What's the Hebrew for "Navel-Gazing"?
Friday, November 09, 2007
I make a habit of Googling terms like "Messianic Judaism" and "Israel" together, just to get an idea for what's going on when it comes to Messianic Israel advocacy.
Tonight, as always, I found nothing.
I can't imagine relating to or expressing my Jewishness without channeling it through the lens of Israel. Can't. Won't. It doesn't work. G-d didn't just call Avraham out of the pack and say, "Hey, man, let's chill." He said, "Hey, man, let's chill here in my pad, which will one day be named after your punk grandson, whom I will call, Israel."
G-d repeats to us in Torah the importance of our homeland. He hammers away at it through the prophets. By the time Yeshua walked the earth, 10 of the 12 tribes had been dispersed, over half of the Biblical Israel was in the hands of enemies, and even the territory of Judah in which He resided was governed by an occupying force. In consideration of all of this, did He decide to arrive, to perform miracles, to sacrifice Himself and rise again in downtown Manhattan? Did He look around at all the congestion and say, "That's it, I'm moving my Holy City to Scarsdale"?
I don't think so.
With American Christians it's one thing. One day they'll wake up and decide to start reading the Bible for themselves, and when they do, they'll begin to notice that the word "America" is not next to, near, or even around any of the promises of an eternal homeland spoken of in Scripture. But, Messianic Jews in America-- well, I know they get a lot of money from the Christian Church, but that doesn't make them gentiles. What's their excuse for all this theological discussion, all this insane amount of justification of their identity through readings of this verse or that verse, or this ruling, or that Rabbinic teaching, yada yada yada?
Half a world away, people who call themselves Israelis are busy preparing to attack nuclear facilities in neighboring nations. They aren't trying to justify their Israeli identity to anyone-- they're defending it because, despite over 3,000 years of oppression, hatred, and genocide, they're determined to survive and thrive.
Meanwhile, what is the Messianic community doing with their Israeli-ness? Wait a sec-- that isn't even a fair question, because they haven't gotten that far yet; they're still trying to justify their identity as Jews. What's more, they're attempting to seek justification, not from G-d, but from other human beings, most of whom (when all is said and done) don't give a fig what kind of documentation these Messianics provide. Birth records, family histories, Ketubahs, quotes from Talmud--even Scripture itself does nothing to justify the Messianic Jewish identity to a person who is determined to deny its validity.
Only the Ruach haKodesh can convict a person's heart of the truth. Believers like to remind themselves of this Biblical axiom when they witness to someone who gives them a negative response. But, how often do believers take the lesson to heart when it comes to the rejection of their own identity by the masses? Torah teaches us that Judaism- Israelism, if you will, since "Judaism" is an anachronism to Torah and, therefore, a non-comprehensive term- is an identity comprised of the entirety of a person. It isn't just a faith related to the eternal soul, or a collection of exercises to be followed on certain days or weeks; Israelism is a lifestyle, a comprehensive system of choices and behaviors that act as a testimony to the truth of the Living G-d. So, if you can walk away from a negative witnessing experience with the comfort that the Spirit convicts, why then do you fumble around the rest of the time seeking justification for your very life?
The crux of our faith is the trust we have that our lives have been justified to the One and Only Living Judge, HaShem, through the sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua. Our identity as Israel is sealed in that eternal act. Our duty, then, is to live out this truth to the very essence of our being. Therefore, the same lessons we apply to one scenario must be applied to the others. Could it be that when someone rejects our witness, we comfort ourselves with the thought, as subconscious as it may seem, that they are rejecting Messiah-- not us as individuals? Whereas, when someone rejects the idea of a Messianic Jewish identity they are rejecting our very self? Possibly, but dichotomous thinking is the antithesis of the Torah of Adonai Echad!
The Messianic Jewish movement will not focus on Israel until they are convicted of the fact that they are a part of Israel. They will never be convicted that they are a part of Israel until they cease seeking the approval of this world and start understanding and living by the Biblical truth that "we are in this world, but we are not of it." And until the Messianic Jewish community understands this truth and takes it to heart, they will never achieve all the future and the hope that HaShem has for them.
And what kind of testimony is that?
Labels: identity, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Messianic Judaism
posted by Shoshana @ 7:26 PM
