TEAMS? When a Jewish person believes in Jesus, has she switched teams? Is he now a Christian and not a SWITCHING

Transcription

1 SWITCHING TEAMS? When a Jewish person believes in Jesus, has she switched teams? Is he now a Christian and not a Jew? Or have they discovered a new dimension to being Jewish? Read this thought-provoking article, then find out how a Jewish man and his father dealt with this dilemma. Volume 19 8

2 So Why d You Switch Teams? by Rich Robinson I m Jewish and I believe in Jesus. So I ve often been asked: So... why d you switch teams? You belonged to the Jewish people; you had a great thing going for you why did you go over to the other side? The side of the Christians, the non-jews, with their goyische lives, their goyische kups, and their history of persecuting our people? We Jews have had a tough time defining who we are. Jewish writers have variously defined us as a nation, a people, a religion, an ethnic group, a combination of one or more or have left the essence of Jewishness a mystery. Sometimes it s said that we are far better at knowing who we are not than who we are we are not them. Whatever Jewishness is, we know that as Jews we share a history, a religious tradition, a modern state (Israel), and a status among non- Jews that is always in danger of eliciting acts of anti-semitism. Although we can t always give a dictionary definition of Jewish, we live in a common matrix. Fish, mammal, sea urchin we all live in the same ocean. And when a Jewish person comes to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, well, in Jewish eyes they ve left the sea for the land. Unlike with the theory of evolution, that s not seen as something positive. Yet as a Jewish follower of Jesus, I share the same history, which I recount each year at Passover. I share the Reform religious tradition that I grew up with at Temple Emanu-el of Canarsie in Brooklyn, New York. And I ve adopted elements of that and other parts of our religious traditions, and have learned about many more that make their way into my lifestyle. I ve been to Israel and have family there. And though, like many American Jews of my generation, I have experienced little if any overt anti-semitism, that s not the case for Jews elsewhere in the world, including Jewish believers in Jesus. But still... didn t I switch teams? Where do you worship? I ve been asked. Synagogue or church? Well, I ve worshiped at both churches and Messianic congregations, in which the culture of worship is distinctly Jewish. As to synagogue, when I was in Hillel at Syracuse University in the early 70s, I attended some services even after coming to faith in Jesus. A lot of synagogues, though, would not necessarily want me in attendance. Those that would welcome me, though the liturgy can be uplifting and spiritual, are missing what I consider a main component of my faith Jesus the Messiah, whose death atoned for my sins (think Yom Kippur) and who redeemed me from what the Scripture calls the slavery of sin (think Passover and redemption from Egypt). Well, churches are where the goyim worship, so if you re at a church, then you ve joined the goyim, right? It s true that most churches are largely non-jewish. But one of the reasons we are the chosen people is to point the nations the gentiles to faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. My faith teaches me that while Jesus came for us Jews and to us Jews, he also came to bring the nations of the world to faith in the God of Israel. The New Testament describes Jesus as a light for revelation to the gentiles [nations] and for glory to your people Israel (Luke 2:32, italics added). And of course there are more gentiles than Jews in the world so is it any wonder that most churches are made up mostly of gentiles? In recent times many churches have taken a deep interest in learning about the essential Jewishness of their faith. But if you believe in Jesus, then don t you believe in all those non-jewish ideas like the Trinity and the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth? I believe in those ideas because I see them in the Scripture, but I also believe they were and are essentially Jewish. Some Jewish writers agree. Not that they believe Jesus is the Messiah. But they believe many core Christian ideas are Jewish! Benjamin Sommer from Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City the training school for Conservative Jewish rabbis in America has this to say in a recent book: Some Jews regard Christianity s claim to be a monotheistic religion with grave suspicion, both because of the doctrine of the trinity (how can three equal one?) and because of Christianity s core belief that God took bodily form. What I have attempted to point out here is that biblical Israel knew very similar doctrines, and these doctrines did not disappear from Judaism after the biblical period.... The only significant theological difference Churches are where the goyim worship, so if you re at a church, then you ve joined the goyim, right? between Judaism and Christianity lies not in the trinity or in the incarnation but in Christianity s revival of the notion of a dying and rising God, a category ancient Israel clearly rejects. (italics added) 1 At the University of California in Berkeley, Daniel Boyarin writes in his recent book, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, that the idea of a human-divine Messiah is not a later pagan addition, but part of the early Jewish Jesus-movement: [According to an older view,] which has been popular among liberal Protestants for over a century, the idea of the divinity of Christ could only have been a relatively late and Gentile development that marks a decisive break with anything that could reasonably be called Jewish.... A second approach, currently enjoying ascendance especially among New Testament scholars, sees the earliest versions of high Christology as emerging within a Jewish religious context. 