Messianic Musings ~ The Joy of Shabbat

As chapter 12 of Matthew opens, Jesus is once again confronted by the Pharisees because of His activities on the Sabbath, or Shabbat, as the Jewish people would call it. Have you ever wondered why this was such an issue for the Pharisees? What was driving their intense reaction?

We are all familiar with one of the earliest commands that God gave His people, the Israelites:

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work....Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Ex. 30:8-9a, 11b.)

As I studied the Jewish perspective on this commandment I began to see the Sabbath in a new light. The observance of Shabbat has been one of the most revered of all the commandments in historical Judaism. Even today, two candles are lit on the evening of Shabbat to symbolize both the remembrance and the observance of this holy day.  We (as 21st century Christians ) may have the impression that this was a solemn and oppressive day, a day marked by "do not's".  It was anything but. In Isaiah 58 God calls the Sabbath a delight and a blessing.  For those who observe this holy day, God promises, "then you will find joy in the LORD. and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob" (Isaiah 58:14).

From our perspective, we may see the restrictions that the Jewish people were under as a burden. They saw these restrictions as a gift. They were a safeguard on their day of rest. It was a remembrance that they could rejoice that they were no longer slaves to anyone - not the Egyptians and not the demands of modern society.

When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees concerning His observance of the Sabbath, He did not deny the celebration of this special day. He did speak against the religious practices that followed the letter of the law at the cost of overlooking the spirit and intent of the law.

This year in our homework we have been striving to apply the lessons we are learning in Matthew to our own lives. Each week we look at what we have specifically learned in the Bible passage we have studied. Next, we look at how God would want us to realign our hearts based on what we have learned. Lastly, we must ask ourselves how we can implement these truths in our lives practically.

I asked myself these questions as I studied the Sabbath. What did I learn? I learned that the Jews desired to safeguard the observance of the Sabbath because it was a gift to them. How does God want to realign my heart? God wants me to realize that I can take the Sabbath for granted, forgetting that He wants it to be a day of joy and a blessing. And lastly, what will I do about it? Well, that's between me and the LORD!!

Messianic Musings ~ The Dust of His Feet

Several years ago I took a course that was required for those entering the profession of grade school teacher. The class was called Principles of Education. The purpose of the class was to instill in teachers an understanding of the foundational educational principles  of the American school system.  The course began with an overview of the great philosophers of history and their contribution to the framework of the system that we have all been a part of. Two of the men who had the most significant impact were Greek philosophers  - Socrates and Plato.  

The way that the ancient Greeks taught was very different than the model of Jewish education. The Greek style of learning was basically concerned with the transfer of information from the teacher to the student. The Jewish model went much deeper. In the Jewish tradition, when a rabbi saw students who held promise, he would call them to become his apprentices and he would be their mentor.  The students (or talmid) would follow the rabbi closely, day in and day out. Spiritual lessons were not just a matter of transferring information but rather the talmid would learn from the rabbi as they watched the rabbi live his life. They would follow the rabbi so closely that it was said that the talmid would be covered by the dust of the rabbi's feet.  The goal wasn't just acquisition of information but of a fully transformed life.

In Chapter 10 of Matthew, as was the Jewish custom, Rabbi Jesus called his disciples. The gospels are full of accounts of the disciples following Jesus. We see how they sat at his feet as He taught. They were with Him as He ate. They were with Him as He prayed, as He healed, as He walked....as He lived. Their lives were transformed as they followed Him closely.

I think we all "get" learning as the transferring of information. It has been ingrained in us since the earliest years of school. In the secular world this has its place but I think we have to be wary of bringing this mindset into our spiritual lives. Yes, there is biblical information that we should know. We worship God with our minds as we study His Word. But if Jesus is our Lord and Savior and we call ourselves His disciples we are called by Him to go deeper. He doesn't just want us to know about Him. He wants us to know Him. That means following Him closely.

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself take up his cross and follow me". (Matt. 16:24)

Messianic Musings ~ Out with the Old

“Out with the old in with the new.”

It’s that time of year again, time to put away all the old clothes from summer and breakout that new fall wardrobe.  For me it is more a matter of necessity than anything else.  While some people look forward to trashing some older clothes for newer ones, I am just looking to get warm.  I am also not one to just completely pitch everything I have.  I tend to hold onto my favorites (like for decades) while getting rid of the items that rarely made an appearance over the last year.  I tend to keep what is best and relinquish the rest.

“Out with the old in with the new.”  I think as Christians this can be our underlying hermeneutical bent towards interpreting scripture.  We look at Matthew 9:16-17 and we see new clothe and new wineskins and the repetitive nature of the word new and we assume that Jesus is putting away the Old Law and its traditions for something entirely new.  According to my messianic commentary, there is something else going on here entirely.

