Christians
Are Rediscovering Their Jewish Heritage
by
Stephen Eastman
There is a steadily growing
movement in Christian churches and in Christian families to get in touch with
their Jewish heritage and explore the Jewish roots of their faith. These
people are not part of the Messianic Jewish Community which is made up of
Jewish people who have embraced Yeshua (Jesus) as
their Messiah. These are Christian people who have recognized that their faith
is in essence, Jewish, and there is a wealth of tradition, celebration and
method that they have been missing for almost 2000 years. There is a growing
movement of these people of faith who believe that in fact, God is leading
them back to Old Testament traditions in preparation for the return of Christ.
Jesus Christ came not to replace the law, but to fulfill it.
Some Factors to Consider:
- Christianity
is Jewish. A serious study of the Christian faith shows that while early
Gentile Christians did not have to convert to Judaism nor follow all the
customs, all theology flows from the revelation of God through Judaism.
After all, Jesus himself was an observant Jew. Many scholars have
concluded that early Christians continued faithfully many of the Jewish
traditions, most notably the Passover and other holidays.
- Sadly,
we have seen many periods of intense persecution of Jews (e.g. the time of
Constantine
) and the practice of the Jewish faith and its traditions were outlawed.
It was in these times that Christians ceased to carry on their priceless
Old Testament heritage. Fortunately, the people of Jewish faith have
guarded and passed on the traditions to their children and so Christians
today have a ready pattern to emulate in their efforts to recapture their
heritage.
- Christians
see their unique Christian beliefs as completing the Old Testament
traditions. For example, Passover for the Jew recounts the historical
story of the Exodus and teaches the redemption of God. Passover for the
Christian does the same but also is completed in the story of the death of
Christ – the Passover Lamb – and teaches personal redemption from sin.
- Celebrating
the Jewish festivals provide Christian families a way to teach the basic
tenets of their faith to their children following a Deuteronomy 6 model
which tells us to impress our faith on our children by talking about our
faith at home throughout daily activities.
- Each
of the Jewish festivals, if celebrated annually like Christmas, would
teach virtually all the basic truths of theology that we want to pass on
to our children.
Related Web
Sites: (there are many!) http://www.don.ratcliffs.net/holidays/
for a wide variety of other materials.
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