2 But there s something even deeper to the question about switching teams. I recently read a collection of essays by Jewish 20- and 30- somethings called Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation. The introduction by Andrew Lustig captures the Jewish matrix in which many Jews live: I am all the words in Yiddish I ve been called all my life that I still don t understand. I am going to all three Phish shows this weekend. I am my melody of Adon Olam. I am my melody of Adon Olam. The words may be the same but I am my melody of Adon Olam.... I am a concept foreign to the rest of the world. I am not Judaism. I am sleepaway camp.... I am the 19-year-old who s seen Budrus, Don t Mess With the Zohan, and Waltz with Bashir and who thinks who knows peace is possible.... I am constantly struggling to understand my Jewish identity outside of religion (continued on page 8) 2 ISSN PRINTED IN THE U.S.A EDITOR IN CHIEF: SUSAN PERLMAN EDITOR: MATT SIEGER DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION: PAIGE SAUNDERS ISSUES IS NOW ON FACEBOOK! JOIN US AT FACEBOOK.COM/ISSUESMAG ISSUES is a forum of several Messianic Jewish viewpoints. The author alone, where the author s name is given, is responsible for the statements expressed. Those wishing to take exception or those wishing to enter into dialogue with one of these authors may write the publishers and letters will be forwarded. editor@issuesmag.org Web: jewsforjesus.org UNITED STATES: P.O. BOX , SAN FRANCISCO, CA CANADA: 1315 LAWRENCE AVENUE #402, TORONTO, ONT M3A 3R3 UNITED KINGDOM: KENTISH TOWN ROAD, CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON NW1 9PX SOUTH AFRICA: P.O. BOX 1996, PARKLANDS 2121 AUSTRALIA: P.O. BOX 925, SYDNEY NSW

3 Who Am I? by Barry Gardner My parents, Sy and Frieda Gardner, who have passed now, were both Jewish. My mother was raised in an Orthodox home and said we were descended from the priestly Levites. Her mother and father spoke Yiddish and English, kept a kosher kitchen, regularly attended synagogue and observed all the Jewish holidays. My father s family was Jewish by heritage, not by practice. He grew up in a home with his mother, aunt and uncle, grandmother and grandfather in a poor section of Chicago. They did not keep the Feasts and never went to synagogue. I m sure my parents discussed how they would raise my sister and me. I was going to have a bar mitzvah because my father never had one. We celebrated Hanukkah, Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Purim every year, but we only attended synagogue on the High Holy Days. I don t recall what prompted this bold statement from a man who never went to pray in the synagogue, but when I was ten years old my father told me, Any Jew who believes in Jesus is not a Jew. I had no idea what he was talking about. I celebrated Hanukkah and Passover through the years as an adult, but never joined a synagogue. But I strongly identified with my Jewish heritage. In 1995 my sister s husband, a devout Jew, found Jesus and introduced him to my sister. My mother had a very hard time with this, but my father was livid. I am sure they had questions back and forth: Where did we go wrong? How could she do this to us? It took several months for my parents to come around to whatever makes them happy. I was ambivalent about the whole thing; I was playing rock and roll for a living and was just into myself and not in touch with my sister much. I did have a few conversations with my parents on the subject and was reminded that any Jew who believes in Jesus is not a Jew. My sister and her family were now Christians as far as my folks were concerned, and any talk about Jesus was taboo. Dad would get red-faced angry if the subject was even hinted at and Mom would leave the room shaking her head. In 1998 I was working as a chiropractor in Seattle. But I fell, fractured my spine and lost my Barry and his wife, Cyndie business. I called my friend Bruce in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who said, Come to Tulsa. I said Are you crazy? Tulsa? But I actually did it. Bruce lived in Catoosa, a small town just north of Tulsa, but he failed to mention this. So when we drove to his home on five acres in the country, past a brown-grass golf course and a one-street main drag, I thought, This is Tulsa? So here I was, 45 years old, living with a family in Catoosa, Oklahoma, recuperating from a fractured spine, no money, no job and no prospects. I was questioning God as to why I was in this fix. Bruce and his family are Christians and attended church regularly. He knew I was Jewish and we had great discussions about God, but he never pushed me towards Jesus. Yet I was asking, in my own way, what about this Jesus? If he was the Messiah, could he help me? What could it hurt? So, I said it I asked Jesus to come into my life. It seemed like nothing happened. I was disappointed and at the same time a little relieved that God did not strike me with lightning for breaking the cardinal rule: Any Jew who believes in Jesus is not a Jew. So what now? Life continued much as it had until one night in November 1999 when I met a Messianic Jew [one who believes in Jesus]. This man I had never met before and have never seen since said one thing that will forever be etched on my brain and that unlocked a door that allowed me to fully embrace Jesus as my Messiah and Savior: Jews who accept Jesus into their lives never stop being Jews. They become completed Jews. It was like the scene in The Wizard of Oz, You are Precious by Cyndie Warner-Gardner Iam gentile