Follow-up to May 3

Additional information on Judaism and its parallels in Christianity.

In his sermon, Andy discussed the giving of the law, which was the culmination of the events of the Exodus.  The Jewish covenant with God is through the law; the Christian covenant with God is through grace by means of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Christianity is deeply rooted in Judaism.  We share over half the Bible; Jesus was a practicing Jew and his many stories (parables) are typical of the rabbinical tradition; and our sacraments are directly drawn from Jewish beliefs and traditions.

The Passover feast is the is the source of our Holy Communion, not only because the Last Supper was a Passover meal, but also because through it we are eating the body of the Paschal (Passover) lamb, just as the Jews were commanded at the first Passover.  And the blood of Christ is our salvation, just as the blood of the Passover lamb on their door posts saved the Jews from the Angel of Death at the first Passover.  Also, lambs (and other animals) were sacrificed on the altar of the Temple to obtain forgiveness of sin until the destruction of the second temple.  Hence, we refer to Christ as the Paschal Lamb or Lamb of God.   Further explanation of this can be found at:  http://www.holylandmoments.org/passover-and-the-paschal-lamb

Another aspect of Communion that is deeply rooted in Jewish thought is the command to “do this in remembrance of me”.  Remembrance is a vital part of the Jewish faith – remembering the dead and remembering the important events of their faith. It is remembering that keeps faith alive in the hearts of believers.

It is memory that has allowed us to last through thousands of years of history. Our religion and our people are founded on the collective memory of revelation at Sinai. [Moses receiving the law]  Scripture throughout commands us to remember: Remember the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8), observe the Sabbath as a reminder of the Creation (Exodus 20:11) and of the Exodus (Deuteronomy 5:15); remember, continually, the Exodus.   "Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children and to your children’s children" (Deuteronomy 4:9).

Christian Baptism has its roots in the Jewish Tvilah.  The temple and every synagogue had a Mikveh, which is a pool for ritual cleansing.  A lengthy article on this can be found at: http://www.haydid.org/ronimmer.htm.  These are a few of the highlights that show the importance of this practice and its relation to Baptism. 

The term mikveh in Hebrew literally means any gathering of waters, but is specifically used in Jewish law for the waters or bath for the ritual immersion. The building of the mikveh was so important in ancient times it was said to take precedence over the construction of a synagogue. Immersion was so important that it occurred before the high Priest conducted the service on the Day of Atonement, before the regular priests participated in the Temple service, before each person entered the Temple complex, before a scribe wrote the name of God, as well as several other occasions.

There are six descending orders of ritual baths in the Mishnah (Oral Laws of how to accomplish the written Law) and the highest order is that of a spring or flowing river. We see Jesus understanding and fulfilling this order in Matthew 3:16 as He comes to be baptized in the Jordan River "fulfilling all righteousness." This highest order was called Living Water and illustrated the forgiving of sins, therefore, we hear Jesus using this term concerning Himself (John 4:10-11).

One of the most important teachings in Judaism is that of repentance. According to both Scripture and rabbinic literature, no matter how great the sin, if a person repents and forsakes the sin before God he can be forgiven. As we see in the case of John, Jesus, and all New Testament writers, repentance was always involved. The Jerusalem Talmud states, "nothing can stand before repentance" (Yebamos 47b). According to Dr. David Flusser, the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the New Testament teach that water can purify the body only if the soul has first been purified through repentance and righteousness.

Andy discussed the Reform beliefs regarding the Messiah.  This is one of the areas of difference with Orthodox Jews and many Conservative Jews, who are still expectant of a coming Messiah. There is an excellent explanation of this, as well as the reasons Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, at: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html  Beliefs regarding the circumstances surrounding and the results of the arrival of the Messiah parallel Christian beliefs regarding the second coming very closely.

As Andy mentioned, Jews are an ethnic group as well as a religion, and there are many ethnic Jews who are not religious.  But Jews are, as a general rule, a very tight-knit ethnic group, whether religious or not.  They are scattered throughout the world, yet they have a strong sense of group identity.  This is probably due in part to their status as God’s “chosen people”.  More likely, the strongest influence is the persecutions and prejudices faced by Jews in every place and time they have lived.  They have been exiled, enslaved, purged, shunned, excluded, ostracized, and nearly annihilated.  I’m sure they have all felt like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at some time, “I know we are your chosen people, but couldn't you choose somebody else once in a while.”  As Andy indicated, although Judaism is the origin of both Islam and Christianity, it is the smallest of the major religions of the world.  Those numbers might be different if millions had not died in the 20^th century.

Andy covered a lot in his sermon, and I’ve tried to add just a bit more here about the historic ties of our worship practices to Judaism, but there is so much more information out there for anyone who wants to learn more about Christianity’s closest relative. 

(Next week, we learn about our other cousin, Islam, which is closer than you might think…)