“Many Christian expositors will try to make the point that Yeshua is proposing a whole new religion which cannot be contained in the existing forms of Judaism or even the Old Testament.  This cannot be the case in light of Yeshua’s (Jesus) own words about the consistency between his teachings and the older covenants. (Matthew 5:17).  Yet, in the context of his disputes with some of the Pharisees, it seems more logical that Yeshua’s (Jesus) reference to old wine and old garments are an allusion to the Mishnah (oral law) and certain rabbinic interpretations of the Torah.”  ( Rabbi Barney Kasdan, Matthew Presents Yeshua, King Messiah, p95.)

Jesus was not calling Israel to abandon the previous covenants nor their Biblical foundations but to return to a more correct interpretation of those foundations.   A beautiful example is found in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.  In this passage, the cup that Jesus is lifting is actually the third cup of the Passover seder meal in which He is using to illustrate his redemptive work.  This cup is not mentioned in the Torah (law) details pertaining to the Passover, but is actually a rabbinic idea added during the Talmudic (oral law) times.  It is equally surprising that not only are the Jewish believers exhorted to remember the lessons of this cup (Matthew 26:26-29), but also the non-Jewish believers of Corinth.

How should we than, as Christians, view the Law and the Mishnah (oral law)?  Do we pitch it or embrace it?  To quote our author “Jesus came to elucidate the fullness of the teaching in Torah, even to the point of correcting some of the errors in people’s understanding of it”. (ibid p96). 

In plain language, it isn’t so much “out with the old in with the new” but rather “keep the best and relinquish the rest”.  Jesus our rabbi, our teacher, knows what is best, follow Him! 

“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”                   Matthew 7:28-29

Messianic Musings ~ A Question of Authority

There are a few things in my life that remain constant. One of those things is reading. There is not a time when I am not deep into a book. As I have gotten older and my walk with Jesus has deepened I have become a more discerning reader.  There are so many books, so many authors, so many interests I want to read about. How is one to choose? Ten years ago it would have meant perusing the aisles of Barnes & Noble. These days it is more like following links on Amazon.

Often times I come upon a book that the author is unfamiliar to me.  I can read the title and look at the description but how do I really judge if the book lines up with biblical principles? One of the things I do is to look at who is endorsing the book and who wrote the forward. If these are written by authors I know and respect I can trust then, that the book I am considering would be a solid read.  This is not so different than what happened when the rabbis taught in Israel.

For the last few weeks we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 - 7. These chapters contain the teachings of Jesus, from His own mouth. Jesus was a rabbi, which means teacher. In those days rabbis would go from place to place, teaching publicly.  It was common for the rabbi who was teaching to reference other rabbis to give authority to the message he was teaching.  The rabbi would be teaching "in the name" of these other rabbis, even if they were no longer living.

This sheds some light on to the very last verse in Matthew 7: "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law"  (Matt. 7:28-29).

Much of what Jesus had taught was not new to those listening. (This is not to say that Jesus did not give deeper spiritual insight and application to what they already knew.) They would have been familiar with the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the oral law. Those listening were amazed not so much about what He taught, but how He taught. Unlike other rabbis, Jesus did not have to quote rabbinic authorities to validate His words. Jesus was the authority. He was God. 

This distinction was not lost on his disciples. How about with us? There is so much teaching available to us. Some biblically solid, some not so much. Sometimes it may be hard to discern the difference. But what we can count on and trust implicitly is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word. He is the final authority. He is truth. It is the standard to which everything else must be measured.

"This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" (Matt. 17:5b).

Messianic Musings ~ The Evil Eye

When you read the Bible do you ever come across a passage that throws you for a loop?  This happened to me as I read Matthew 6.  For those of us who have spent any time at WBS, we know that context is king. So what do you do when a passage seems out of context? What any Bible scholar would do - dig deeper!

The verses that threw me were from Matthew 6:19-24.  The Bible I have been using subtitled this passage  "Treasures in Heaven".   (A little extra trivia for you - these subtitles have been put in by editors to make the text easier to read. They were not present in the original Scriptures.)  The first and last paragraphs in this passage fit very neatly under this subtitle as they teach about wealth. I couldn't understand how the following verses fit into the context of the passage:

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "

(Matt. 6:22-23).

If context is king, how do healthy and unhealthy eyes fit into the context of wealth?  I learned something really cool from the Messianic commentaries we have been using. As Jesus was speaking, He used a Hebrew figure of speech that was often mistranslated. A healthy eye (or a good eye) is not about sight, it is about our attitude towards wealth. In God's Word a person with a healthy eye would be one who was generous with his material processions. Conversely, a person who had an unhealthy eye (or an evil eye) would be one who was miserly with his wealth.

With this new understanding, does this passage fit the context of wealth? It certainly does!! It tells us that how we view material wealth is very important. If we are generous with what we have we will be filled with light but if we are selfish or stingy we will be full of darkness.

So, how's your sight?