and my husband, Barry, is Jewish. Both of us believe in Jesus. Barry s parents, Sy and Frieda, tolerated Barry s faith but did not like to discuss it. Frieda was terminally ill with Sy and Cyndie ovarian cancer, and my mother wanted Frieda and Sy to know what the Scriptures say about eternal life. But when Mom sent a card about knowing Jesus to my Jewish in-laws, they called where the screen goes from black and white to color. I saw the world in a new and wonderful way. I knew something had changed inside of me, though it was subtle. The next day I had a smile on my face that would not go away. Bruce asked what was up and was very happy when I relayed the events of the previous night. Now, thirteen years later, I am married to a wonderful woman and we are enjoying the blessings God has provided. We are teaching gentile Christians about the Jewish roots of their faith and together are walking the path before us. God has truly taken me on an incredible journey. I look forward to what comes next and am grateful for the people he has put in my life. Barry, expressing their anger and indignation. Who does she think she is sending us a card about Jesus? Sy demanded. Doesn t she know we are Jewish? They requested that Barry politely ask my mother not to do anything like that again. Six months later, in 2004, Frieda passed away. We invited Sy to come from his home in Tucson to visit us in Tulsa on Thanksgiving. He was lonely and missed Frieda terribly, so we were pleased when he accepted our invitation. My entire side of the family came, and we heaped tender love and compassion on Sy, knowing how much he was grieving. My mother in her zeal once again attempted to approach Sy about Jesus, and he responded, Thank you, but that is not for me. She then told him, You are precious. Little did we know how those three simple words affected him. While Barry drove to the mall with me and Sy, I turned and asked Sy, Would you like to go to church with us this Sunday? (continued on page 6) 4 5

4 (continued from page 5) Barry looked over at me dumbfounded. A simple no was Sy s reply. Oh, that s too bad, I said. Afterward we usually go to this marvelous buffet where they have lobster bisque, Cajun tilapia, key lime pie and Sy quickly interjected, Okay. My husband was so shocked he nearly drove off the road! At church, when our pastor, Billy Joe Daugherty, asked if there were any visitors, many in the huge auditorium raised their hands. But of all who responded, the pastor pointed at Sy and said, You sir there is a reason you are here today. The pastor s message was about the sanctity of life the baby in the womb and the senior citizen (Sy was 82), and that Y shua died for all... the Muslim and the Jew. After the service, while eating the wonderful meal we had promised, Sy commented, That preacher of yours is a sure a good talker. What you were feeling, Dad, Barry said, was the presence of the Ruach ha Kodesh [Holy Spirit]. You don t have to quit being Jewish to know Jesus. It just completes you as a Jew because you understand that Messiah has already come. What about all these Christians who try to convert us? Sy asked. I am Jewish and I will be Jewish until the day I die. I completely understand, Dad. I ll send you some books, and you can study and make up your own mind. I guess that would be okay. After Sy returned to Tucson, Barry and I requested prayer each week at church for Sy to come to know Y shua. We mailed him The Complete Jewish Bible and encouraged him to read Isaiah in the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the writings of Jesus Jewish disciples in the New Testament. One day Sy called to tell us that he had 6 joined the choir in the small church at his mobile home park. He had a beautiful bass voice and, oddly enough, knew a lot of old Baptist hymns because he spent time as a sales representative in the southern part of the U.S. when he was a young man. Sy and Barry I m just doing it for the singing because that preacher is nothing like yours, he said. He just reads straight from the Bible. Frankly, he bores me to tears. Despite Sy s lack of interest, God says My word... will not return to me empty (Isaiah 55:11). We knew God was quietly working behind the scenes. Sy visited us the following Thanksgiving. We were especially excited to show him on the Internet something that had happened at our church a week earlier. Our pastor made national news when someone in church inexplicably punched him in the face, requiring him to receive stitches under his eye. Pastor Billy Joe immediately spoke of forgiveness, even as police took the man away. I can t believe that! Sy exclaimed. I would want to deck that guy, and here is your pastor, blood dripping down his face, talking about forgiving him. He then sat down at our kitchen table and began to tell us one of his greatest secrets. Barry, I ve never told you this before, but I was abused as a child. We listened earnestly while he began to weep and explain. I wasn t abused sexually. I didn t have a father, and every day the three women in my life my aunt, mother and grandmother told me I was just like my father... good for nothing. Sadly, it has made me the man I am today. Dad, Barry said gently. I didn t know. I never told you. Cyndie s mother was the first person to say to me that I was precious. No one ever told me that before... not ever. When we go to church tomorrow, Cyndie, I want you and your mom to sit on either side of me and hold my hand. Okay, I said softly. The next day at church, we knew the RELATED INTERNET VIDEOS Watch a news report about the Gardners pastor being punched during the service at: cbsn.ws/uzq8c5 Just before Christmas in 2012, someone stole the baby Jesus figurine from the Gardner s Nativity scene