Sunday
12/30/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Our Jewish Heritage”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 148
New Testament
Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 2:41-52
Once again my friends, my brothers and sisters, Merry
Christmas! Merry Christmas, as we are still in the twelve-day season of
Christmas, which goes through this coming Saturday January 5th. Next
Sunday will be Epiphany, as we will celebrate the coming of the three Wisemen
or Magi, which will visit Jesus with Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.
Today then, is the First Sunday after Christmas Day, and
since this twelve-day season of Christmas is so short, this will be the only
“Sunday after Christmas Day” that we have to celebrate.
Many pastors take this Sunday off, but I really like to
preach on this Sunday if I can. Why do I like to preach so much on this Sunday
if I can? Well for one I am still sugared up from Christmas cookies, and two
this is a Sunday where we can talk about the roots of our Christian faith. You
see as Christians, we come out of Judaism. We come out of the Jewish faith.
Jesus was a Jew. Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph were Jews. Every single one of
Jesus’ twelve disciples were Jews. The Apostle Paul, who was originally Saul of
Tarsus, was a Jewish Pharisee. In fact, the Apostle Paul, formally Saul of
Tarsus, was highly educated on the scriptures and the Law of Moses, which is
why he was able to quote them so well in his New Testament letters.
Every single book of our 39-book Old Testament in our Bibles,
was written by a Jew. The Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, and etc.,
all Jews. The Jewish faith is also many centuries, and even millenniums older
that Christianity. The creation story that we have in the Book of Genesis, Adam
and Eve, the Garden of Eden, Abraham, Moses, Noah, King David, all Jewish.
Now you might be thinking right about now, “We get it
Pastor Paul the Bible is very Jewish”. Well what’s the point that I am trying
to drive home this morning? The point is this, I have met people in my life who
claim to be “Christians,” but who at the same time are Anti-Jew, or
Anti-Semitic. People who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but also say
that they are Anti-Jew or Anti-Semitic. Friends, if we have any understanding
of our history as Christians, if we have any comprehension of the Bible, I
would argue that it is impossible to be both a Christian and Anti-Semitic or
Anti-Jew.
We all know all too well about the fairly recent Jewish
Synagogue shooting in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The shooter in that incident,
Robert Bowers wrote in his biography:
“Jews
are the children of Satan,”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/robert-bowers-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooter.html).
Yet we sing during Advent and during this the season of
Christmas that Jesus was born in the City of King David, in Bethlehem. King
David who was Jewish King, came from Bethlehem, a Jewish town.
I have heard people that have claimed to be “Christians”
tell me that Jesus wasn’t in fact Jewish, but that the Jews brutally killed
him. In this way of thinking, Jesus came to overthrow the Jews, and they killed
him for it. In this line of thinking, Jesus therefore, wasn’t Jewish.
The reason that this is utter nonsense, is that number one,
the Romans, under Governor Pontius Pilate killed Jesus. The Jews did not kill
Jesus, and a Jew, Simon of Cyrene even helped Jesus carry his cross to Golgotha
or Calvary. Jesus also came to fulfill the Jewish law, not to destroy Judaism.
In fact, according to the Book of Revelation, God with save remnant of the
Jews. Of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, 12,000 of each tribe will be saved,
making 144,000 of God’s chosen people that he will save and preserve in the end
of days (Rev. 7:1-8, NRSV). This is sometimes called the “Sealed of Israel”
(Rev. 7:1-8, NRSV). So if Jesus came to overturn and destroy Judaism, and if
the Jews killed Jesus, which are both not true, then why would God explicitly
tells us in the Book or Revelation that he would preserve 144,000 of his chosen
people? Friends, our connection to Judaism is undeniable, as we can literally
be considered reformed Jews.
Our Old Testament, which is comprised of the Torah and the
rest of the Jewish Bible, or our Old Testament was all originally written in
Hebrew. Hebrew is both the spoken and written language of the Jews.
Christianity then, started with Jesus. The word Christian
wasn’t even used until it was coined in the city of Antioch, as the followers
of Christ there were called “Christians”. This of course meant “Christ
followers”. For the first probably 20-30 years of the Christian faith, all
Christians were Jews. The very early Christian Church before it was called the
Christian Church was simply called “The Way”. Jesus came to show the people of
Israel this “Way,” as he said in John 14:6:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6, NRSV).
So Jesus, the first 12-disciples, and all Christians for
the first 20-30 years of the faith were all Jews. Except that they were Jews
that believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the savior.
