For the Love of G-d
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
My heart aches.
I can remember a community prayer time taking place one Shabbat at a congregation I used to attend. As we prayed for Israel, the Ruach impressed in me the pain HaShem felt at the loss of His people, His bride Israel. It was as if my heart had been ripped in half and the sorrow was so all-consuming that it manifested itself in deep physical pain. Take the worst stomach ache you've ever had and multiply that pain a million times and you still wouldn't get close. I don't care if you've ever had your heart broken by another human being; it didn't hurt half as badly as this pain did. It was as if someone had reached their hand into the Almighty and ripped His heart out, then began stomping on it right in front of Him. The extreme renderings of sorrow popular among our prophets--the renting of clothes, the wearing of yokes--no human being could physically, mentally, or emotionally put themselves into that much anguish, no matter how hard they tried.
When the prayer time was over, the congregational leader initiated a discussion regarding the matters upon which we had prayed. I shared what HaShem had given me during that brief time. Their reaction was essentially this: "Yes, but the faithful remnant is turing back to Torah and working to please G-d." That was it. The issue was closed.
We don't often view G-d as someone with feelings. We don't often think of Him, the Supreme Being, as someone who actually cares, really cares about us the way we can care about each other. Sure, we believe that G-d loves us, in a third-person, autocratic kind of way, as if He were nothing more than a benevolent monarch waving a hankie at us as He parades by on official holidays. The passionate metaphors of Shir haShirim (Song of Solomon) are lost to many in the believing community who have been raised in that Puritanical/Protestant tradition that instills blushed faces and humiliated reactions every time the idea of intimacy is so much as whispered about where three or more are gathered. Orthodox Judaism, with its Rabbinical halacha that commands women to dress in kosher burqas lest they seduce men with a glimpse of ankle or wrist, that tells married women they must shave their hair in order to appear clean before G-d, that even, in some extreme circles, instructs married couples to copulate without so much as a glance in each other's direction, has done to the physical state of marriage what they have done to their spiritual relationship with Adonai: drained the passion and intimacy in the name of fear.
Truly, as Messianics, these are the two groups we call on the most for their knowledge and understanding of the texts we handle on a daily basis. But, as educated as they may be on the text, how well do they know, how well can they know Adonai? How well can a bride know her husband if she cooks and cleans for him, but never asks him how his day went? The eyeshet chayil (woman of valor) spoken of in Proverbs 31 does plenty of cooking and cleaning, but she also "opens her arms" and "extends her hands". Her "fine linen and purple" clothing is "strength and dignity." It is fine to know the words on the page, but if they are not written on your heart, what good are they?
When G-d refers to Israel as His bride, He is not using a metaphor for your ease in understanding. He is telling us how He looks at us-- with love, passion, admiration, interest, respect, and a desire to know us intimately. A husband's love is not one-sided; no love ever is. For love to truly succeed and grow, it must receive as much as it gives, or it will be left worn out, frustrated, and grieving. Yeshua instructed his talmidim to give up everything they had and follow Him; yet, today's believing community is content to pay
G-d in tenths of cash, and the non-believing Jews will fork over the price of a ticket for a Kol Nidre service, and both believe that they have worked to redeem themselves before G-d. (Since when did we begin paying the price for our own salvation?) Ephesians 5 instructs us to imitate G-d. Verses 25-32 state:
As for husbands, love your wives, just as the Messiah loved the Messianic Community, indeed, gave himself up on its behalf, in order to set it apart for God, making it clean through immersion in the mikveh, so to speak, in order to present the Messianic Community to himself as a bride to be proud of, without a spot, wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without defect. This is how husbands ought to love their wives-like their own bodies; for the man who loves his wife is loving himself. Why, no one ever hated his own flesh! On the contrary, he feeds it well and takes care of it, just as the Messiah does the Messianic Community, because we are parts of his Body. "Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and remain with his wife, and the two will become one." There is profound truth hidden here, which I say concerns the Messiah and the Messianic Community.Think about that. Really think about that for a minute. Yeshua loved us so much that He died for us, so His Father would see us as spotless and perfect as Yeshua Himself did. Yeshua loved us so much that He considers us a part of Him; in Him and through Him we are one with Him. What monarch ever did that for his or her people?
Henry VIII of England, Louis "The Sun King" XIV of France, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, these are but a few of the autocrats who operated on the basis of Divine Right. Henry's Divine Right led him to divorce two of his wives via murderous execution. Louie's Divine Right led him to create the absolutist state that would pave the way for not one, but three French Revolutions. Hirohito's Divine Right demanded the self-slaughter of thousands of kamikazi pilots, a unification with Hitler, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the atomic bomb to be dropped on his own people. Yeshua is our Kingly Moshiach, but He does not love us like a monarch or any kind of archetypal autocrat. So, why do we personify Him in such an earthly fashion?
