Shalom friends! As many of you know, it is my heart as it is the Father’s to reconcile the Christian faith to its Jewish roots. You may be asking yourself why should the church want to know the Jewish roots of their faith? I will touch on this towards the end of this post but for now, I will use a quote from Curt Landry, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi whose ministry teaches on the revelation of the One New Man. “When you understand your spiritual heritage, it’s like gaining an understanding of your own family tree. It’s your history. It defines you and it empowers you.”

Unfortunately, the church has been robbed of its spiritual heritage and blessings through many erroneous theologies taught from the pulpits and the result has been innumerable accounts of atrocities against the Jews throughout the church ages. I am not just talking about traditional Jews; I am speaking more about Jewish believers (aka Messianic Jews).  I will write more about this in one of my upcoming posts. But for now, I want to dive into the main topic for today: The most Jewish thing Jesus did.

Before I move on, I need to tell you that some of my posts will contain some topics that came from my personal experience as a Messianic Jew within the church. I have come to find out in my journey that I am not the only Jew that has experienced persecution within the church. Some of the experiences seem to be a common theme amongst Jewish believers. With that said, please keep in mind this blog is not to bash, rant nor give place to condemnation concerning the church. I function in the ministry of reconciliation. This is what this blog is all about. I love the church because it is the Body of Christ and it is my heart for the church to awaken to its Jewish roots and for the schism to be healed that has been in existence for many centuries between Jewish and Gentile believers. It is then we can begin to build on the right foundation and operate fully as the One New Man. By the way, if you don’t know about the One New Man, visit the “About” tab here in my blog. So here we go.

Our topic today emerged from a comment that was made to me by a Gentile brother that stated he was more Jewish than I was because he saw himself more observant of the Torah. And while as a Jew I am committed by God to follow the Torah which would include honoring the Sabbath, the feasts, etc., I submit all that I do and all that I am, to the greatest commandments that have been given to us by Yeshua Himself. He stated, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) Love is priority! Jesus thought so too! (Side note:  I do use the Name Yeshua and Jesus interchangeably at times).

I saw the lack of understanding that my brother had. He really had good intentions and loves the Lord but unfortunately, the mindset that he has that also is in the church today, stems from a root that even Paul had to address in the book of Romans (v. 11:18-21). Yes, we can call it pride because it is, but it is also supersessionism (aka replacement theology). For those that are not familiar with this erroneous theology, it teaches that the church has replaced Israel in their calling as a nation. This also would include the thought that Israel’s promises were taken away from them and given to the church.

Now, I have had to deal with similar comments and situations in the past and even dealt with thoughts about myself, questioning my own Jewishness. I felt at times I didn’t measure up to everyone else’s standard of what a Jew should look like. If I may, please allow me to pause here for a moment as I feel to share this: there are many Jews in the church today that feel dismembered and have a hard time identifying as Jews in the church. This is a huge problem and needs to be addressed because if not, we will never function as the One New Man. I will post about this soon!

With all of that said, after the comment that was made to me by this brother, the Lord stepped in. He said to me the statement that was made did come from the mindset of replacement theology and that I should not tolerate those types of comments anymore. Meaning don’t allow others to define who you are or tell you who you’re not. Then the Lord began to correct my thinking and remind me of who I am as a Jew. He did this by making this statement, “the most Jewish thing Jesus did was move in His calling as High Priest.”

When He said this to me, it hit me like a lightning bolt. I rejoiced and felt such healing come over me as I realized Jesus moved in His priestly calling; the calling that was given to Israel. He moved in His calling as a Jew because God called the Jews a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6). The Lord reminded me that it is not in the do-ing of works that define us, it is in the be-ing, it is our identity that defines us. I tell people that I am first and foremost a child of God, He defines me. My identity is in Him first! Christ in me the hope of glory!

Secondly, I have been called to be a Jew and God gave us our identity as a nation of priests. To me, this is what it means to be a Jew: To be a priest that carries the presence of God and shows forth His glory that all the nations will be provoked and make Him their God! This is who I am, this is my identity as a Jew. Everything that we do as a people, the Sabbath, the feasts, etc., is an extension of that identity. And we operate from that identity as we bring God to people, and people to God! That is the function of a priest (Isaiah 43:7,21; 60:1-3).

Jesus moved in His function as High Priest by the shedding of His blood for the remission of our sins, thus removing the veil so He can reconcile the world back to the Father! “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation….” (2 Corinthians 5:18).

So as a Gentile Christian, what does this mean for you? It means the moment you made Jesus Lord of your life, you were grafted into the olive tree (Jewish believers) and the call of the priesthood has now been extended to you!  So we, Jewish and Gentile believers as the One New Man, the church, function in the priesthood, and have been given the ministry of reconciliation to go into all the world and preach the gospel! This is our spiritual Jewish heritage!

I will end with the question that I asked from the beginning: Why should the church want to know the Jewish roots of their faith? Along with Rabbi Curt’s statement, I will answer it this way: without knowing who you are meaning your identity and where you come from as a believer, you will not receive the fullness of the blessing of walking in a relationship with Jesus the Jewish Messiah. To know who you are in Him, you must first receive all of who He is: Son of God, Son of Man, and the Son of David!

Secondly, Paul shoots it straight in Romans 11:18, “ do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” Without our Jewish root, cracks in the foundation are inevitable and we will not be able to grow and mature into the glorious church, the One New Man and function in that calling. History will continue to repeat itself.

Thank you guys for taking your precious time to read. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you! Much love and Shalom!