For more than a few years, I have been interested in aspects of Judaism as they impact our Christian faith, since we will always be indebted to the Jews for not only the birth, life and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also for gifting us their necessary monotheism to make His mission and purpose at all possible. Drawing upon two previous essays, I want to try to define the nature of Judaism for myself as a Christian who left the church eight years ago, working to clarify and thus deepen my faith journey since then. I have come to dislike the chronic chasm between Christians and Jews for the principal reason that this was not God’s intention with bringing Jesus into our world, that Christians and Jews both chronically misunderstand each other, and, as someone else said, if there is going to be a Second Coming of Jesus, it will likely not happen until Jews also accept Him as their Mashiach, or Messiah. Could it really be true—-after twenty centuries—-that some or many Jews still do not know that Jesus, His disciples and their broader religious milieu were all Jewish? For their sakes, I hope not.
I want to present a brief history of Judaism as I (admittedly) barely understand it, certainly not at the level of its (overly) complex practices, nor its social culture, since I am obviously not Jewish. Out of this comes the old, thorny question of by whose motives and reasons Jesus was crucified as well as why Jews still do not accept Him as their Mashiach. There are limitations to Judaism as a religion, especially on a psychological level, which have greatly hindered such acceptance. There is also the reality that, while some Christians visit Israel (as I recently considered, but decided against pursuing) to better understand this Jewish background, many more Christians have really no working familiarity with Judaism beyond ubiquitous church-talk about “the ancient Israelites.” It is frankly very easy for Christians to forget about Jews altogether. Growing up, I lived a half-mile from a synagogue for my entire childhood, yet it never came up in general conversation. The early Christian writer, Justin Martyr, among others, was ridiculing Jews as “superstitious” as early as the mid-2nd Century CE. After the Council of Nicaea in 325CE, Constantine separated Passover from Easter, saying Jews were “afflicted with blindness of soul” from their “enormous sin.” An early Church father, John Chrysostom, discouraged Christians from attending synagogues and Jewish festivals. Various Catholic edicts forbade the use of Jewish materials in worship or to even eat with Jews. Three years before he died, Martin Luther wrote a vitriolic, anti-Jewish essay which was later used by Hitler to persecute Jews in Nazi Germany. I am not going to deal with the increate Jewish complaints against Christians regarding our recurring persecutions against them, since we are guilty as charged. This overly sour relationship between Christians and Jews is both mutual and deeply ingrained, representing the displacement of much acrimonious history onto each other from so long ago. It resembles a chronically distrustful divorced couple who must still raise their under-age children together. I will come around to their very current situation near the end, but first, a bit of Jewish history.
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The origins of Judaism as described in the Torah are certainly at least partly historically accurate, and reflect a necessary spiritual story for the Jews to understand their singular beginnings as God’s “chosen” monotheistic people. Judaism likely evolved over a lengthy period from Canaanite and other neighboring polytheistic religions, which already had both festivals and animal sacrifices. Both Yahweh and Baal (familiar names in the Old Testament) were Canaanite gods of weather and fertility which became central figures in the early Jewish evolution toward monotheism. As we know, there were originally twelve tribes of Jews, ten of which were lost due to domination by the Assyrians in 722 BCE. Complaints by many of the OT prophets (especially Jeremiah, who referred to his fellow Jews as “stupid children”) centered on idol worship and sinfulness from these “other gods.” Aron’s creation of “the golden calf” while Moses was on Mount Sinai (for forty days) highlighted the Jewish emotional difficulty of retaining a purebred religion. Three annual festivals also evolved—Passover in the springtime, Sukkot (the feast of Tabernacles) celebrating the harvest in the autumn, and Hannukah late in the year, a remembrance of the Seleucid war in ca. 165 BCE. Messianic Jews, perhaps correctly, speculate that Jesus was born not in December, but at either Passover or Sukkot. The Jewish prohibition against eating pork may also have been derived from these other religions. While aspects of “the Jewish story” had been orally discussed for centuries, it was during the Babylonian exile (586-539 BCE), when many of the Jewish elite were taken out of the country, hence the fear of “losing their religion” became acutely worrisome, and what became the Old Testament (Tanakh) was written down in earnest. Idol worship eventually attenuated after this period, because the Jews now had something they could literally hold in their hands: a book about themselves which they had written. The Gospels would later be written against the backdrop of the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE to preserve oral stories about Jesus and the disciples as the Jews were banned in Jerusalem and scattered into the Diaspora. No one wants to be forgotten.