The Jews also have an extensive history of persecution. I
think part of this is that they have always been a minority. Today, there are
about 2.2-2.5 billion Christians on the planet earth. This is about 1/3 of the
population of earth. In the world today there about 14-15 million Jews, which
is about .2% of the world’s population. So the world is about 33.3% Christian,
and about .2% Jewish. When you are small group of people, it is easy to
marginalize and oppress those people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism).
After the Jewish people survived through the horrible
atrocities of Nazi Germany and World War II, there were continued calls to give
the Jews a homeland. A country of their own. This country, Israel, was formed
in 1948 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel). The next day Israel was invaded
by four Arab Countries. Since that time, Israel has been in many armed
conflicts. One of the biggest supporters of the creation of Israel was
President Harry Truman.
As many of us know there is on-going struggle between
Israel and the Palestinian people. While I support the Palestinian people have
their own nation one day, I also fully and emphatically support the State of
Israel and their Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
I tell you all this to say that we as Christians have
historical, biblical, and divine connection to the Jewish people. The Hebrew Scriptures
or the New Testament, we believe as Christians pointed the way towards Christ
our savior. In our reading this morning
from the Gospel of Luke, once again, we have the only story of Christ as a
child. Don’t get me wrong we have the Christmas birth narratives and the visit
from the Wisemen, but other than this story this morning, the next time we hear
about Jesus, he is getting baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin John the
Baptist. So Jesus is born, Wisemen, this morning, and then boom he’s thirty and
getting baptized. This means, that other than this morning’s story, we have no
idea what Jesus’ childhood was like.
So let’s look at this gospel reading from the gospel of
Luke once again. It says:
“Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the
festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as
usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return,
the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming
that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they
started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not
find him, they returned to (Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they
found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and
asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding
and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his
mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your
father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them,
“Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s
house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down
with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured
all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and
in divine and human favor” (Lk.
2:41-52, NRSV).
So
let’s unpack this gospel lesson. First off, why did Mary and Joseph go to
Jerusalem for the Passover every year, and why did they take Jesus? Well,
because they were Jews. Jews have long celebrated the Passover. The Passover is
the holiday that when the Jews were in Egypt and Moses was pushing for their
freedom. The Jews towards the end of this struggles were told to sacrifice a
pure and spotless white lamb. They were told to take the blood of this lamb and
to cover their door posts, so that the angel of death would “Passover” their
houses. This holiday celebrates God sparring their first born children, but
more broadly celebrates the Jewish people be freed from slavery in Egypt.
The
Jews therefore celebrate being freed from slavery and God’s favor on them.
Passover last about a week or a little longer every year. Therefore, all Jews
in Jesus’ era went to Jerusalem during the Passover to celebrate and to worship
at the great Temple in Jerusalem.
So
this is the only story where Jesus is a boy, and he is about 12 or 13 in this
story. When the Passover holiday listed in the gospel this morning ended, Mary
and Joseph began the long journey north back to Nazareth. They were likely in a
group of people traveling together. Now after a full day of traveling, Mary and
Joseph realized that Jesus was missing. So the search began, and ended with a
full day’s journey back to Jerusalem.
Where
did they find young Jesus when they returned to Jerusalem? In the temple, as
Jesus was amazing many with his understandings of the scriptures, life and
faith. Mary and Joseph were amazed to see and hear all that young Jesus had to
say. Mary then asked young Jesus why he had stayed behind, and why he stressed
them out so much. Jesus just said, did you know I was supposed to be here, here
in my Father’s house?
Mary
and Joseph didn’t understand what Jesus meant, and they then went back to
Jerusalem. Mary treasured all Jesus showed her and said in her heart.
Lastly,
the scriptures say once again that”
“Jesus increased in
wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor”
(Lk. 2:52, NRSV).
Even
though Jesus was God in the flesh, he still had to learn to walk, to talk, and
grow into a man.
Next
week you will all hear about the visit of the Wisemen or Magi to Jesus, and
then the next week on Sunday January 13th, we will have Jesus being
baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin John the Baptist. Other than the
birth stories, the Wisemen, and you Jesus today at the temple, we then pick up
with Jesus at the age of thirty. By then, he will have grown and prepared, and
will go forth as the fullness of man and the living God in the flesh.
It
is in scripture like this though that we see that Jesus was indeed Jewish. That
Mary and Joseph took Jesus to a Jewish holiday celebration that lasted about a
week. That part of this celebration included worship and many other Jewish
traditions and customs. With all of this being said, Jesus was a Jew, and
important part of the foundation and the heritage of Christian faith, is that
of Judaism. The Jews are our forefathers and mothers, and therefore, may we
never forget “Our Jewish Heritage”. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment