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And see our collaborative site: MessianicJudaism.me
Rabbi Stuart Dauermann: MessianicJudaism.me/Agenda
Rabbi Joshua Brumbach: MessianicJudaism.me/Yinon
Messianic Jewish Issues: MessianicJudaism.me/Media

The messianic prophet says there is a narrow door. But if this door is not found, Israel will find it locked and the judge will not hear their plea. “Jerusalem, how I longed to gather you,” says the messianic prophet. But the narrow door has been missed. There are, however, hidden things going on. Something is growing in the Yeshua movement, something that will outlast Yeshua’s career in Israel.

A CHANGE IN PLANS: In good news, the children’s book is getting closer and may be ready early. In somewhat disappointing news, I’m putting off the audio-commentary on Mark for a later time in 2011. I’m realizing the need to edit and improve my notes on Mark. Even in a few months some things have become much clearer for me and I believe the Mark commentary will be better for the wait.

COMING: “Eyewitnesses in the Gospels” seminar June 5 in Atlanta. We’d love to have you come and join us. “Reading the Rabbis” June 26. See TikvatDavid.com on the “Classes” page for the latest information.

LISTEN ONE OF TWO WAYS:
(1) Subscribe on iTunes (search the iTunes store for Yeshua and find us under podcasts).
(2) Or go to this link at DerekLeman.com

On the meaning of Luke 13:18-21 in the larger context of warnings to repentance as Yeshua’s conflict is mounting and he is nearing Jerusalem:

Yeshua’s little movement is about to be doomed, it may seem, but hidden things are happening. A great plant is growing and birds will nest in it (in Mark and Matthew there is perhaps a hint the birds are unwelcome guests in the kingdom: sinners, the poor, gentiles). A loaf is being fermented. The messianic prophet may be headed to confrontation with powers of death, but something great will come, something the origin of which cannot now be seen. The seed will die to leave behind a plant and the leaven will work through everything and change all that it contacts.

I’m not seeking to prove or even give evidence for or against any religion in this musing. I have to say honestly, though, that I am dissing the atheists’ story. So maybe I’m giving a subjective argument against the materialist-naturalist-atheist meta-narrative. But you be the judge.

I’m interested in the main Jewish and Christian stories. Some of what I say here could be equally applied to Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and I’m sure other religious stories. That’s irrelevant to me for now. Mainly, I’m interested in how the atheism story doesn’t line up in spite of the protests and feeble Vulcan logic of Hitchens and the other new atheists. (Actually, Spock would do far better, so I shouldn’t malign the Vulcans).

There are four stories I want to comment on:
(1) The Mount Sinai story.
(2) The Yeshua (Jesus) story.
(3) The world to come story.
(4) and the materialist-naturalist-atheist story.

The Mount Sinai story selects a people (the Jewish people) and appoints them as the priests of divine holiness to the world. Included in the demands of this story are ritual issues (the purity laws) and ethical issues (treatment of the poor, the marginalized, love of neighbor, etc.). I’m not saying the Mount Sinai story has no problems (slavery tolerated and legislated, divine warfare, etc.). But it is a story raising human beings up to a level of responsibility and inspiration through promises of union with God.

The Mount Sinai story inspires and motivates love, justice, and ultimately equality (the role of non-Jewish peoples in the Mount Sinai story enters in through the Abraham narratives and a few other themes so that, properly interpreted, the Mount Sinai story is not just a Jewish story).

The Yeshua (Jesus) story assumes the truth of the Mount Sinai story (a fact sadly distorted in Christendom as plenty of Christian theologians will agree). It is a story of a man who came healing and serving and who ultimately remained faithful to a vision of hard calling from his Father (God) who required death in the face of evil.

The Yeshua story, properly interpreted, leads followers motivated to join Yeshua in the work of healing, serving, and even sacrificial love. Just as Jewish history has examples of faithfulness as well as unfaithfulness to the story, so does this one. Judaism motivates many to loving activism and so does a vibrant, biblical Christianity.

The world to come story says that this world contains in it goodness that will endure forever and badness that will come to an end forever. Nothing good in this world will not be better in the world to come and nothing bad in this world will survive into the world to come. This is a Jewish and Christian story.

