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.