What About "Messianic Jews"?

By Shlomoh
September 5, 2010


A friend of mine whom I have known for some 20 years is undergoing conversion to Judaism. She spent a lot of time in messianic congregations before deciding to become Jewish. [I wrote a 8 part essay on becoming Jewish which can be found on this site at http://www.shlomohsherman.com/literary/jcreatej/.

I spoke to my friend undergoing conversion the other night, and as we were speaking, I told her that after many years, I had finally matured to where I cannot really condemn people for their belief or unbelief. She said I have a lot of patience. I think she meant tolerance. I told her that when she reaches my age, if she grows old with wisdom, she will feel as I do.

I know that certain Jews are beating up so-called "Jews for Jesus" or "messianic Jews", and I understand why they are angry. It is because they are confusing the modern Jew who believes in Jesus with Jews of old who converted, leaving the Jewish community, and then turned on that Jewish community, joining the gentiles who were persecuting us. I understand that the modern phenomenon of belief in jesus is not the same phenomenon. A Jew comes to believe in Jesus today because he is "missionized."  That is, he generally is not only not religious, never has been, and doesn't know what either Judaism or Christianity is all about. So someone tells him that he can believe in Jesus as messiah and still remain a Jew [which is basically correct]. Believing that Jesus is the messiah is not the real issue however.  And Jews don't particularly care for what Sid Roth has to say. Sid Roth is a Jewish radio personality who preaches to Jews to accept Jesus. He visited Israel many times and didn't go to YAD VESHEM, the memorial to the Holocaust, until a gentile lady called him on it and told him to go.

The issue is what accompanies believing in Jesus as the messiah. What accompanies it is the theology of Saul of Tarsus which is offensive to Jews. Many Jews who have come to believe in Jesus do not want the letters of Saul or the other epistles included in their Bibles. In fact, all they want are the gospels. But those Jews who DO infact accept the theology of Saul, have to accept that Jesus is not only messiah but God as well. That's anathema to the average Jew. They also have to sit through the most outrageous anti-Jewish tirades in all literature written by that Apostate Saul. Not to mention that so much injury has been done to Jews in the name of Jesus.

I am not one who believes in attacking a Jew who has come to believe in Jesus, and I have my reasons.

Firstly I thnik that the real, historical Jesus has been very misunderstood both by gentiles and Jews, and I believe that the real Jesus the Nazarene has a place in Jewish history once Jews are willing to listen to what Jesus actually said, and compare it to authentic Judaism. Jesus was very Jewish. True, he was not Jewish in the same way that Jews today are Jewish, but that has to do with the time during which he lived and the the environment of Galilee more than anything else. Galileans were different in their Judaism from the Jews elsewhere, and so Jesus' Jewishness was different from the Jews of elsewhere - but it was Jewishness nonetheless. Jesus never said anything that was contrary to Judaism although some of the things he said would now be considered archaic by modern Jews.
Judaism has moved on since the time of Jesus, and much of what is in Christian theology today was taken from the Judaism of 2000 years ago. Jews today no longer subscribe to some of those things. But so what? I don't mind a Jews who believes in for Jesus because he is no emotional or philosophical threat to me the way he may be to most Jews. And if he is a Jew, then he is still are my brother. I don't have to believe what he believes. There are Jews in the world who don't believe in anything who are still my brothers. As far as "messianic" Jews trying to convert other Jews, well they really don't try very hard, and most Jews ignore them anyway. So what is the big deal?

I think that many Jews are saddened by the "messianic phenomenon" but no one did anything to stop it when it first began. So who is to blame for Jesus-messianism  more than missionaries? Jews! That's who. Misisonaries do what misisonaries are supposed to do according to Christian teaching. They proselytize. If someone listens to them, what can I do do about it? What can anyone do about it? Try to talk them out of it? Maybe. But stoning them or hitting them is a bit too Talibanish for my taste.

As I have said, when the messiah comes, I'll ak him if it's the first or second time he's been here.


Return To The Jewish Essays Index

Return To The Essay Index

Return To The Literary Index

Return To The Site Index Page

Email Shlomoh