The world to come story, properly interpreted, is not about ignoring this present world but renewing it in stages along the way to the world to come.

By contrast with all of these, the materialist-naturalist-atheist story rejects any transcendent beginning for human beings and any goal or purpose for history or the future. We came from randomness and end in randomness. Feeble attempts at ethics include the idea that “we’ll be happier during out short, meaningless lives if we give to charity and/or work for peace and wellness.”

The points at which the atheist story actually works are the points which undercut and overthrow the story itself. For example, we might compare human life to a dying patient in a sick bed. And one kind of atheist story could go like this: to be ethical is a beautiful thing, like giving water to a dying child to ease their passage. That sort of story is moving. But it is moving precisely because it values something irrational and wonderful, something non-material and supernatural. It values love for love’s sake. It values comfort and nourishment. It looks beyond this life, admit it or not, and suggests that such values have enduring meaning.

Theoretically, religious faith leads to greater love and goodness and activism. In practice, we know that religious faith is linked to hypocrisy and evil as well. Theoretically, atheism leads to abandonment of values and ethics. In practice, we know that in many cases agnostics and atheists practice love, goodness, and activism.

The difference is that theory in the religious stories lines up with what practice should be.

And that makes the materialist-naturalist-atheist story a false one — if you believe in love and goodness and activism.

Messianic Judaism Media, my other job besides being a congregational rabbi and writing reams of paperless online articles day and night, is about to launch its website on Monday. It will be a blog collaboration. And all existing posts on “Messianic Jewish Musings” will remain right here but will also be ported over to the new site. So your links to “Messianic Jewish Musings” posts will all still work. But you will need to change your RSS feed subscriptions and so on to the new location: MessianicJudaism.me/Musings (it won’t work until Monday). I will finish up Monday with a big, easy-to-read link that reminds everyone of the new location.

So what is this all about?

MessianicJudaism.me
We’ll have four blogs and a main site aggregating all four of them.

(1) MessianicJudaism.me/Musings – That’s me.

(2) MessianicJudaism.me/Yinon – That’s the fan-favorite young team: Rabbi Joshua Brumbach and activist-attorney-working-for-tikkun-olam Monique Brumbach. Yes, the Yinon blog will be partnering with “Messianic Jewish Musings” and Messianic Judaism Media. I’d expect also to see an increase in awesomeness from the good Rabbi Brumbach in 2011. I have not asked Monique if she’ll write to the world more often in the future, but we can hope. Rabbi Joshua and Monique have some big news! It’s news that is starting to become public but I don’t think a giant, grand announcement has happened yet. Maybe this will spur them to a gigantic announcement. (Hint: It’s not a baby…I have to say that since people usually think this is the issue with young couples and I don’t want to get in trouble for starting a rumor mill.)

(3) MessianicJudaism.me/Agenda – The inimitable Rabbi Dr. Stuart Dauermann returns to blogging! Hold on, world. “The Messianic Agenda” will be Rabbi D’s new forum for inspiration, information, education, and visionary writing. As the visionary leader behind many of the advances in Messianic Judaism over the last few decades, Rabbi Dauermann is an agent of change. And he is also a radio host in L.A. (has been for something like 8 months now) with his Shalom Talk program (see ShalomTalk.com).

(4) MessianicJudaism.me/Media – A guest and issues blog. We’ll feature provocative as well as inspirational articles by a variety of leaders and thinkers in Messianic Judaism. We won’t post often. The starting plan is one article per month and to have much discussion. Our lead piece, which rolls out Monday, is provocative. Let the discussions ensue!

And, while I do not exactly know yet what it will look like, MessianicJudaism.me will be an aggregator page, showing what is happening on all four blogs. I see the prototype Thursday and can’t wait.

Messianic Judaism Media
Our motto is, “Changing the world by changing minds about Messianic Judaism.”

We have a number of platforms we’ll be supporting with media events and publications. We’re choosing our platforms carefully in areas such as Jewish-Christian relations, Yeshua and Judaism, outreach methodology, Jewish identity and faith in Yeshua, supersessionism and Christianity, returning the affection of Jews and Christians to the Holy City Jerusalem, and more.

