Follow-up on religious approval

Yesterday’s post, Our Survival Depends on Jewish Approval?, has generated quite a bit of debate in the comments.

Derek Leman, a Messianic rabbi who works for the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute (MJTI) and is currently undergoing formal conversion to Messianic Judaism through an MJTI-affiliated organization, has responded to my post on his blog.

I want to clarify a few things and respond to Derek because, invariably, things get lost in translation. Know what I mean?

Leman said,

[Judah’s] stance is that MJ should not desire to be recognized by the wider Jewish community as a Judaism.

No, that’s not it. I wish the Jewish world would recognize us as a legitimate Judaism, if only more of Israel would come to know Messiah. It’s a noble desire.

Let me lay this out as plainly as I can, so that there’s no confusion.

The thing I object to is this paraphrased statement:

We must be accepted by the Jewish world, or perish.

What’s the problem with this, you ask?

First, it’s an unachievable goal. Really. Short of Messiah reaching down from heaven, and short of us denying Yeshua, we’re not going to be accepted by the Jewish world, guys. I know this is hard news to swallow. I know this smacks of Debby Downer. But we’ve got to be realistic. Talk to me in the comments if you disagree.

Second, it places as high priority this unachievable goal. Do this, or perish. This places an insurmountable human task – changing men’s opinions of us, many of which are currently hostile, grounded in 2000 years of embitterment – as a top priority of the Messianic movement! We must do it, or we’re screwed!

Third, it smells like inferiority complex. We’ve got to fit in with the in-crowd – the Jewish world, which mostly hates us – or there’s no point in our existence.

This is a real problem.

It leads to Jews and gentiles leaving Messianic Judaism for the “real” thing, whether that’s heading back to the Church to become a real Christian, or heading back to the synagogue to become a real Jew. Not this half-assed Messianic teeter-tottering.

Fourth, it’s a faithless statement. Fit in, or perish? It’s like saying, we must get acceptance in the Jewish world, or we might as well die. Where’s God’s preservation? Where’s God’s saving hand, and his leading us?

Leman objects,

Judah objects that God would not let this happen. [Let us perish.] He already has let it happen in past history, as Jewish followers of Yeshua fizzled out by the sixth century.

And yet, here we are, 1500 years later, and we exist, perhaps stronger than we ever have been, barring only the 1st century. Isn’t that God-at-work? Won’t he continue this work, even if the Jewish world continues to despise us?

Fifth, Yeshua and his disciples were never accepted by the whole assembly of Israel. Instead they were scourged and beaten and persecuted and killed by Israel’s religious authorities, and they prophesied to us the same fate.

Yet, despite all this, they never said, “We must gain their acceptance, or we’re toast.”

Seriously. Never said it.

Whatever you think of Kinzer’s ideas for acceptance in the Jewish world, you must admit, Yeshua and his disciples never had the same goal.

One of you fine blog readers commented yesterday, protesting,

Yeshua, THE JEW, himself longed to be accepted by his own people, he even cried over them…

I thought about this and came to a surprising revelation.

• Yeshua the Jew longed to gather Jerusalem to himself.
  
• Paul the Jew desired all Israel to be gathered to Messiah.

Ok, yep, true statements. Maybe I was wrong after all?

But I discovered something: what we’re doing is actually the inverse: instead of Yeshua longing to gather Jerusalem to himself, we’re longing for Jerusalem to gather us!

Had Yeshua belonged to the MJTI sect, Matthew 23:37 might read quite differently!

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I have longed for you to gather me and my disciples. We’d run back to you like a chick running back to her mother’s wing. We’re going to perish in a few decades if you don’t let us in!

-Imaginary Yeshua

Sixth, it promotes compromise. Like the nerd trying to fit in with the in-crowd, the one who has to ditch her friends, get a makeover, and put on a façade in order to be given even the time of day, likewise Messianic Judaism will inevitably compromise, and for the worse. That’s my fear.

It may try its hand at abandoning Yeshua-as-Lord, compromising on the gospel, denigrating Yeshua as a small theological detail, in order to gain this coveted acceptance. And even then, most of the in-crowd will still despise us for our “dead-Jew-on-a-stake” ideas. Even then, we’ll be looked down on as traitors: those people that left Judaism, then betrayed their own base just to get back in. Nobody likes a traitor.

Already, we’ve seen compromises: particularly in the shunning gentiles, whom God has drawn to Israel and Torah, shooing them back to the church, or letting them operate only peripherally. “We can’t have too many gentiles, after all!”

And we’ve taken that idea as Scripture, even though Scripture has no such model of separate-but-equal ekklesia comprised of Jews over here, gentiles over there.

Compromise will only get worse if we make high priority our acceptance by the Jewish world. Those compromises will only dilute our purpose: the restoration of all Israel to God through Messiah.

Final responses:

Derek commented yesterday,

[Y]ou took a rather quick-to-condemn without asking questions stance. I could have answered you if you had asked. It's alright. I love you anyway, even if you rush to judgment sometimes.

Man, I don’t think so. I actually asked honest questions in my post. And I underlined a possible end result of this idea, one which has negative consequences for the Messianic movement.

Of course I’ll speak up about it. Like Derek, I consider it important to challenge harmful ideas and actions, but in a manner consistent with love.

And I did do it in love – in fact, if you read yesterday’s comments, I ended up defending UMJC and MJTI as God-molded movements, and their leaders as God-fearing, longtime servants of Messiah who’ve done more work for the Lord than I’ll likely ever do.

I’m no mud-slinger, please.

Derek made one final comment:

Everyone:

Judah is a great guy, but he has some buttons that when pushed set him off. The idea of MJ insecurity and need for approval sets him off. I understand why. But I wish he had read me more charitably.

Hahah. Well, I didn’t write in anger. I usually associate “set him off” as in, goes into an angry tirade. That wasn’t it at all. I highlighted a problem with this idea. I spoke up, I challenged, I warned.

Could I have read Derek and Mark Kinzer more charitably? Dunno! Sticking with Derek’s ethics of discussion, I spoke gently but truthfully, and never once considered Kinzer, Leman, the MJTI as enemies, but as servants of Messiah.

If I could have been more charitable, maybe Derek or you fine blog readers could show me how. (I’m not being sarcastic. Show me how, and I will fix future challenges.)

Summary

• It’s a noble desire to see the Jewish world accept Messianic Judaism, if only more of our people would come to know Messiah.
  
  
• Messianic Judaism won’t be accepted by the Jewish world as long as Yeshua is Lord. Unless God intervenes, or we compromise on Yeshua, the Jewish world won’t accept us. It’s an unachievable goal.
  
  
• We should not feel inferior, or somehow less than a real Judaism, just because the Jewish world hates us. That inferiority complex leads to real problems. 
  
  
• God preserves his people, even if things look bleak. He’ll preserve us, because he started this. The Jews and gentiles in the Messianic movement today are here by God’s doing.
  
  
• Yeshua and the disciples were never accepted by all of Israel. They longed for Israel to be gathered to Messiah, not for Israel to gather Messiah’s flock.
  
  
• The high priority placed on the unachievable goal of gaining acceptance in the Jewish world will almost certainly lead to compromise on Yeshua and the gospel. That’s the only human way to accomplish this otherwise-unachievable goal.
  

Bottom line: the goal of being accepted by the Jewish world is a poor choice of priorities for the Messianic movement. It will lead to serious problems in the Messianic movement, it will ultimately lead us away from Messiah.