on their front lawn. The Nativity scene was a gift from Barry s father, Sy, after he had come to believe in Jesus as his Messiah. Watch the news report at: bitly.com/wthbai message about letting go of the past and people who have hurt you was meant for Sy. At the end of every service, our pastor invites people who don t yet know Y shua to raise their hands to acknowledge they have fallen short of God s standards and need a savior. He then asks them to come forward. Sy s hand went up, but he wasn t ready to walk forward. Sy visited us again on Memorial Day weekend, He said the pastor in his mobile home park finally told a good story, about a dying man who asked his daughter how to know God. She told him to put an empty chair next to his bed, pretend that God was in it and talk to him like a friend. The next day, when she came to visit, her father was dead, his head cradled on the empty chair... his head in God s lap. I never thought I would say this, Sy said, tears rolling down his cheeks, but I want to know God as a friend too. At church the next day, the message about how to have a closer relationship with God again seemed tailor-made for Sy. During the invitation, Sy held up his hand but again did not go forward. Just then, Pastor Billy Joe pointed up to where we were seated and said. You up there in the purple shirt (it was Sy). Come down here right now! My jaw hit the floor. Thirteen rows up in an auditorium filled with thousands of people and the pastor spots Sy Gardner and calls him down? Sy, Barry and I walked down to the front of the church. The pastor asked Barry if we had been praying a long time for his father. We told him it had been three years. Pastor Billy Joe grabbed the microphone and announced to the entire congregation, This is a Jewish man and his Jewish father, and today Y shua ha Mashiach [Jesus the Messiah] has come! He asked Sy if he was ready to pray and receive his Messiah, and Sy tearfully said yes. There are not enough words to express how we felt that day. Only a supernatural, loving God could have orchestrated these events. God was not quite finished. A member of the congregation tapped Sy on the back. He did not say, Now you are a Christian. Instead he told Sy, Now... you are a completed Jew! 7

5 (continued from page 3) Jewishness almost seems to thrive on a quest for identity; one of the virtues of Judaism is often said to be that it encourages, Talmudstyle, the asking of questions even above the finding of answers. In the same volume, Stacey Ballis writes: One of the things I have always loved about the Seder, what I love in fact generally about being Jewish, is the room to grow and expand and include. I I ve discovered the essential Jewishness of faith in Jesus. have heard that in the mid-1980s, at a conference, the topic of women rabbis was brought before a panel, and an elderly male rabbi announced to the assembly that a woman had as much place on the bimah as an orange has on the Seder plate. From that moment on, my family, like thousands around the world, have put an orange on our Seder plate, and have incorporated the story into our explanation of the sacred items it holds. 4 In addition to encouraging the asking of questions, being Jewish for many Jews today is also about adding, adapting, changing tradition, as well as about being inclusive in the areas of gender and sexuality. So why d you switch to the team that stifles thought and thinks it has a corner on the truth to the exclusion of everyone else? Truth be told, there are Jews and Christians both who discourage questions and have a mindset that excludes the other. And there are both that encourage exactly the opposite. My faith teaches us to ask questions, to challenge ideas, and to include the outsider. After all, the book of James in the New Testament a kind of summary of Jewish ethics has this to say: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Messiah Y shua [Jesus], don t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, Here s a good seat for you, but say to the poor man, You stand there or Sit on the floor by my feet, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1 4) At the same time, my faith also tells me that there are answers, that there are certain things that are true for all people, and that we can know truth as far as a finite human being can know anything. So to answer that often-asked question: I never switched teams. My understanding of the word Christian is that it means a follower of Jesus, regardless of whether someone is Jewish or gentile. The label is not as important as the One we follow. I ve called myself a Christian, a Jewish Christian, a Messianic Jew, a Jewish believer in Jesus. The main thing is that I never left the Jewish people for an alien group. After all, with other Jews I share and enjoy, and celebrate, and identify with our history, our traditions, our Land, our outside status among the nations of the world. I ve discovered the essential Jewishness of faith in Jesus, a faith that encourages asking questions but grounds the answers in what God has done for us by sending us his Messiah. If I sometimes seem surrounded by non-jews, it is only because they too have come to faith in the God of Israel, though they express their faith according to their own cultural lights. I enjoy their expression as well as finding opportunities to live my faith Jewishly. 1. Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp Daniel Boyarin, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ (New York: The New Press, 2012), pp Stefanie Pervos Bregman, editor, Living Jewishly: A Snapshot of a Generation (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2012), p. xii. 4. Stacey Ballis, To Be a Jew in the World, in Bregman, op. cit., pp