Thus came the merging of two “states of being” which would continue to define the Jews until our present time: multiple conquests by various invaders (including their Temple being twice destroyed), leading to their sense of not only being “set apart” by God, but a quite realistic persecution / slavery complex, this sentiment against their own Achilles’ heel: a self-obsession with maintaining their religious integrity at all costs against any others, which would eventually bring about the Pharisees’ conflicts with and the eventual death of Jesus Christ. Once the Tanakh was finalized, Judaism became a “book religion,” and in the Tanakh we can more than glimpse the complexity of their religious practices in some detail, include the exacting mathematics for the construction of the Temple in 1 Kings 6:2-6 and 2 Chronicles 3:1-4. Later on would come the Talmud and Mishnah as written elaborations of the Tanakh, overseen by rabbis who “understood it all.” Christianity simply has no equivalent to these books, as the hollower dogmas of the Catholic church are tame by comparison. The Jews had evolved a religious lifestyle that will never be duplicated, and it sinks them to too great a degree. What women have to do at Passover alone, in terms of cooking and cleaning, is wearying just to read. In Judaism, there are difficult-to-pronounce names for everything, and to remain “Torah-observant” is strenuous on one’s time and temperament. It is certainly not for everyone—-not even all Jews.
From this unfairly brief history, we can see that Judaism’s pagan roots expose it to a certain problem: how much difference does it make to learn and yearly perform these ritual practices, to memorize so much Scripture and to cling so tightly to each other in an evolving modern world, where even “keeping Kosher” has significantly declined in our lifetime. How would Jews explain foregoing eating pork biologically, for example, as a source of protein, since they are not usually vegetarians? Animal sacrifices are pagan regardless of the religion, and so do not meaningfully further God’s work. The 613 laws of Judaism became the skeletal cohesion of how to live God-centered lives, but, despite complaints to the contrary, obedience to such laws was and is a major Jewish preoccupation, while at least a few Jews will whisper that they long for a “personal relationship” with God enjoyed by (some) Christians. Paul’s stress on the necessity of circumcision for the Jews did not explain its psychologically dubious value when dealing with our still-invisible God, then or now—-it simply provides no real spiritual relief. While we can admire their devotion, what was and is gained merely by either animal sacrifices or obedience to the Law alone? How does any of this affect Jewish spirituality, and, if so, does this remain too much at the “idea level?” Judaism wobbles at the risk of being mere religion, however monotheistically so. It is clear that Jews themselves were looking for more during the period between the Seleucid War and the arrival of Jesus—whether a Mashiach or not—-that obeyance to the Law was not enough under worsening Roman oppression, and so what would become of them? I will return to this after answering “the thorny question” mentioned earlier.
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In a familiar story common to all four Gospels, we find Jesus intentionally damaging the money-changers’ tables in the outer court of the Temple, the only place there where Gentiles were allowed to gather. In John’s Gospel, this episode occurred during the first of three Passovers when He came up to Jerusalem, thus quite early in His ministry, rather than during Passion Week, as described in the Synoptics. John would have us see this as Jesus’ introduction to the Jewish religious elite, likely evoking at least some animosity. Jesus famously replied that He could raise the Temple in three days if it was destroyed. This initiated an on-going dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees throughout much of this Gospel over His ministry, and whether He had real authority from God to pursue His mission. Also early on in this intra-Jewish discussion came Nicodemus, who, as a member of the Sanhedrin, wanted to better understand Jesus. Nicodemus’ comrade in this pursuit was Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb for Jesus’ burial. Although John pejoratively called the Pharisees and Sadducees “the Jews,” is there not some sincere curiosity about Jesus mixed in with their admittedly deceptive questions? At one point, they exasperatedly say “If this man were not from God, He could not do anything.” (John 9:33). Others have pointed out the geographical contrast: the religious leaders were, of course, from Jerusalem, while Jesus and the disciples were from Galilee, which was famously ridiculed by Nathanael among others for being culturally backward. Jesus was always presenting Himself as a surprise to everyone, for better and worse, so what was it that truly rankled “the Jews” against Him over time, to the point of apparently wanting to kill Him?
