More than 25 prominent
rabbis from Israel and abroad recently issued a statement calling for a renewed
look at Jesus, Christians and the New Testament faith. Quoting from their own
sages, these outstanding Orthodox rabbis are not ashamed to exalt the
name of Jesus, welcoming the carpenter from Nazareth back into the Jewish fold.
“Jesus
brought a double goodness to the world,” declare
the group of well-known rabbis. “On the one hand he
strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically… and not one of our Sages
spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah,” and on
the other hand “he removed idols from the nations.”
Saying that Jesus, even
more that any other Jewish Sage, honored, strengthened and protected the
“immutability of the Torah,” is an extraordinary acknowledgement. These leading
rabbis are turning the tides of history by removing one of the main stumbling
blocks in the path of a major Jewish reclamation of Jesus!
You will recall, that
religious Jews rejected Jesus from the beginning, with the accusation that he
did not obey the Torah, therefore he could not be the awaited Messiah. In the
New Testament, we find the Pharisees arguing with Jesus over Sabbath rules,
dietary laws, ritual cleanliness, marriage regulations and more. They insisted
that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because “he is teaching everywhere not to obey
Moses.” (Acts 6:14)
What we are now
witnessing is the undoing of 2,000 years of Jewish rejection and animosity
towards Jesus, a miracle by any estimation. For the out-and-out refusal by Jews
to accept Jesus is slowly, but surely, coming to an end, as growing numbers of
prestigious Orthodox rabbis welcome Jesus back.
And
there is more. “After nearly two millennia of mutual
hostility and alienation, we Orthodox Rabbis who lead communities, institutions
and seminaries in Israel, the United States and Europe… seek to do the will of
our Father in Heaven by accepting the hand offered to us by our Christian
brothers and sisters,” the statement reads.
Two thousand years of
Christian Anti-Semitism, Crusades, Inquisitions and a Holocaust can not keep
the Star of Bethlehem from rising again in Israel. This call by these
distinguished rabbis to embrace Christians as “brothers and sisters” is no less
a miracle. For Jews to accept Christians with such endearment, after so much
misunderstanding and anti-Semitic ugliness, can only be understood as a divine
work of heavenly grace, the likes of which I find unfathomable.
For as this group of
Orthodox rabbis points out, it is their “Father in Heaven” who is calling the
Jewish people to lay down the past, put aside the enmity, and willingly embrace
Christians and their faith in Jesus. That, my friends, is the deeper work of
the Holy Spirit as spoken about throughout Scripture.
As
Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn, Academic Director of the Center for Jewish-Christian
Understanding & Cooperation points out, “This proclamation’s
breakthrough is that influential Orthodox rabbis across all centers of Jewish
life have finally acknowledged that… Christianity and Judaism have much
in common spiritually and practically. Given our toxic history, this is
unprecedented in Orthodoxy.”
In
their statement, the rabbis want to find a way to acknowledge the differences
between Christian and Jewish beliefs, without taking, or giving, offense. “As did Maimonides and Yehudah Halevi, we acknowledge that
Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome
and gift to the nations. In separating Judaism and Christianity, G-d willed a
separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a
separation between enemies,” the statement concludes.
These
so-called “significant theological differences” between
Christianity and Judaism are really about Jesus. He is the stumbling block.
Jesus may be Messiah, Son of the Living God for the Gentiles, but my Jewish
people are still not quite sure just who he is for them. So while these rabbis
are making major and unprecedented strides in bringing my people closer to
Jesus, they are still far from the truth. For if Jesus is the Messiah for the
Gentiles, how much more must he be for the Jews?
Perhaps Jesus will not
quite be at home this Christmas in Israel, or Jewish homes around the world,
but he is certainly knocking on the door.
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