Thursday, 16 May 2019

The Quest for Jewish Authenticity

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Over 45 years ago, when the Messianic movement was very small (only three congregations in North America), I wrestled with the issue of Jewish identity and faith in Yeshua. I came to a number of conclusions. The first two are:

Jews who believe in Yeshua were called to maintain a Jewish lifestyle and identity

The irrevocable gifts and call of God to Israel includes Messianic Jews (Romans 11:29)

Many Jews would come to Yeshua; however they would not do so in a context that was foreign to them. A Jewish context to see Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah was needed.

Indeed these two conclusions implied and brought me to the third conclusion:

The most effective means of living out the convictions of conclusions one and two was through culturally Jewish congregations.

Recently, coalitions within the Messianic movement in Israel and America have called for greater Jewish authenticity. These voices are dissatisfied with what they perceive as a mere superficial gloss of Jewishness that is superimposed on a basically Evangelical sub-culture. To that end they are speaking out, writing articles and organizing convocations; all with a view towards establishing greater authenticity within the Messianic community. Authenticity implies a depth in conveying reality; in this case the reality of that which is good in Judaism. There are benefits and dangers in this call. The issues are not new; some forget how much we wrestled with these questions forty years ago.

In our quest for authenticity, we must never forget this. The Holy Spirit gives his power to simple, ordinary people who have faith and love. Through Him they can do mighty deeds with an anointing that draws people to Yeshua. May the Messianic movement fully embrace this truth and never depart from it. Such is our goal in Tikkun within and outside of Israel.

These excerpts were taken from my article.