Maybe we do because it's just easier that way. It's easier to think that Adonai doesn't care for us the way a husband cares for his wife, so passionately and with so much ardor that He died for us, because then we would feel guilty. We would feel guilty for disobeying the rules, for not "submitting to our husband" the Messiah and, in effect, abandoning the covenant He made with us when He made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. It is easy to disobey the wishes and rulings of an autocrat who separates themselves through claims of divinity, and uses those same claims to justify actions resulting in your persecution and death. On the contrary, it is quite difficult to disobey the desires and laws of someone who uses their divine right to die a gruling death on your behalf.
It is so easy to justify our actions and our failings when we look at G-d through the lens of humanity. You can deny that you're a deist, but as long as you view HaShem through that third-person lens, as an omnipotent being who cares, but doesn't care, as a harsh autocratic G-d far removed from you by His own choice (instead of yours), as a being who cares about Himself and not about you, you are defining your relationship to Him and with Him according to the standards of men. The standards of men allow us to fail; in fact, they encourage us to fail, because our failure often allows for someone else's success. When we fall lower, someone else rises higher in order to claim power over us. Yeshua, our Savior and King, sacrificed Himself so that we might become one with Him. Human beings demand our submission because they believe that the more souls they can claim to themselves, the more god-like they become. Yeshua desires our submission because He knows the more we submit to Him as a wife submits to her husband, the more godly we become.
Only in seeking to view HaShem through the lens He has given us (that is, His own Words, illuminated through His Ruach, which we are given through trust in Messiah) can we ever hope to understand His love for us. In turn, it is only in viewing ourselves through this same lens, and informed by this truth, that we can hope to understand how grossly we have failed Him and continue to fail Him as His bride. I am confronted with current events and all I can think is, "Adonai, what can Israel do to please you, in order that our cries for your mercy will be heard?" Obviously, we are in such a place as a nation and a people because we have failed to live up to our covenant with Him. But what can we do to repair the breach?
Whether it is from the Orthodox Jewish or the Evangelical Christian world, we hear cries for teshuva (repentance) and Moshiach (to the former, His coming; to the latter, His return). Yet, neither camp, on the whole, is truly seeking to perform the actions necessary to facilitate Messiah's salvation of Israel.
During the Lebanon war there were many calls to recite Tehillim (Psalms) issued by various Orthodox sages and Rebbes. How many loyal Jews recited these Psalms by rote, allowing the words to totally bypass their hearts? Psalm 118 states:
Give thanks to the L-RD, for He is good;
His love endures forever.
Let Israel say:
"His love endures forever."
Let the house of Aaron say:
"His love endures forever."
Let those who fear the L-RD say:
"His love endures forever."
We repeat this phrase, "His love endures forever," multiple times each Pesach (Passover) but do we understand it? King David sings of G-d's salvation in this Psalm, writing:
Open for me the gates of righteousness;
I will enter and give thanks to the L-RD.
This is the gate of the L-RD
through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the L-RD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day the L-RD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
O L-RD, save us;
O L-RD, grant us success.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the L-RD.
From the house of the L-RD we bless you.
The L-RD is G-d,
and He has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.
You are my G-d, and I will give you thanks;
you are my G-d, and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the L-RD, for He is good;
His love endures forever.
We read this prayer of praise every Pesach, just as our ancestors did when Yeshua, "the stone the builders rejected," arrived through the "gates" of Yerushalayim on the back of a donkey, in fulfillment of the words of the prophet Zechariah. Our ancestors joined in the "festal procession" with "boughs in hand" as Yeshua rode to "the altar" of sacrifice. Our ancestors shouted as David did, "Baruch haba B'Shem Adonai!" ("Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-rd!") Every Nisan we are confronted with the truth and yet, so many of us choose to view it through the lens of humanity, not the lens of Adonai. So, every Pesach we repeat by rote that "His love endures forever," but because of our own pride, so many of us continue to see as others would wish us to see, looking through a lens darkly. We repeat the fact, but we do not act on it; for, if we did, we would be crying out the rest of David haMelekh's words, just as Yeshua commanded us to do:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the L-RD!'" (Luke 13:34-35)We have been taken out of the nations and brought back to our own land, just as Adonai promised through the prophet Ezekiel (ch. 36). Yet, we are still an unclean people. Even those among us who seek righteousness with the seemingly purest of hearts do so by rote, often placing the teachings of men above the teachings of Adonai. In doing so, they cannot understand G-d's love for us, His bride, therefore, they cannot understand the veracity of Yeshua's sacrifice; if they cannot understand Him as husband, they cannot possibly understand or fulfill our role as the bride. If even the most righteous among us fail in this capacity, what hope do we have for our nation? How can any act of teshuva be good enough if it is not informed by what Adonai tells us to be true?
