Friday, February 8, 2019

The Church’s Most Tragic Mistake

The Winter 2018 issue of Messiah magazine has an extremely important point to make and it’s featured on the cover and on page 6. The cover depicts the Jewish Jesus standing in a synagogue surrounded by Jewish people in various poses ranging from distracted to rapt attention. Page 6 has an article beginning with a picture from Christian art showing an effeminate, non-Jewish looking Jesus, with a halo. Above this is a title to grab your attention: 

The Most Tragic Mistake – THE TRAGEDY OF FORGETTING THAT JESUS IS JEWISH.

I wish, no – I pray that every person, every Christian would read this article. Here is the first paragraph, written by Boaz Michael:

“Jesus is Jewish. The most tragic mistake the church ever made was to forget that Jesus is Jewish. I use the present tense purposefully; Jesus is just as Jewish today as he was when he walked the hills of Galilee. He did not quit being Jewish when he rose from the dead or when he ascended to the right hand of throne of glory.”

I urge you to get this magazine and read this article – and then act on it. One way is to become a supporting friend of FFOZ (FFOZ.org). You will then get this magazine and all of the materials FFOZ produces (this varies based on the type of Friend supporter you are).

Many years ago I taught a Sunday School class called The Jewishness of Jesus and went over some of the same things this article is talking about. The church needs to WAKE UP to this tragic mistake and make some changes. That is the main reason I am writing my Intriguing Love series of novels. Wittenberg Encounter and Prague Rendezvous are currently available on Amazon in eBook and paperback, and I encourage you to read these. I am working on the third installment, Kazimierz Conception that will continue to get into some of the things that need to change. It is also trying to show the historical reasons why the church took the wrong turns.

The article in Messiah has two quotes that are highlighted: “Jesus’ admonishment of the Samaritan woman in John 4 – that she didn’t know who she worshiped because she wasn’t Jewish – might find equal relevance directed at a modern Christian.” And “The best avenue of approach when communicating Jesus’ Jewishness is simply to point out scriptural evidence that Jesus was a practicing Jew."
Posted by Dennis Kananen

2 comments:

  1. John R. SowashFebruary 18, 2019 at 7:04 PM

    Why is is important for Christians to recognize the Jewishness of Jesus?

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    Replies
    1. Dennis KananenFebruary 24, 2019 at 9:47 PM

      The New Testament was written entirely by Jews in the context of a Jewish culture. Their Bible was the Jewish scripture, consisting of the Jewish Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This was supplemented by the Oral Torah. The teaching techniques and idioms sometimes cannot be understood without understanding the Jewish context and culture. Sometimes the Gentile Bible translators, who were anti-Jewish or anti-Law did not comprehend the meaning of a verse or the references to other verses. So, my point is, that knowing the Jewishness of Jesus and his world, helps us to better understand what He said and how his audience understood Him.

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