Honoring Both Sides of History

Messianic Judaism has an identity problem. From the late 1800’s until the 1970’s, the most used term was Hebrew Christian. People then shifted to a newer, more theological name: Messianic Judaism. Both terms represent an attempt to bridge a gap between two histories—Jewish history and Christian history.

Over the past 2000 years, Jews and Christians have been on opposite sides of history. Persecution, pogroms, forced conversions, and the Holocaust have all contributed to a rift between the two world religions. There are still many that believe Adolf Hitler considered himself a Christian, and many Jewish people think that Hitler was a follower of Jesus (See “God & Hitler” by CBN).  This misconception is so common that Jews for Jesus produced a video for YouTube called “That Jew Died For You.”  On the website, thatjewdiedforyou.com, Jews for Jesus explains that, “Jesus has often been wrongly associated with the perpetrators of the Holocaust. In reality, he is to be identified with those who were the victims. As a Jew, if he were in Europe at the time, Jesus may well have suffered the same fate of the six million who perished in the concentration camps.”

I, along with many other Messianic Jewish leaders, often hear from people that we are no better than Hitler and are contributing to the destruction of the Jewish people. While I understand the pain in statements like this, the world needs to know that Messianic Judaism attempts to do the very opposite of destroying the Jewish people. The goal of Messianic Judaism is to call our Jewish people, and all people, back to The One who created all of us: The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

In our Messianic Jewish attempt to distance ourselves from the last two thousand years of Christianity, we have unintentionally caused a very real identity problem. In our desire to make a safe place for Jewish followers of Yeshua, we have made statements like “we are not Christians.”

Understand, I am a Jew.

My mother is not Jewish and for many Jewish people this disqualifies me from being Jewish.

My father is a Jew. 

According to the Torah, that puts me in awesome company. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons, Moses, Joshua, Obed (grandfather of King David), and Solomon— to name a few— all had a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. While the Rabbis will say each of these women converted to Judaism, that is not something that can be supported by the text of Scripture.

In my own life, because of my parents and heritage, I have often said that I am both one hundred percent Jewish (from my dad) and one hundred percent Italian (from my mom). People would always tell me I am half, or twenty five percent this or that, but I could never figure out which parts of me where Jewish and which parts Italian. So, I just claim the whole thing for both. As luck would have it, both Jews and Italians are often olive skinned with dark hair, very loud, and as the philosopher Derek Zoolander once put it, “really, really, really, ridiculously, good looking.”  

My mixed background got me thinking how do I let both sides of my family speak into my life and life of my children? Certainly, as a Rabbi, my life is wrapped in Jewish practice. As an Italian, my life is wrapped in food (mostly pasta with butter and parmesan cheese).  

There has to be more than that.

Then, in all seriousness, I had this revolutionary thought: I am tied to both sides of history, the persecuted and the persecutor.  The poor and the rich. The Jew and the Gentile. I am a part of both sides of history that will ultimately lead to all flesh seeing, together, The One True God who created us all (Zechariah 14:9).

As a Messianic Jew, I have responsibility not to distance my self from either side of history. While, I don’t typically refer to myself as a Christian, on February 20th, 2014, I posted on Facebook, “If by calling me a Christian you mean Christ follower, I'm good with that. If by calling me Christian you mean non-Jew, that I cannot receive.” I am a Jew. I am a Yeshua follower. You can call me whatever you want. But I take on the weight of Jewish-Christian history as my own.

Not distancing myself from both sides of history means I regard works like Pirkei Avot and the Westminster Catechism as equally important. I don’t agree with everything in either, but both of these texts were written by “fathers” of my faith. 

Fathers come in many forms and Messianic Judaism must come to the place where we recognize people like Rambam (Moses Maimonides) and Martin Luther as fathers. Both said great things. Both said not so great things. Sometimes fathers say terrible things. Still, they remain fathers.

Popes, rabbis, priests, nuns, evangelical Christians, liberal Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Calvinists, Arminiests, Conservative Jews, Reformed Jews, Orthodox Jews, Messianic Jews. 

One crazy history. 

All family. 

We are family for different reasons; some by faith, some by blood. Some are family by birth, some through adoption. Some by heritage, some enter in via marriage. Some with different eternal destinies.  All in need of Yeshua.

All family.

What if instead of trying to avoid the crazy parts of history, Messianic Judaism embraced them? What if instead of worrying about what people may (or may not) think of us—because of our relationship to one side or the other –we just own all of it?  What if we sang Adom Olam and Great is They Faithfulness during the same service?  What if we embraced the messy parts of history and of being Messianic?

Two Life Changing Observations From Two Great Pastors

I went to Abilene Texas to visit Beltway Park Baptist Church in January with 7 other Messianic leaders. We went to spend time with Pastor David McQueen and his leadership team/staff.  It was an amazing trip on so many levels (read about it here).  Pastor David has relationships with many Messianic leaders and has great insight into our community and leadership in general.  He made a statement concerning Messianic leaders that has stuck with me.  He said, "It seems to me that unless an idea is Jewish in its inception many Messianic leaders will not consider using it." Boom!  I have found this true, even in myself, far too often.