Not being Catholic, with ecumenical popes who have wanted to appease the Jews for their role in Jesus’ crucifixion, I do fault them for their participation in His death, even if God knew it was coming anyway. Do I fault all the Jewish people for all time—-no, of course not. It was Caiaphas and some or most of the seventy members of the Sanhedrin who made their decision to press Pontius Pilate for Jesus’ crucifixion, and who may have stirred up the crowd concerning Barrabas. They had a mutually beneficial relationship with the Roman government to maintain law and order in exchange for generally being left alone to practice their religion unperturbed. Jesus became a mystery to them, and the Sanhedrin were not—with two known members as exceptions—a spiritually curious bunch. In fairness, they did keep questioning Jesus to justify their eventual actions over perhaps as long as two years, and during that time, made no serious attempts to have Him arrested. The simplest reason for the religious elite’s distaste for Jesus was that He did not appeal to their overly standardized version of Judaism, especially how it was being actualized in the Temple, a sentiment shared with the Essenes. Not the animal sacrifices or festivals, but rather the larger purpose of their religion had long been co-opted by human tendencies of power, rigidity and occasionally greed. Judaism had already become stale, but no one before Jesus knew what to do about it. The Pharisees and Sadducees felt pestered by Jesus (as Herod Antipas had by John the Baptist) for their moral shallowness and recurring spiritual hypocrisy, but even if they agreed with Him, they had no remedy in mind. People tend to get angry when they are criticized and even agree with the complaints, yet bristle when asked for any solutions. The learned religious elite, who prized their erudite opinions on Jewish matters, were, in essence, spiritually stumped, as they still are, as are most of the clergy in general. Whom else besides Jesus has God actually talked to since Moses? It would be easier for the Jewish elite to kill Jesus than be regularly reminded they had run out of gas as the spiritual mentors of their own people.
With this sentiment as an on-going irritant against Jesus, then came several situations as described in the Gospels which make His demise at the hands of the Jews more likely. While Pontius Pilate was certainly not an innocent party (he was removed from office in 36 CE for excessive cruelty to the populace), his knowledge of Jesus would likely have been peripheral at best. The religious leaders were getting ongoing reports about Jesus’ mission when He was in Galilee and would be freshly apprised of Him during the festivals in Jerusalem. This mixture of curiosity and irritation about Jesus would simmer off and on over a lengthy period of time, with sudden bursts of seemingly divine qualities, either from Jesus’ teachings or miracles. To use the old phrase, Jesus would “turn everyone’s heads” with parables, lengthy discourses and, most keenly, miraculous healings. This being a “surprise to everyone,” including His disciples, left everyone else confused and yet hopeful that God had finally sent them someone to raise their lives higher. Over and over, Jesus’ work would press the limits of what His disciples, the Jewish populace and the religious elite could tolerate. Could Jesus actually be sent from God, as some sort of divine being? On and on this went for day after month for two or three years until the one episode occurred that transcended anything anyone had ever witnessed: the raising of Lazarus. If the chronology in John’s Gospel is correct, Jesus’ ministry was bracketed by the money-changers’ tables near the beginning and the raising of Lazarus just before Passion Week. Jesus thus “provoked” His arrest by being a miraculous trouble-maker for the seeming benefit of a Jewish people who were being asked by Him to bend everything they knew into a new direction, all the while telling them the world may well end soon. It must have proven to be excitingly exhausting. In addition, since the Sadducees (who made up the majority of the Sanhedrin) did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, they would not have understood Jesus’ statements about “raising the Temple in three days.” The religious leaders’ simmering emotionality came to a boil because yes, Jesus may haven been more influential than they were, but, more importantly, they envied His miracles as the sign that God had brought Him forth into the world, which rendered them seemingly irrelevant—that was their fear. It was this envy of His miracles, with His power to raise the dead, that finally got Jesus killed. He simply wore them out, and this provoked “a circle of disbelief,” including both Jesus’ disciples as well as the Sanhedrin. They killed Jesus in the same way that His disciples fell asleep repeatedly in Gethsemane. There is something about witnessing miracles that sways us either toward a greater acceptance of a divine God or shuts down our belief in HIm, perhaps altogether. Nearly everyone had had enough. Was Jesus surprised? Yes and no.