And, yet, there are those among us who know and trust in Messiah. These among us have, through this trust, been given the ability to look at Adonai and each other through a G-dly lens. These people claim an affinity for Israel, but do not identify with our nation, despite their claims to be the bride of Messiah. (Tell me, is Yeshua a polygamist?) So, what scriptures support their passions? Genesis 12:3 and Psalm 122:6 Their heavy citation of these two verses raises the question, do these believers pray for Israel to be blessed, or do they pray so that they will be blessed? Moreover, this group claims a desire to form a partnership with the Jewish people out of their G-d given love for Israel. How did they receive such a love for a people so foreign to them? Through HaShem, who they know through their trust in Yeshua. These believers proclaim that, were it not for the Jewish people, they would not have been saved by Yeshua. Yet, they also proclaim a unity with the Jewish people where no mention of Yeshua is allowed. Their affinity for Israel stems from the fact that "salvation is of the Jews," however, their relationship with the Jewish people contradicts the fact that salvation belongs "to the Jew first." If we deny His Ruach in our midst, how can we ever expect His flesh to dwell among us again?
Still, there are those among us who claim a passion for the Jewish Messiah, who study His Word night and day, who proclaim His truth as the talmidim did, some who even work and live in the land of Israel. What are they doing to beg for Adonai's intervention at this critical hour? Most say nothing beyond extending uninformed prayers of sympathy and support, as if one were extending condolences to an acquaintance that lost a distant relative. Some do nothing out of anger against a government that denies their identity as Jews, while others lack an understanding of their Jewish identity. Some who sit in established seats of ministry leadership choose to view the situation "through a glass darkly", in other words, the same way the secular Israeli government is looking at things on a daily basis. These believers, who proudly pour money and time into proclaiming the Good News, an increasing number of whom are growing in their faith through an immersion in Torah, still have yet to connect the dots between the people of ancient Israel and the people of Israel today. No matter how well-intentioned, as long as their thinking is from a "human point of view, not from G-d's," they will never be able to feel or exhibit the love a wife should have for her husband, because they do not adequately comprehend the fullness of G-d's promises to His bride, Israel. What good does it do to brag about your husband's riches at the office where you work overtime?
What are we, the Bride of Messiah, doing to entreat Him to have mercy on our people and our land at this critical hour? Are we trusting in the promises of Adonai? Are we shouting from the rooftops, "Baruch haba B'Shem Adonai!"? Are we proclaiming Yeshua's salvation to all those who have ears to hear, first to the Jew and then to the gentile? Are we viewing the world today through the lens of scripture, the way the first century believers did, trusting in the impending return of Messiah and the salvation of all Israel?
Are we living as a proud and faithful bride, basking in the love and trusting the in the power of our husband, our Messiah? Are we rising in the dark to work while there is yet time? Are we planting vineyards that will produce good fruit? Are we keeping our lamps lit?
Don't look for the answers to these questions in the texts of sages or Rabbis, the sermons of pastors or priests, or the platitudes of religious role models. Instead, submit yourself to your Messiah who is the Truth. How does your husband, your partner in life see the world? If we are to be one with Him, shouldn't we strive to see the world the way He does? Jewish people instruct their children not to marry gentiles; believers often warn their children not to become "unevenly yoked" with non-believers (II Cor. 6:14) in marriage. Have we ever stopped to consider what it means to be unevenly yoked with Messiah?
In Biblical times, "yoke" was a term often used to refer to your halacha, your walk with HaShem through the laws and principles He set out for us to live by (Torah) on a daily basis. Yes, a faithful remnant is turning back to Torah and working to please G-d. But our nation (Israel) and our people (Israel) are still in chaos. We are a bride unevenly yoked with her Master, and it is our own fault. Whether we have faith in Messiah or not, whether we identify as Jews or Christians, we are still looking at G-d through human eyes. Instead of fearing Him, we fear each other, and we fear that what others say about Him is true without turning to the Source and checking the facts for ourselves.
Worst of all, we fear submitting ourselves to His yoke because love, true love that manifests itself in a willingness to sacrifice life and limb for another (in this case, Messiah), ultimately translates into a complete loss of self. When we enter into this relationship with Yeshua according to His terms, not ours, there is no more "me," there is "we," and there is no more "I," there exists only "us." How much easier it is to view Adonai as a despot instead of desperately in love. A despot demands loyalty, not love; body, not soul.
Until we submit ourselves as a bride to her husband we will languish, because we are not fulfilling our part of the ketubah, the part that states, "Love the L-RD your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Until we love Him the way He loves us, we will remain unevenly yoked, and we will pay the price.
...and when you and your children return to the L-RD your G-d and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the L-RD your G-d will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. ...The L-RD your G-d will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. ...The L-RD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the L-RD your G-d and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the L-RD your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 30)
Messianic Judaism Judaism Christianity Israel Yeshua Messiah Bride of Messiah Zionism Bible
posted by Shoshana @ 8:40 AM
2 Comments:
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At 10:02 PM,
said...
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Great insights as always, Shoshanna. How much more simply can we define the problems of our world than an unwillingness to sacrifice made with love?
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At 8:31 AM,
Shoshana said...
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Baruch haShem; the insights are from Adonai alone.
Yeshua said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Human beings are the ones who make Him seem so difficult.
Shalom!
