"Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."" John 4: 13-14

"One of Our Boys"

And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well"  Mark 7:37.

            My Jewish friend, Catherine, tells me that she and her fellow Jews say of Jesus, "He's one of our boys who made good."  Well, yes, He is!  Her statement just delights me, and I think it surprises her that I enjoy it so much.  But she and her friends are right!  He did make good.  Very good!  And He was, most definitely, "one of [their] boys."

            I think many Christians think of Jesus as being Protestant or Catholic, whatever their persuasion, whatever their denomination, but the fact is, He was none of those things.  He was a Jew.  Yes, He was God in human form (and about that my friend Catherine and I do not agree), and He was born a Jew, into the Jewish culture of 2,000 years ago; and into ministry, first and foremost, to the nation of Israel. 

            Jesus didn't sit in a pew, or read His bulletin, or sing "Amazing Grace" on Sunday mornings.  He didn't eat potluck in the church basement, and He never once attended Sunday school or Vacation Bible School.  Instead, He stood in the temple and read the assigned readings for the day according to the cycle of readings on the Jewish calendar.  (A fact that makes the passages He read even more meaningful.  I urge you to look into it; it will bless your heart!)  Jesus observed the Jewish customs, festivals, and feasts of His day, and His followers called him "Rabbi," not Pastor or Reverend.  So, what's my point?  Am I saying we should throw out our Christian traditions and try to be more Jewish?  No, I am not.

            First, I am saying that in order to better understand the teachings of Jesus and those of the writers of the New Testament, I think it's important for us to familiarize ourselves with the Jewish culture and religious practices of Jesus' day.  Christianity was born out of Judaism.  To better understand a child, one learns about its parents.

            Secondly, in the first century, it wasn't so easy to tell who was a Jew and who was a Christian.  In its infant stages, Christianity, and indeed Christians themselves, all looked like Jews because, well, they were!  Their Christian religious practices looked much like the Judaism on which their lives and culture were based.  Those Jews who first accepted Jesus as Messiah were then given the mission of taking the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.

            In the second chapter of the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul explained that Jesus came not only to reconcile sinful mankind to God, but also to bring together, "those who were once far off" (the Gentiles) with "those who were near" (the Jews).  Jesus came and died on the cross to break down the middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, and to create peace by making of them, "one new man from the two."

            I have seen this "bringing together" in my own life as God has brought several Jewish friends and acquaintances into my life whom I treasure very much.  I am amazed, and so truly grateful to God for this privilege.  I pray that each of them will open their hearts to Jesus, a Jew, their perfect Lamb of sacrifice, and the One who has made peace possible between them and the Gentiles.  Reconciliation between Jew and Gentile is part of God's plan.

            The shema, a prayer that religious Jews pray twice each day, morning and evening, "Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one!"  (Deuteronomy 6:4) takes on a whole new meaning when read in the light of those verses in Ephesians.

            The teachings of that Jewish "boy who made good," can't help but be made richer and more meaningful to us as Christians if we will but make even the slightest effort to learn about the culture and religious practice into which God sent His one and only Son.  Doing so can only serve to make us, like those first century believers, "astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well."

Daye Phillippo

Summer 2010