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As we know, most of the original followers of Jesus were Jewish. This continued to be true through the rest of the 1st Century CE, though Gentiles became increasingly predominant as time went on. The main shift toward a largely Gentile-based Christianity accelerated during the 2nd Century CE onward, until rather few Jews remained involved. Both the static nature of Judaism as well the skepticism of the Sanhedrin about Jesus won out over a quasi-divine being whose life and mission were no longer cherished by those who had witnessed Him, since all of them had died. John the Evangelist was perhaps the last person claiming first-hand experience with Jesus, and, as someone else has said, how could His miracles truly be taught to those who could never witness Him. We all had to be there, and we still do—there was and is no substitute. That is why Christians wear crosses around our necks, it is as close as we will ever get to His crucifixion.
From the 2nd Century CE until the 1970s, there would be no significant influx of Jews becoming interested in Jesus as a religious figure, and certainly not as their Mashiach. There has always been a tiny cohort of “believers” in Israel and elsewhere, but such people were singularly independent in their Jewish faith and remained marginalized. I heard a YouTube testimonial by an Israeli recently who comes from a family of five generations of “believers”—quite unusual. The social psychology of Jews has always been to reduce Jesus to a “bad history lesson” who has no relevance to them, and that such “believers” are really Christians and not “true Jews.” It is important to note that Jews have long been discouraged from reading the New Testament, and familial pressure to renounce Jesus was and is quite strong, including being disowned due to “conversion.” When Jews start reading the Gospels, they often can not stop, and this usually forms the basis for their “conversion,” some or many having been introduced to the NT by Christian friends or co-workers. Rabbis seem to be rarely consulted. If one member of a family “converts,” others tend to follow. The greatest mystery about Christianity is how it survived at all, especially before Constantine’s making it an official religion in the Roman Empire, largely due to his mother Helena’s own conversion. Scholars have not quite explained this well enough, but its answer certainly has relevance for our own time.
Messianic Judaism began in the early 1970s in the United States as “Jews for Jesus,” an organization still based in San Francisco. It is not clear to me how this began, but Messianic synagogues started cropping up perhaps 20-30 years ago around our country, and embody a typically Jewish identity: they meet for Shabbat on Friday nights or Saturday mornings, their services employ music and dancing, with much praise of Israel. They do, of course, discuss Jesus and NT Scripture, and thus seek to blend the Old and New Testaments as the Biblical basis for their faith. The Eucharist or Communion is generally celebrated on a monthly basis, although they do they do not accept the Trinity. They do not celebrate Christmas, considering it to be a pagan rite outgrown from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia. Gentiles visit sometimes, and some actually convert. Thus they have rounded their Jewish identity with the revelation that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the Anointed One, for them. In a sense, this Messianic Judaism has come out of nowhere, yet it takes them back to 1st Century Israel, the disciples and the earliest churches. There are also Internet sites in Israel devoted to bridging the chasm between the Jews and Yeshua (Jesus). After all this time, these “believers” have leaped over so much acrimonious history to “do a new thing,” and it is truly a blessing for all of us. While still unpopular among Jews generally, they have finally discovered the real purpose of their religion: to be the spiritual midwife of our beloved Mashiach.
In December 2015, a group of Orthodox rabbis issued a Statement on Christianity, offering to work together with Christians after recognizing our value in “seeking to do the Will of our Father in Heaven,” appreciating the hand extended by the Catholic church through Vatican II in the 1960s. They also alluded to “the unique relationship between Christians and Jews,” having “experienced sincere love and respect from many Christians.” Christianity “is neither an accident nor error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations.” Jesus, it goes on, ended idol worship, and Christians have read and studied the Tanakh for divine revelation. And then: “neither of us can achieve God’s mission in this world alone.” If this is not Jewish forgiveness for all the mistreatment suffered at the hands of Christians over the centuries, it is certainly generous. Not surprisingly, they do not wish to receive our proselytizing, but some Jews have already willingly done so, as described above.
Could there be a church / synagogue service involving Protestants, Catholics and Messianic Jews, led by clergy and which com bine elements of all three groups, as an experiment in inter-faith amity? It is long past time to allow Jesus Christ to be the magnetic core for both Christians and Jews, since that is what God intended to happen on Luke’s wondrous night in Bethlehem, so long and longer ago.
November 2021
Every Day Easter 