Oo! I love progress!

Passover begins at sundown Monday night, April 18, 2011. That night is the first Seder (ceremonial meal of Passover). Most American Jews also have a Seder on the second night. From Monday sundown until Tuesday sundown is a Yom Tov (a special day of Sabbath rest, traditionally two days outside of Israel, so going until Wednesday night at sundown). The seventh (and traditionally also the eighth) day is a Yom Tov as well (starts Sunday night, April 24). Many Messianic Jews and Hasidic Jews have a Seudat Mashiach (Meal of Messiah) Seder on Sunday night.

See after the jump for how-to links, information, articles, resources, and more.

Basic Stuff About Passover and the Haggadah

18 Things to Love About Passover.

A good mainstream Jewish explanation of the meaning, customs, and laws of Passover.

Where did the Haggadah come from?

What is in the Haggadah?

Why Christians Love Passover.

Aaron Eby on Seven Biblical Goals for Passover.

How-Tos and Food and Haggadahs and Resources

A Special Outline for a “Captivity and Freedom” Themed Passover Seder (can be used with various haggadahs, including the Vine of David Haggadah).

Passover Preparations, Including Best Two Haggadahs (in my opinion).

Best Passover Haggadah for Christians.

Best Passover Haggadah for Messianic Jews.

Seudat Mashiach (Meal of Messiah) Haggadah for the 7th Night. And it’s Audio CD Companion.

Best Traditional (not Messianic) Haggadah.

Oy! Lettuce or Horseradish?!

How to Throw a Last Minute Passover Seder.

Passover Beef Brisket by Emeril.

Passover Vegan Sweet Potato Kugel.

Chocolate chip meringue cookies.

Advanced Stuff About Passover and the Haggadah

Commentary on the Whole Maggid Section of the Haggadah.

Hidden Meaning in the Haggadah.

Passover and Yeshua (Jesus)

Three Days or Third Day?

Passover, Last Supper, Crucifixion, #1

Passover, Yeshua, Crucifixion, #2

Meanwhile, he does one thing on other people’s blogs and the opposite on his own blog. Click “read more” to read his rules explained to a commenter at his blog. We could wish he followed his own rules when walking in other people’s neighborhoods.

Moshe Sharon to a commenter on his blog (not me…I have no intention of commenting on his blog):

I edited your comments because it seems that you are attempting to use my blog to proselytize your religious beliefs and I cannot allow that. My work is for all people and consistent with all belief systems that rely on the Torah (Hebrew Bible) as the true word of G-d. Those who disagree with me are most welcome to comment and I always like a good respectful debate. However, I will not allow anyone to use this forum to promote Christianity or any other religion. thank you for understanding.

Compare this to Moshe Sharon’s comment here at Messianic Jewish Musings yesterday:

You are using Jewish Mysticism to promote Christianity to Jews. Very clever, but your statement about the mystery of the man-god being available only to childlike minds is bubbamises. What you are saying in effect is that people have to be stupid enough to understand it. Of course you have to appeal to the ignorant. those with any level of Torah learning would never buy into your idol worship.

I’m not suggesting that I am an expert on mysticism or even biblical mystical texts. I’m more of an enthusiast.

There are a number of aspects of mysticism in the Bible that interest me. First, the idea that there are supra-rational expressions of God’s nature and deeds intrigue me. I am a recovering rationalist. Second, expressions of God’s nature that differentiate between his Direct Being and his Radiated Essences fascinate me: the Word (Memra, Dibbur, Logos), the Image, the Spirit, the Presence, the Glory, the Cloud, the Fire, the Son, etc. Third, the experiential aspects of knowing God that transcend reason seem desirable to me as ways of seeking a deeper dimension of life. I don’t appreciate cheap references to deeper experiences which are empty of all meaning and are merely used to imply religious superiority. In other words, if I look into experiential ways of seeking the depths of God, I desire honesty. That usually means admitting frustration.