Ideas are not legitimate/illegitimate because of who/where they come from.  Great ideas and bad ideas come from everywhere. In particular, the Church has so much to offer Messianic Judaism.  I know, "They don't get us" or "They are theologically opposed to us".  I know. But, that shouldn't keep the Messianic Movement from using great ideas that come from the Church, especially when it comes to reaching people through culture and working to reach this present generation.  We make statements like "Well, that works for them but Jewish people are different." Are we so sure we get our own people?  Sometimes I think we forget that people are people.  We are all affected by culture.  We all have the same hurts and pains.  We all need the same Yeshua (salvation).  

I recently had coffee with Pastor Joe Fuiten from Cedar Park Church in Seattle.  He is an incredibly gracious and well-rounded charismatic pastor.  He made some observations that were fantastic.  I asked him for some tips on congregational growth. He said, "Messianic's have a tendency to think that growth will/and should come from the specific message you offer.  But, real growth will come from people having encounters with God." Shazam!

I believe in what I preach.  I believe that we need to restore the Jewishness of the Gospel.  I believe Messianic Judaism is an end-time fulfillment of prophecy.  But, if people's lives are not changing, who cares? If people are not having encounters with the God of Israel, Yeshua, our Messiah, why does any of it matter?

I am grateful to these two men of God and the time they gave me. Let's be real, Messianic Judaism isn't working in my generation.  The message isn't the problem.  Yeshua is still king over all the earth.  Perhaps some of the things we hold to as "this should never change" or "but that's how we have always done it" are actually holding us back from doing our part to build the Kingdom of God?

What do you think?

For more on this click here!

The. Best. Trip (To a Church). Ever!

This past week I and seven of my Messianic Rabbi friends visited Beltway Park Baptist Church in Abilene, Texas.  I met Pastor David McQueen at the Jewish Voice Leaders’ Roundtable in November and asked him if I could come and hang out with him and learn about leadership.  He encouraged me to get a group of young Messianic leaders together to come and his church would foot the bill.  

I love leadership.  I love learning about leadership. I love reading about leadership.  I love being with people who are awesome leaders. David McQueen has seen his church grow from about 150 people to 4,000.  I know, you don't care about numbers.  But, numbers represent people, people who need God.  And if there is a place that is reaching people with the Gospel and changing peoples’ lives, I am game to hang out there. 

So we went to Abilene -- 8 messianic leaders under the age of 40:  Myself (Beit Messiah, Seattle, WA), Jude Caracelo (Kol Mashiach, Melbourne, Fl), Jesse (Fl), Tim Hyslip (Baruch HaShem, Phoenix, AZ), Cosmo Panzetta (Beth Yachad, Phoenix, AZ), S.K. (Raleigh, NC) Ari Waldman (Baruch HaShem, Dallas, TX), and Troy Wallace (El Shaddai, Frederick, MD). We went to watch and learn.  

What impressed me the most was how excellent everything was -- from the screens, microphones, iPads for the worship team, to the soundboards (yes, that is plural, as in several rooms had their own).  With large numbers comes lots of money and with lots of money comes great stuff.  Beltway has great stuff.  But more than all of that was the excellence of their people -- from the full-time staff, to part-time staff, to the people who attend on Sunday morning, to the Poormans who let us stay in a great little ranch that met all of our needs.  They really went out of their way to pour into us and treat us like kings. I hope to be able to do the same for people that want to come learn from me in 15 years.

I go to a lot of leadership conferences. I read and hear a lot of messages on leadership.  What I have not had the opportunity to do was be in the meetings or the back room conversations involving that leadership.  I see a lot of services and have planned many myself but to be in on the conversations of such a great congregation was a once in a lifetime chance (let's call it twice in lifetime because I plan to go back!).  Sitting in on meetings with the senior leadership team and the elders was awesome.  Watching how their sermon and creative teams worked to come up with different ways to present the message was inspiring. Seeing the kids’ service, the teen service, and the adult service was fantastic.  Even more, each service had a great ministry time that was not only purposeful and effective but geared to each specific group.  Of course I cried through all of the services because that's how I roll.  I felt the presence of God from the time we landed to the time we went home.  

Spending time with my young leader friends, the "future" of Messianic Judaism, was really outstanding!  It's funny when people refer to us as the future since we are all leading congregations right now.  It's also interesting to note that in our movement we are considered young when in reality the majority of us are approaching forty years old.  Not so young considering that almost everyone in leadership at Beltway Park is the same age as our group (Even the senior pastor is not that far off).  No one at Beltway looks at them as the future but rather just the leaders who are leading now.  But, I digress...

Probably the most significant part of the trip was the time the senior leaders spent with us and how they openly shared everything about their church with our group.  Pastor David and Pastor Keith really spent a ton of time with us and let us ask all kinds of questions and they really took the time to pour into us as leaders.  We walked away from this trip with a sense of how awesome it is when brothers and sisters gather together in unity and what it means to be a part of the larger body of Messiah!

