A
Misunderstood Jew
A recent book about the Jewish roots of Jesus is
entitled “A Misunderstood Jew.” This title can be problematic. Is Jesus King of
Kings and Lord of Lords and the Christ? No, he is just “misunderstood.” Another
book with the same theme is “Kosher Jesus.” In this book the author argues that
Jesus wasn’t the Redeemer and the Savior of Mankind-he was a Jewish patriot. So
some people obviously have some concerns about this new approach to Jesus and
Judaism. (The book “Kosher Jesus” was debunked by Dr. Michael Brown.)
On the other hand, a popular misconception of Jesus
was that he rejected Judaism and fought against it. This idea is that Jesus
came to abolish Judaism. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Another book series has the title “A Marginal Jew.”
What does this mean-that Jesus wasn’t truly Jewish-but that his Jewishness and
practice of Judaism was marginal? What the author means is that Jesus was a Jew
who was marginalized by his society-mostly through Roman oppression.
But, how was Jesus Jewish? What does it mean when we
say that Jesus was a Jew? What are the ramifications of this for Christians?
These are questions that Christians need to ask themselves.
What
does it mean when we say “Jesus was Jewish”?
In “The
Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant” John Dominic
Crossan argues that Jesus was heavily influenced by Greek culture and that he
belonged to the Greek philosophical school of the Cynics. However, let us look
at the Jesus of the Gospels. In several places Jesus is quoted speaking in
Aramaic. The only reason that Jesus was quoted speaking in this language must
be because it was the language he spoke-and not Greek. So, Jesus is someone who
speaks and thinks in a Semitic language.
We know the
names of Jesus’ brothers-Jacob, Simon, Joseph and Judah. These are good Jewish
names. In Matthew and Luke we have family trees of Jesus, showing that he was
of Jewish descent-and that he was a descendent of King David.
Examining
Christ’s teachings, it is obvious that his thinking was shaped by the Hebrew
Scriptures-and not by Greek thought. On
the other hand, I don’t think we should demonize or unfairly disparage Greek
thought. Anyone who reads the Greek classics will learn to expand their
thinking. I do find many of the teachings of Plato disturbing but he was a
great thinker that has had a huge impact on history. Plato isn’t the end all
and be all of Greek thinking. Aristotle challenged many of the ideas of Plato
and many other Greeks had powerful ideas.
Jesus grew up
in the traditional Jewish homeland and surrounded by the Jewish way of life.
Jesus grew up in the synagogue and would go on pilgrimages to the Temple.
What does it mean to be a Jew-in the first century?
Judaism in the
first century was different from Judaism of today. But there is one
similarity-Judaism was very diverse. There wasn’t one institution that said
what was Jewish and what wasn’t. The different sects strongly opposed each
other.
Pharisees: Probably the largest and strongest
sect. They believed in angels and demons, heaven and hell.
Sadducees: This sect was the priestly elite. They
believed that this life was the only life and the Temple ritual must be the
focus of this earthly life since it was commanded by God on Mount Sinai.
Essenes: These were monks who lived in the
wilderness practicing baptismal rituals. They were said to be vegetarian.
The Yahad: The community that produced the Dead Sea
Scrolls. A unique and independent Jewish sect.
Zealots: Jews that believed that they had to
sacred duty to fight the Romans.
There may have
been many other groups that we don’t know about.
An example is
the Mandaeans-The Mandaeans are a Gnostic sect centered in Iraq and
Iran-who venerate John the Baptist. They do not practice circumcision-but this
group is obviously an offshoot of Judaism.
The Temple
played an important role in Judaism. Today, Judaism is focused on the study of
the Law-to an extent that was also true at the time of Jesus. However, the
Temple played a huge role in Judaism in the first century. There is no Temple
and hasn’t been for 2,000 years so it is hard for us to grasp what a Temple
centered Judaism was like. Probably the closest thing would be the Hajj to
Mecca that Muslims have to take. Jews were required to go to Jerusalem three
times a year. Now, this really was no longer practical or possible when you
have an international Jewish diaspora. At the time of Jesus, as is true today,
more Jews lived outside of the Holy Land than lived within the Holy Land. These
Greek Jews would make pilgrimage to Jerusalem during their lifetimes-but
obviously not three times a year every year as the Torah dictates.
However, some Jews did not participate in Temple
worship. The Yahad thought that the rituals in the temple were not valid
because they were being incorrectly observed. According to the Bible, John the
Baptist stayed in the wilderness his whole life. This means that John did not
leave the wilderness to go into the city of Jerusalem. Also, a vegetarian Jew
isn’t going to partake of animals slaughtered in the Temple. John did eat bugs
and honey. The Bible says that is all he ate. So, John didn’t eat meat.
People
of the Book
People tend to think that things have pretty much
always been the way they are now. Today, it is an assumption that everyone can
read. We cannot imagine the high illiteracy rates that existed in the ancient
world. We are a wealthy people and can afford to teach all of our children how
to read. But in ancient times people didn’t have the leisure or the wealth to
teach all their children how to read. Literacy rates were probably 10%. If the
literacy rates of the Jewish people were twice as high as non-Jews that would
mean that only 20% of Jewish men could read. This is most likely the case. Over
50% of Jewish men were illiterate. We see this confirmed in the teachings of
Jesus. He said, “You have heard it said…but I say unto you…” The reason the
crowds had “heard it said” was that they could not read and they heard people
recite things to them-or listened while things were read to them.