Here are some not-so-organized thoughts on mysticism in the Bible.

Heschel on the Supra-Rational

Not only are the problems of philosophy not identical with the problems of religion; their status is not the same. Philosophy is, in a sense, a kind of thinking that has a beginning but no end. In it, the awareness of the problem outlives all solutions. Its answers are questions in disguise; every answer giving rise to new questions. In religion, on the other hand, the mystery of the answer hovers over all questions.
-God in Search of Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel

The rational (a.k.a. philosophy) says Heschel hits a wall of unknowing due to our human limitations. Presumably unlimited reason (the mind of God) would be able to reach the end of all knowing. But our mind is not God’s.

Therefore, reason brings us to a point of unknowing, a point at which “awareness of the problem outlives all solutions.” To put it simply: reason is better at asking questions than answering them.

This is the genius of postmodernism and also the depressing reality of postmodernism. All answers can be deconstructed. Nothing can be proven. Everything can be questioned. The result is nihilism or solipsism if you follow reason to its end. Nihilism means the lack of any meaning. Solipsism means finding ourselves trapped in an imaginary world of our own thoughts (e.g., the Matrix, or the end of the movie “Inception”).

But, Heschel says, in religion, “the mystery of the answer hovers over all the questions.” Perhaps he means by this (and Heschel’s thoughts on this were far more advanced than mine, so I can only surmise) that we perceive with more than our reason, we perceive the vastness of God and that all questions are answered in him even if we do not understand.

Yeshua on the Supra-Rational

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yes, Father, for this was well pleasing to you. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
-Luke 10:21-22

The infamously mystical gospel is John. So it pleases me to find the mystical outside of John and in a synoptic gospel. Mark is more apocalyptic than mystical. Luke emphasizes the delay of the Second Coming and the role of faith and the Holy Spirit in the experience of disciples who are waiting.

In this saying, Yeshua indicates that “knowledge” is not directly related to power, position, or learning. The wise have missed the mystical revelation of Yeshua’s identity. But it has been made known to lesser minds, to childlike minds. In this case, the childlike minds are the seventy (or seventy-two in some manuscripts) who have experienced the indications of God’s kingdom existing on earth. They have tasted the powers of the age to come.

But the wise ask for signs (reason seeking understanding) while the babes accept the revealed (faith seeking understanding). The wise miss the kingdom while the babes find it (with much help from the resurrection event which shakes them out of their paradigm later and makes all that Yeshua taught sensible).

It is pleasing to God to do things against the grain, to defy logic, to shatter the expected.

No one knows the Father (God in his Direct Being, I suggest is the way to understand “Father,” or Ein Sof as we say in Jewish mysticism). Knowledge is inadequate to reach the Direct Being of God. He is the God of Unknowing.

But the Son (God in his Radiated Essence, or the Sefirot or Emanations as we say) knows him and can reveal him supra-rationally. Some will say what the Son does is not supra-rational. He brings the signs of the kingdom into history (illness healed, evil defeated, death conquered) and those who accept the very rational means of revelation Yeshua offers can know God.

This objection is true to a point. But Yeshua is saying more. The kind of “evidence” God offers is not completely received by wisdom or knowledge, but by faith. And faith has a supra-rational element that pleases God.

Levertoff on the Supra-Rational

Mysticism in theology differs from perspectives which are more scientifically logical. . . . Mystical theology distrusts the theological perspective which rejects the irrational absurdity as long as life retains the irrational.
-Love and the Messianic Age, Paul Philip Levertoff

In other words, life isn’t completely logical. In no area is this more true than in relational or personal knowledge (knowing someone).

Mystical Glimpses in the Bible
TORAH: The words of creation in Genesis. The image of God, the Spirit of God in Genesis. The garden of God cut off from humanity and guarded by angels. The hand of God that shuts the Ark. The walking, talking form of God that discusses justice with Abraham. The fear of Isaac. The voice atop the stairway Jacob sees. The one who was with Joseph but never appeared or spoke. The cloud with the fire inside in Exodus. The appearances atop Mt. Sinai and in Leviticus 9-10. The Glory filling the Tabernacle in Exodus 40 and the levels of the Glory that Moses encountered, especially in Exodus 33-34. The Presence in the Tabernacle.

