 years after the death of Jesus.

Since Jesus came during this period, and the life and teachings

of Jesus resulted in the largest religion in modern times (i.e., fulfilling

the promises of God to Abraham), there can be not doubt that Jesus

was the Messiah.

Ironically, many Jews and Christians see Christianity as a

gentile religion. Both groups have attempted to build a wall between

Judaism and Christianity. The writings of Daniel are banned from

modern yeshivas (Torah schools) and the Romans and their

Emperor Constantine did their part to widen the divide between

Christians and Jews.

In 325 the Council of Nicaea met to codify Christian doctrines.

Jewish bishops were excluded from the meeting and seven years

later, Constantine ordered Christian Jews to abandon all ties to

Judaism or be killed.

Until the late 4th century AD, when Christianity was made the

official religion of Rome, Christians and Christian Jews lived in a

predominately Pagan world. The long established, official religion of

the Roman Empire was Pagan. It involved worship of a variety of

Roman deities, both Gods and Goddesses

A strong competitor to the followers of Jesus in those days was


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a third religion: Mithraism. This faith involved the worship of a Persian

God Mithra. The Roman religion and Mithraism reserved Sunday as

their day of religious observance. Christians went along with moving

the Sabbath to Sunday.

Some feel the Christians were motivated to change the

Sabbath day as a method of distancing themselves from the Jews,

because the Romans disliked the Jews.

Since Nicaea, greater emphasis has been placed on the New

Testament. Many modern Christians consider the Tanakh irrelevant;

however, Jesus said: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or

the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.3

One thing is certain: the Tanakh/Old Testament, as well as the

New Testament, are founded on Genesis. Without Genesis we would

not have Abraham. Without Abraham, we do not have Israel and

David. Without David we would not have Jesus Christ. Without Jesus

we do not have fulfillment of Gods covenant with Abraham.

Rabbi Mort Petrushansky a Messianic Jew from Houston was

surprised when he began attending Christian Bible studies in the

70s, after accepting Jesus as Messiah in a Baptist Church. I thought

I had become a gentile when I accepted Jesus, said Petrushansky.

But the ideas we talked about in our Christian Bible study were

based on Jewish ideas. I thought it was very strange.

Most people never question why Jesus was in Jerusalem when

he was crucified, or why the believers were gathered together on the

Day of Pentecost. Throughout time, Christians have replaced Jewish

3Matthew5:17


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holidays with other events. Sometimes they merely rename the

Jewish holidays.

Constantine merged Jewish and Christian cultures with

paganism and Roman culture, a practice that has continued during

the last 2,000 years. Christian missionaries have a tendency to

impose cultural customs on the new converts to Christianity. For

example, some missionaries from America might attempt to force

Africans to change their style of music from African drums to

Southern gospel quartets.

Converts often reject the cultural characteristics imposed on

them and reject Christianity (both), thinking converts must accept

both the culture of the missionary and Christian theology in order to

be a Christian (i.e., Some Africans might reject Christianity because

they may not wish to dress like European Christian missionaries).

James, the brother of Jesus, was the head of the Jerusalem

church after the crucifixion, and he (James) continued to follow

Mosaic Law. Paul indicated that it was not necessary for converts to

follow Jewish law; however, he never discouraged Jews from

following the laws of Moses.

Summary

I feel that God intended for Judaism and Christianity to be two

branches from the same tree, much as Baptists and Methodists

consider themselves Christian brothers.

Jewish and Old Testament holidays should not be a stumbling

block for modern Christianity. Which day we set aside for rest and


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worship is less important than whether we choose to set aside a day

for rest and worship with other believers.

Many Christians are showing renewed interest in studying the

Old Testament and observing the holidays that Jesus observed. God

has a plan that welcomes all people of the world and the entire Bible

outlines this plan for followers of Jesus, Jew and gentile.

In addition to Daniel, many Jews avoid portions of Isaiah, which

points out that God does not play favorites4. The original promise to

Abraham was that multitudes would be blessed. Jesus came that all

might be blessed.

4Isaiah56:6

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