We realized that during our time the Torah portion for the week was Yitro.  Yitro, the father-in-law of Moses, comes to Moses and teaches him all about leadership.  Man, did we learn from some amazing Jethros!  If you think I am implying that I and my friends are Moses you would be right.  In the end, as a group of 8 leaders, we committed to making ourselves better so that we can lead our Jewish people to Yeshua and to the salvation that He offers to all who call on His name. There were times where in the words of Cosmo we felt "like hobbits among the nephalim"!  Even their teenagers were giants! Ok, Maybe just me and Cosmo felt that way. We are short but we are confident in ourselves. 

Some Messianics have asked me, "Why go to a church to learn?"  The short answer is they are better than we are in so many ways.  Many in our Movement think that if an idea is not Jewish in its inception then it has no merit.  For me, I see great value in learning from our brothers and sisters in Yeshua (they call him Jesus ;).  They are Jethros for us.  Many in the Church use the language of older brother and younger brother.  As Jewish followers of Yeshua, we are "older brothers" in terms of faith and heritage.  But, in terms of building communities dedicated to sharing the message of Yeshua with all people, we become "younger brothers." The Jewish part and the Gentile part of the Body of Messiah have much to learn from each other and much blessing to share with each other as well.  And man were we blessed! (Yes, that is a fried egg on my TX Burger!)

Thank you Beltway Park Baptist Church.  Thank you Pastor David, Pastor Keith and the whole staff who showed us what a heart for Israel and young leaders looks like.  Don't worry we will be back!

Click here for more info on Beltway Park Baptist Church!

What the Heck is an Omer and Why Count 50 Days of Them?

The Days of the Omer (omer is a biblical measurement of grain) are so awesome but so many followers of Yeshua seem unaware of this awesomeness. Perhaps they are unaware because they have never heard of the Days of the Omer. Perhaps they are unaware because they include these days in their theology that teaches these things have been replaced by something new.  Perhaps they are unaware because they have never noticed these days in their Bibles.  

The Days of the Omer are commanded in the Torah as a period of fifty days that we count between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost).  In Leviticus 23:15-22 we find one of several places that give instruction for these important days.  They are a part of the harvest celebrations which include Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles in the Fall).  Each of these holidays celebrate different parts of the harvest that God has given His people.   Most followers of Yeshua have heard of Passover and have participated in some kind of Passover Seder but many have never heard of Shavuot or Sukkot.  It is an interesting phenomenon because all three are so important in Scripture.  

Often it is said that Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is the most important day on the Jewish calendar but this is simply not true.  The most important day on the Jewish calendar happens to fall once a week and is called Shabbat.  Following Shabbat the three harvest festivals are the only holy days which require a visit to Jerusalem to bring an offering of thanks to the Lord.  Then comes Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.

The importance of Pesach and Shavuot is underscored by all that God has done for His people during these days.  Pesach is all about freedom: freedom from Egypt -- freedom from sin and death.  In the Torah, the exodus of Israel from Egypt takes place during Pesach. In the New Testament, the death and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) takes place during Pesach. 

Following Pesach and during the counting of the Days of the Omer, there are so many wonderful events: the parting of the sea of reeds, the giving of manna from heaven and the providing of quail from the East. Yeshua appears resurrected to His disciples during these same days. He appears to Peter, Thomas, John and over 500 witnesses that saw Him alive after He was put to death (a period of forty days, Acts 1:3).  One of the most important days on the Jewish calendar (and most unrecognized) is the fortieth day of Omer. This is the day that our Messiah Yeshua ascended into heaven to take His place at the right hand of God! This is the day that Yeshua, Who humbled Himself by coming lower than the angels and in a human body, takes His sacrifice to the real Holy of Holies. The real Holy of Holies that the Tabernacle and Temple were only copies or "shadows" of.  This is the day that Yeshua took His place as victor over sin and death, as King of Kings and as Lord of Lords.  The fortieth day of Omer is an awesome day!

All through the fifty days of Omer all of Judaism prepares itself for the receiving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai on Shavuot.  As a Messianic community we are also preparing for the receiving of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) given on the very same day, Shavuot, as recorded in Acts 2. What is typically understood as the start of the "church" is actually a bunch of Jewish people following the commandment to be in Jerusalem to bring free will offerings to the Temple on Shavuot thanking God for all that He has done! 

When I have attended churches and listen to Pastors preach through podcasts, so many say things like "we need to focus on Jesus" and "we need to be more like Jesus".  It seems to me that the fastest way to be like Jesus is to do what He did: to not ignore these days but celebrate them just like He did; to recognize all the awesome things God has done during these important days because He wants relationship with us and to give Him the glory that only He deserves because He is awesome!

There is no greater time on the calendar to celebrate all that God has done for His people than during Pesach, the fifty days of Omer, and Shavuot! These days are awesome because the God of Israel is awesome.  These days are awesome because we need reminders in our lives that there is no one as awesome as our God!  These days are awesome because they remind us of the awesomeness of Who God is and the awesomeness of all that He has done for those who call on His name!


For more on Shavuot read: Why I Don't Eat Dairy on Shavuot!