PROPHETS: Some glimpses in the former prophets. Many more in the latter. Especially Ezekiel’s visions of the chariot and Isaiah’s vision of the train of his robe and Zechariah’s sense of the day when his Name will be One.

WISDOM: The pre-existent wisdom through which all things are created, especially in Proverbs 8. The Holy One of Proverbs 30 that is beyond knowing. The mysteries of Job 38-41. The un-plummable depths of wisdom in Job 28. The elusive answer in Ecclesiastes. The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man in Daniel.

GOSPELS: The Son of Man and Son of God in Mark. The revelation to babes in Luke. The Presence through the Spirit in Luke. The Paraclete (Comforter) in John (the mediated Presence of Yeshua through the Spirit). Union with God through the one who brings Life from Above in John.

EPISTLES: The one who ascended into the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12. The uniting of all things in Messiah in Ephesians 1. The one who descended into human form in Philippians 2. The God and Lord of 1 Corinthians 8. The Radiance of His Glory in Hebrews 1. The One in Whom All Things Adhere in Colossians 1 (and the Image of the Invisible God).

APOCALYPSE: Pretty much the whole thing.

At the end, I went to John 21, and especially to John 21:22, to make a final point: that the dying off of apostles without the realization of the Second Coming was an issue that made the community nervous and caused them trouble (and the issue still causes us trouble, doesn’t it?).

That’s when my translation goofed me up.

I said something impromptu based on the translation I was using at the moment. It happens to be the NET Bible. That’s the New English Translation. It’s not one of the big sellers. Many have not heard of it. The full version comes with over 60,000 notes on the translation process. It is a dynamic translation which in many places is excellent.

But it is uneven. And there is little consistency between books. Different books have different translators and the translation philosophy widely varies. I particularly don’t like their Psalms translation.

But in the gospels they had been doing well so far, I thought.

Then I saw their rendering of John 21:22 and decided to digress into an impromptu point: If I want him to live until I come back, what concern is that of yours? You follow me!

I said, Someone correct me, but this is an unusual reference to the Second Coming here. I don’t think there is another place which so specifically refers to the coming of Yeshua in power as a return or a coming back, a second coming.

I did not mean that there are no verses in the New Testament which refer to the idea of a return of the Son of Man or the idea of a coming of Yeshua that we know is a return. What I meant is that I did not know of another place where the language is so specific about the coming of the Son of Man or Yeshua being a return or a coming back.

It felt good. For a while. Then, that afternoon, one my good friends was sitting with a Greek concordance looking for another occurrence of a coming back verse. He shook his head and showed me what he found.

The word in John 21:22 did not mean “come back.” It simply meant “come.” I had been duped by the NET translation.

Oy. It is the common (632 times) word for come in the New Testament: erchomai.

The NIV (of course) screws it up: If I want him to remain alive until I return, and the NLT as well (of course, same as NIV).

But many translations get it right: RSV, NRSV, NASB, ESV, KJV, NKJV, HCSB, CJB: until I come.

Of course, some will argue that “return” is in the semantic range of erchomai. They will say “return” or “come back” is legitimate.

But I don’t want assistance from translators in thinking about meaning. I don’t want them to assume I am too dumb to figure out the word come in this context fits into a theological framework of a second coming.

I want to think for myself. I want to not goof up when I am speaking publicly.

No wonder the gospels scholars and historical Jesus scholars at SBL walk around with Greek New Testaments. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to start reading more from the Greek myself.

And if the delay of the Second Coming and the foolishness of the gospel was urgent for Luke’s community, isn’t it even more so for ours?

COMING:
June – Mark: An Audio-Commentary in Judeo-Christian Perspective
June – The Messiah Yeshua Children’s Series, Volume 1
August – (hopefully) Yeshua for Small Groups

LISTEN ONE OF TWO WAYS:
(1) Subscribe on iTunes (search Yeshua in the iTunes store and find us under podcasts) or

(2) Click on this link to listen at DerekLeman.com