I always try to continue my search for truth. I believe that it's safe to say that all truth is God's truth, so I'm not scared of finding truths that surprise me or that challenge my preconceived notions of reality. It's interesting to me how many facets of the nature of creation can be interpreted so many different ways. Even Scripture can often be interpreted several different ways - which, I suppose, is one reason why so many different denominations exist. My point is that with so many differing points of view out there - even among fellow church members or among family members - I would bet that none of us are exactly right about everything we think about "the way things are". This leads to the inevitable conclusion that some of my own assumptions about life and the universe are wrong. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not about to go into a postmodernist relativist tirade - not at all! In fact, I am of the strong opinion that God has made the most important things blatantly obvious to those who will see, but that he has left the not-quite-as-important things open to debate for us. After all, if it doesn't REALLY matter in the whole scheme of things, why does God REALLY have to fill us in on all the petty details? (Even though, I admit that sometimes I wish he did!) Anyway, this introduction is getting long enough. What I'm trying to say is that I am completely aware that I don't know everything, so I try to keep an open mind in this journey of life to always learn whatever truth I can find that will bring me closer to a fuller understanding of the nature of the universe and, therefore, the nature of its Creator.
Now back to the theme of my title. I recently read a book that really challenged my thoughts in this way. It's called What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus? The book is written by Michael Brown, a self-proclaimed Messianic Jew, and is very well-written and informative. I approached some of his topics pretty skeptically, but I can't deny that his points are well-thought out and supported. I learned a lot from the book and would recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. The biggest question this book made me ask myself was: "What happened to our Old Testament heritage?" Or, wait a second. How about this question: "What happened to our Jewish heritage?" It's interesting how these two questions can ask the same question but have a different connotation. But really, most Christians, at least those that I know (me included!), don't celebrate Passover, don't associate the Star of David with their own religion, and probably couldn't tell you what Talmud means. I'm not sure that these are necessarily faults. But the fact remains that our God is the same exact God that we read about in the Old Testament. So really, why is it that we don't celebrate Jewish holidays (most of which were established in the Old Testament) and so forth? Why the rift? After all, Jesus even tells us himself in John 4:22 that "salvation is from the Jews". I'm sure there's a lot of history behind how Christians felt the need to separate from the Jews and to lump BC Judaism in with AD Judaism. It makes logical sense to see how Old Testament traditions could have been forgotten by Christians who have significant differences of belief from the Jews of their own day.
Still, there may be something to be said about reclaiming our spiritual history. Now, the following is a gross over-generalization, but for the sake of satirical stereotyping, here's a rough outline of how many Christians observe their history: The Catholic calendar of the universe started when Jesus was born. Nothing ever happened before him, but a lot of important traditions developed in the early church and continued to the present day. The broader Protestant calendar begins with Martin Luther. Nothing ever happened before him, but after the Reformation began, a lot of great Christian thinkers came along. The Evangelical calendar begins several years ago in Sunday School when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Nothing ever happened before then, but Jesus sure has a lot to teach me now. The Pentacostal calendar begins today. Nothing ever happened before today, but a whole lot will happen today and in the future if we call the Holy Spirit's presence into our midst right now! Obviously, this caricature isn't entirely accurate, but to me, it's kind of humorous as well as being kind of true. Granted, history and tradition maybe aren't THE most important thing...but they're of value right?
Augustine, Calvin, Jerome, Moses, David, Maccabees... these guys are all important figures in the history of the religion that is Christianity today. To a Christian, the birth of Jesus is obviously of greater consequence than a group of soldiers winning a battle and lighting candles. But is it still okay for a Christian to celebrate Hanukkah? "Gasp! That story isn't even in our Old Testament! What could that have to do with Christianity?! That holiday is for people who don't believe in Jesus!" But if my God...was the same God...who kept the menorah burning...why shouldn't that mean something to me? An interesting thought.
Ultimately, I think the important thing for Christians to focus on is Jesus. Religion, tradition, church services...these can all be good, but none of these matter nearly as much as Jesus himself. Furthermore, Paul even argues in the New Testament that there is no need for Jesus-believing Gentiles to adapt Jewish customs. It's just not necessary, because Jesus is ultimately what matters for eternity. Still, maybe it's important to remember that most of us Christians are branches that were grafted in. The original branches on our tree come from the people of Israel. Salvation is a gift from God offered to Jews, then Gentiles. And God is one, forever, unchanging. It is important to be part of God's work here and now. Maybe some value can also be found in remembering the vastness of what God has done before us...even before Jesus came.
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