DOES
GOD CARE FOR MAN-MADE TRADITIONS?
Rabbi Daniel Asor accuses Jesus of
coming to sow hatred and cause war and division in the world.
The rabbi says: “Even according to his own words, Jesus didn’t come to
bring peace… but the sword. ‘Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the
world, but a sword…’ Jesus didn’t come to give love to the world; he came to
rob it.”
Let’s look at what Rabbi Asor’s
accusation, at the context in which Jesus said those words, and what he really
meant when he said them.
Here’s another
quote: “And he said to
them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of
you, and go to and from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill
his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’”
Did you think this was also from the
New Testament? No, these are the words of Moses at Mt. Sinai.
It is very easy to take verses out of
their context like Rabbi Asor does so well, but the challenge is to understand
the context in which the things were said.
There is no doubt that Jesus’ words as
well as those of Moses, sound harsh. They appear to go against everything Jesus
preached in regard to love, forgiveness, grace and compassion so many times and
in so many ways throughout the New Testament.
Rabbi Asor did not bother to note that
the section he quoted is from chapter 10 in the Gospel of Matthew.
What was Jesus really speaking about in that chapter?
A Choice Between Following God or the
Traditions of Men
The question of whether we should
betray our traditions for Jesus is not an easy question, but it is a simple
question.
You can choose to follow the
traditions, which the rabbis invented, or you can choose to follow the Messiah
– to follow God.
When we have to choose between loyalty
to our families’ traditions and loyalty to God, we should choose to be loyal
first and foremost to God. This is what Jesus spoke about when he said he came
to cause division.
For many at that time, choosing to
follow Him meant that their family would reject them, just as it is still
happening today, to Messianic Jews who declare their faith in Jesus.
Very often, the family will threaten
them with denial, separation, and even with cutting them off from the family,
unless they deny their faith in Jesus.
Faith in Jesus the Messiah separates
between those who are really willing to give it all and to follow God with all
their heart, their soul and their might, from those who rather follow the
religious traditions of men; to follow the rabbis.
In chapter 10 in
the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns those who chose to follow him: “for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you…” (Matthew 10:17)
“Brother will deliver brother over to
death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and
have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake… they
will persecute you…” (Matthew 10:21-23)
“So have no fear of them, for nothing
is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known… And do
not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…” (Matthew 10:26-28)
Now we will continue and quote Jesus’
words again, as they were quoted by Rabbi Asor, but this time within their
context:
“So everyone who acknowledges me before
men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever
denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Do
not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and
a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is
not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not
worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:32-39)
Jesus requires following God with all
our heart, our soul and our might. If we truly love our ancestors and our
heritage, we need to honor it by being loyal to God and His Messiah.
If you are yelling now that you will
not leave the traditions of your ancestors, we want to remind you that this is
exactly what Abraham did, he left his home and the traditions of his family in
order to follow God.
The prophets in the Old Testament were
not always loved by the people of Israel, and especially not by the religious
leaders.
Often they were not properly understood
and even their friends and family members rejected them.
An example of this can be found in
Jeremiah 12, we read that because of Jeremiah’s decision to follow God, his
brothers and family betrayed him and raised a loud shout and cry over him.
In other words, Jeremiah’s family
rejected him because they understood his dedication to God as a betrayal to
their family traditions.
And today, whom among the prophets do
we respect and consider as true prophets?
The prophets who were liked by the
people, by their families and by the religious leaders? Or the prophets who
convicted the people of their sins?
For those who prefer to follow the
majority, we would remind you of Moses in Exodus 32. While he was alone on Mt.
Sinai receiving the Law from God, the people of Israel preferred to make
themselves a golden calf.
As a result, Moses spoke the verses we
quoted at the beginning. He demanded that all those who participated in
the construction of the golden calf should be destroyed:
“And the sons of Levi did according to
the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.
And Moses said, ‘Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each
one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a
blessing upon you this day.’” (Exodus 32:28-29)
Moses declared that God blesses those
who choose to follow Him over their families.
So if we apply Rabbi Daniel Asor’s
words to Moses, in his opinion it seems that Moses also came “not to bring peace but a sword,” and not to give love to the world
but to rob it for himself.
And what about Rabbi Asor? After all,
the tradition says that a Jew must “honor his rabbi more than his father”… Apparently, Rabbi Asor too, as a
rabbi, came to rob love for himself and to divide between father and son…
Both Jesus and Moses insist on
complete, uncompromised dedication and loyalty in our walk with God.
Today, the traditions of the people of
Israel are no longer based on the Old Testament, but on keeping the commandments
and the traditions which the rabbis invented and still inventing.
They are not loyal to the God of
Israel, since they reject and don’t accept the Messiah whom He sent, Jesus.
Let’s be realistic, after you die, you
will stand alone before God.
The rabbis would not be there to hold
your hand, and neither will your aunt or your teacher, Mrs. Smith.
You will need to give account to God on
every choice you have made, including, why you preferred to follow the
traditions of men and not follow Him.
About 100 years ago, when Benjamin
Ze’ev Herzl envisioned the establishment of the Jewish State and started the
“World Zionist Organization,” his ideas were immediately rejected by the chief
rabbis of Judaism.
But Herzl did not give in to the rabbis
and thanks to his efforts, fifty years later the State of Israel was born.
When a young Jewish boy from Poland by
the name of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda came to the conclusion that the Hebrew language
should be fluently spoken among all Jews, his family threw him out of the
house.
The rabbis of his time resisted the
idea that secular Jews would speak Hebrew. What language would we be speaking
today if Eliezer Ben-Yehuda had given in to the rabbis?
And in what country we would we be
living today if Herzl had given in to the rabbis?
Do not count on the rabbis and do not
allow them to think for you. Do not let pressure from your family or fear of
what others might think prevent you from following the truth – from following
God.
And that is exactly what Jesus was talking
about.
RELATED POSTS:
https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/does-god-care-for-man-made-traditions/
No comments:
Post a Comment