At the time of Jesus-they pretty much had the Old
Testament we have today. The canon wasn’t totally settled-so apocryphal books
such as Enoch and Tobit may have been
considered part of Scripture at least by some Jewish communities at that time.
Jews at the time of Jesus had two “problems” in
dealing with the Old Testament. Most of the common Jewish people spoke only
Aramaic. And although Hebrew and Aramaic are very similar-they couldn’t
understand it. (For example, the King James Bible and Shakespeare are
considered to be in Modern English-but many people cannot understand them.) So,
there are two barriers between them and the Hebrew Bible-first it is in a
language, that although they consider it a “holy” language, they cannot
understand it. Secondly, they couldn’t read the language. So, the Bible had to
be translated into Aramaic-and it was. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Aramaic
Bible translations, called Targums (literally Targumim) were discovered. But
for most Jews the Targums were an oral form of the Bible. And it should be
remembered that the Bible itself started off as an oral document. The Bible is
made up of stories that were told and prophecies that were spoken.
The reciting of the Aramaic Targums became an
important part of Synagogue services.
The Jewish people did highly value reading,
education and study. This is evidenced by their treasures that they hid in the
caves during the Jewish War. Their treasures were their books.
But, most of the Jews were poor people who lived in
an agricultural society. Even though many of them couldn’t read, they could
listen to the Bible being read or recited in the Aramaic targum form. So, many
of the Jews did know the stories of the Bible, although most of them were
unable to read it for themselves. Jesus is depicted in the Gospels as a man who
could read and write and who was well read in the Torah, the Prophets and the
Writings.
Jesus
and the Land
Part of someone’s national temperament is connected
to the land in which they lived. For example, if Mozart had been born or raised
in Italy as opposed to Germany, he still would have been a musical genius but
his music would have had a different temperament to it.
Having been to Israel and lived in the Galilee, I
got a feel of Jesus in the land. The land of Israel, and of Galilee, were part
of who Jesus was. The area around the Sea of Galilee is a beautiful, tranquil
and spiritual place. Jesus often refers to his environment, and the daily life
of people within that environment. Jesus says, “See how the wild flowers grow…”
He says to watch the birds how they don’t toil or spin-but God provides for
them. He talks about shepherds, farmers and fishermen in his parables.
Did
Jesus Bring Change?
Did Jesus bring change or not? Some
Messianics/Hebrew Roots people think that Jesus did not. But if Jesus did bring
change-what change did he bring? How did he change things? Now, most people
seem to agree that Jesus “fulfilled” the animal sacrifice system by dying upon
the cross. Now that Jesus died on the cross we no longer kill animals so that
we may receive forgiveness of sins. But, is that the only reason Jesus came?
Why
Did Jesus Come?
What was Christ’s mission? Was it to affirm the law
of Moses? Or was it to redeem mankind? Or could Jesus have done both? After
all, Moses appeared with Jesus upon the mountain of transfiguration. Did Jesus
come to teach people about how to grow their hair, what diet to keep, how to
observe holidays or what type a clothing to wear-or was Jesus more interested
in what was in the heart of a man?
What should be our focus? Paul said, “I am determined to know nothing
but Christ and him crucified.”
Stephen Andrew Missick
About
the Author
Reverend Stephen Andrew Missick is the author of The Assyrian Church in the Mongol Empire,
Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of
the Assyrian Church in India, and Socotra:
The Mysterious Island of the Church of the East which were published in the
Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (Volume XIII, No. 2, 1999, Volume XIV, No.
2, 2000 and Volume XVI No. 1, 2002). He is the author of The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic
Roots of Christianity, Mary of
Magdala: Magdalene, the Forgotten Aramaic Prophetess of Christianity, Treasures
of the Language of Jesus: The Aramaic Source of Christ’s Teaching, Aramaic: The Language of Jesus of Nazareth
and Christ the Man. He
is an ordained minister of the gospel. He graduated from Sam Houston State
University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Rev. Missick has
traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and has lived among the Coptic
Christians in Egypt and Aramaic Christians in Syria. He also served as a
soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and 2004. While serving as a soldier
in Iraq he learned Aramaic from native Aramaic-speaking Iraqi Assyrian
Christians. Rev. Missick is the writer and illustrator of the comic book “The
Assyrians: The Oldest Christian People,” the comic strip Chronicles: Facts from the Bible and the comic book series The Hammer of God which are available from www.comixpress.com. The Hammer of God comic book series dramatizes the stories of
Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel. He has also served as a chaplain in the Army
National Guard in Iraq during his second deployment in 2009 and 2010.
PO
Box 882, Shepherd, Texas, 77371
King
of Saints Tabernacle: Messianic Congregation
2228
FM 1725
Cleveland,
TX 77328
(218)592-4104
I have recently discovered another book that explores the Jewish roots of Jesus. Have you ever suspected that Paul hijacked a Jewish movement and turned it into a dying God religion? After all, Jesus was a Jew and would never have told his followers to drink his blood at the last supper.I had my eyes opened by a new book,Cover-Up: How the Church Silenced Jesus's True Heirs, which tells the whole story. I learned that the Jewish followers of Jesus survived for many centuries striving for the kingdom of justice, the kingdom of God, here on earth.It's fascinating how much information the church buried because it belied their version of how Christianity came to be. I found the book at http://tinyurl.com/69cazll.
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