The Jewish Concern for the Church

How Far Have We Drifted from the One New Humanity the Apostles Envisioned?

Graef

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532608285
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The voices of Messianic rabbis and believers have been collected in this volume to share concerns about the gap that remains between Jews and the church. For the past fifteen centuries, the church has been predominantly Gentile. Jews of faith were not considered Jews, but as "converted." Today, as Messianic congregations multiply and church denominations try to find their way back to the original principles of the early church, the church is challenged to repair this relationship, deepen its understanding of the apostles' vision of one new man, and be edified by the meaning in appointed observances that extended to graft in the wild olive branches. "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14).

Beit Tefilah

A House of Prayer

My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples

(Isa 56:7)

1

Pesach (Passover)

So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to Adonai throughout your generations

(Exod 12:14)

The moon was rising to brighten the streets of Jerusalem as it waxed toward its lunar phase, illuminated by the sun, round and full. The Pesach (Passover) was nearing to celebrate the people’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. It was springtime. Adonai had instructed Moshe (Moses) and Aharon (Aaron) that Nisan would be the first month of the year (Exod 12:1–2), the month of redemption that comes soon after the edge of day and night meet over the equator to bring spring equinox. “Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household” (v4). The lamb would be kept until the fourteenth day of the month, the full moon, and killed at sunset (v6). Called the Feast of Freedom followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits, it is a holiday about the past, present, and future of the Messiah.

As the day approached for the lambs to be sacrificed, the disciples asked Yeshua, “Where do you want us to prepare your Seder?” “Go into the city, to so-and-so,” he replied, “and tell him that the Rabbi says, ‘My time is near, my talmidim and I are celebrating Pesach at your house.’” The talmidim did as Yeshua directed and prepared the Seder. (Matt 26:17–19).

The winter rains had gone, leaving cisterns full with fresh water. The air was scented with the sweet fragrance of soft pink almond blossoms. Narrow dusty streets swelled with people as they traveled to the Holy City, making the long ascent from Jericho, rounding the Mount of Olives and sighting the City of David that would be the joy of all the world (Lam 2:15). The Temple stood high above, built on the center of white stone. Zion, the upper city, stood beyond arched passageways to the west with its marble villas. The lower city was at its south, grouped with limestone houses on roads that sloped down to the Tyropean Valley. From here the sounds of the Temple could be heard, the busy voices and clatter of donkey hooves, and the smell of cooking carried on light breezes. Craftsmen sat at work weaving, dying, baking, or sewing. Carpenters and potters, metalworkers and merchants of food offered their wares on market days. Some had become rich by filling the Temple’s need for loaves of bread, priestly vestments, incense, wood for altar fires, and golden vessels. Only on Shabbat and feast days did the streets become quiet and empty.

Crowds of people went up to the Temple, singing the songs of ascent, Psalms 120 to 134, as they climbed the sloping hills to the place that God had chosen to meet with them. The ascent is the story of our journey to the presence of Messiah. “I lift my eyes up to the hills,” the travelers sing. “Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.” Living in a world of conflict, many feel miles from the presence of God. “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,” hundreds of miles to the north of Jerusalem between the Black and Caspian seas, or “among the tents of Kedar,” hundreds of miles to the south in what became Saudi Arabia. Knowing they were one of God’s people, but living among those who did not know the living God, feeling far from his presence for far too long, they sang in yearning anticipation as they climbed toward the place of his presence.“I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

The joy as they started on their journey soon turned into the difficulties of a long and arduous distance, driven into the wilderness as Yeshua had been where he was tempted not to continue. Even knowing the destiny will be glorious, the journey becomes tiring. The relief of the ending is still miles away. The psalms sing about praying in hope, sowing in tears, being restored by the rains that plow a path through the deserts that only God brings, turning to hymns that ask God to intervene, with the refreshing Spirit, to help their limitations so that they may sow from strength to strength. They sang about the captives who were as men in a dream when they returned to Jerusalem, full of vision, praying that God would pour water on the dry ground of their lives. The psalms of ascent are a story of sorrow and redemption written in every believer’s life.

As they arrive and gather in comfort, their thoughts turn toward others with an invitation to share in worship.

May Adonai, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Tziyon (Ps 134:3).

