Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Thought for the day
A Jewish God-man. A God-Jew. The fact is that this Jesus came to save
people of the world who were not expecting him. We gentiles received a
savior we dared not hope for. He came to show us the way to Life, but we
did not even realize we were dead -- until we saw what Life was! But there
was a people, there was a chosen race who, long before the arrival of this
Savior, had been gathered, taught, formed, chastized, exalted, and
showered with signs and wonders by God, and also been promised an Anointed One who would come to save both them and the surrounding nations. This was a people who knew their sins; this was a people who knew that their lives were not being lived in fulness; this was a people who knew their lack and longed, yearned for the coming days when all wrongs would be made right, all crooked ways straight, valleys filled an mountains laid low, who hoped for the glorious coming of their Promised Vindicator and Lord, ushering in a time of unparalleled peace.
. . .
Gentiles fall in love with Jesus. We encounter him, talk with him, let him show how great he is and, in the process, we realize that we are need of something that we didn't even know we lacked -- something that we can have in Him. Just like any two people become good friends or fall in love, we don't even realize how unhappy we are until made happy by the other. That is one thing; it's another thing to lie in in yearning and sometimes agonizing expectation all your life for someone who you have already been told about, who, in some way, you already know, and who has promised to fulfill your deepest desires -- then finally to meet them face to face! The Jew is in some way already in love with Jesus. He or she needs only to ask, "Is it you? Can it really be you?"
In my opinion, the only authentically universal educated approach to Jesus is through Judaism. That is how we see into the import of Christ's advent into history. That is how we see the twinkle in Miriam's eye and feel the jump in Joseph's heart each time a prayer is made for the Messiah in the synagogue. That is how we understand the prophetic drive and passionate outpouring of the Yeshua who preaches on the mountains, cures the infirmed in the streets, and opens his heart to his closest at his last Seder meal.
people of the world who were not expecting him. We gentiles received a
savior we dared not hope for. He came to show us the way to Life, but we
did not even realize we were dead -- until we saw what Life was! But there
was a people, there was a chosen race who, long before the arrival of this
Savior, had been gathered, taught, formed, chastized, exalted, and
showered with signs and wonders by God, and also been promised an Anointed One who would come to save both them and the surrounding nations. This was a people who knew their sins; this was a people who knew that their lives were not being lived in fulness; this was a people who knew their lack and longed, yearned for the coming days when all wrongs would be made right, all crooked ways straight, valleys filled an mountains laid low, who hoped for the glorious coming of their Promised Vindicator and Lord, ushering in a time of unparalleled peace.
. . .
Gentiles fall in love with Jesus. We encounter him, talk with him, let him show how great he is and, in the process, we realize that we are need of something that we didn't even know we lacked -- something that we can have in Him. Just like any two people become good friends or fall in love, we don't even realize how unhappy we are until made happy by the other. That is one thing; it's another thing to lie in in yearning and sometimes agonizing expectation all your life for someone who you have already been told about, who, in some way, you already know, and who has promised to fulfill your deepest desires -- then finally to meet them face to face! The Jew is in some way already in love with Jesus. He or she needs only to ask, "Is it you? Can it really be you?"
In my opinion, the only authentically universal educated approach to Jesus is through Judaism. That is how we see into the import of Christ's advent into history. That is how we see the twinkle in Miriam's eye and feel the jump in Joseph's heart each time a prayer is made for the Messiah in the synagogue. That is how we understand the prophetic drive and passionate outpouring of the Yeshua who preaches on the mountains, cures the infirmed in the streets, and opens his heart to his closest at his last Seder meal.