As they gathered at the Temple each of their struggles gave way to worship as they heard the past and the future of their own story. The journey is to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, to thousands of joyful angels, to a community where the mediator of the new covenant, Yeshua, redeemed the firstborn whose names are recorded in heaven (Heb 12:22–24).

A high stone wall circled the city four miles around with gateways at intervals where publicans collected taxes on merchandise entering or leaving the city. Every room of the city was filled with guests. Many found lodging at an inn. Most stayed in tents outside the city where groves of olive trees budded feathery white flowers over the hillsides, providing exports for Jerusalem’s farmers. Some found lodging in private homes in the village of Bethany. The travelers brought economy, needing food, lodging, sacrificial animals, and a required tithe to the Temple. Roman soldiers were stationed throughout because of the overcrowding and excitement. To the thousands who made the pilgrimage, there was nowhere on earth like Jerusalem and no thought more near than the Temple.

Preparations were keeping everyone busy. Bridges and roads were reinforced and homes had to be ceremonially cleansed and inspected. On the eve of Pesach the head of the household searched a final time for any leaven, a thorough inspection preparing the heart for the Seder recalling Adonai’s powerful hand leading the people from slavery to freedom.

Yeshua came into Jerusalem on the day the lambs without blemish were being selected. In an upstairs room a table had been prepared with the best dishes, cups, silver, and oil lamps for the festival lights. There was a bowl of salt water, three pieces of matzah, and an overflowing cup for Eliyahu (Elijah).

The sun was lowering beyond the Mediterranean Sea and the sky changed to its twilight colors. The shofar sounded from the Temple as a priest signaled the lambs were slain in the Temple’s Court of the Priests. Its call stirred the people’s souls. It’s time to come into Adonai’s presence. Women were lighting the oil lamps everywhere.

When the time came, Yeshua and the emissaries reclined at the table, and he said to them, “I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die!” (Luke 22:14–15).

He and his disciples lifted the first cup of the Pesach—the Cup of Sanctification. Yeshua gave the b’rakhah, saying:

Ba-ruch a-ta Adonai, Eh-lo-hay-nu meh-lehch ha-o-lahm, bo-ray p’ree ha-ga-fen. Amain

Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine. Amain.

Yeshua and his talmidim sipped from their cups.

To prepare to commune with Adonai’s presence, Yeshua got up from the table. He was aware that the Father had put everything in his power and he would soon return to heaven. He wrapped a towel around his waist and poured water into a basin. Going around the table he began washing the feet of the talmidim and wiping them dry with the towel. He came to Shim`on Kefa (Simon Peter) who said, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” Yeshua said, “In time you will understand.” “You will never wash my feet!” Kefa said, but Yeshua answered, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” He explained that he was setting an example so that they could do for each other as he had done for them (John 13:3–15).

Yeshua was preparing his talmidin for a royal priesthood. The practice is held with ritual washing before a priest can enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple, a symbolic act of purification. Who may go up to the mountain of Adonai? Who can stand in his holy place? Those with clean hands and pure hearts, who don’t make vanities the purpose of their lives or swear oaths just to deceive (Ps 24:3–4). Aharon and his sons were prepared for service, brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, washed with water, and anointed for the office of priest (Exod 40:12–15).

Yeshua spoke the b’rakhah:

Ba-ruch a-ta Adonai, Ehlohaynu meh-lech ha-o-lahm ah-sher keed-sha-nu beed-va-reh-cha v’tzee-va-noo ahl n’tee-laht ya-da-yeem. Amain.

Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us in Your Word and commanded us concerning the washing of hands. Amain.

Adonai is willing to wash our hands and feet. We are clean because he spoke the word to us and we abide in his love (John 15:3). Called rachatz, washing hands before a meal is still a custom done with bowls of water on the table in today’s Pesach. The hands of the person sitting beside someone are often washed and needed prayer is acknowledged.

The Seder Plate, called a Ka’arah, contains maror, a bitter herb such as horseradish, that represents the sorrow that Adonai remove...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Beit Tefilah: A House of Prayer
• Beit Midrash: A House of Study
• Beit Hallel: A House of Praise
• Chapter 9: Baruch HaShem (Blessed is God)
• Chapter 10: Mikveh (Immersion)
• Chapter 11: Sukkot (Feast of the Ingathering)
• Chapter 12: Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World)
• Bibliography