Messianic Jews—the Elephant in the Room of Jewish Christian Relationships

The Elephant

As an evangelical Christian closely involved in building bridges between Christians and Jews, there is a subject I try studiously to ignore, and that is the “problem” of Messianic Jews. It is indeed the “elephant in the room.” The issues for many of my Jewish brethren are twofold, firstly, “Messianics” (Jews who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah) are considered traitors and heretics and secondly, evangelicals are mainly concerned about getting Jews converted, they always have an agenda. As to the former I understand their concern and this concern I might suggest is not primarily theological, but rather one cultivated by a long history of sickening persecution by Christians. I say this because this hostility and charge of apostasy does not seem to apply to Jews converting to Buddhism or even becoming atheists for example. 

The elephant of the Messianics is not leaving the room, and to continue with the idiom, it can’t leave, as the doors with their constrictive theological and historic frameworks, are too small to let the elephant out. If I may digress for a moment, let us remember that the Scriptures are replete with idioms and metaphors as they can often explain Biblical concepts better than “literal language.” In fact, it could be argued that the attempt to interpret the “literal language” of many Biblical texts is responsible for many of the theological differences that exist, resulting in the formation of over 40,000 different Christian denominations, according to the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity. 

…too much of our Christian faith is cerebral and not enough of the heart

I can hear someone say “well, if you have correct exegesis and apply correct hermeneutics you will arrive at the same interpretation of any passage.” Having been around a long time, including having done a stint at Bible College I know that is not necessarily the case, so let us not be bogged down in “minutiae” and miss the “burden” of God’s Word. Back to our idiom, if the elephant can’t leave the room, if we are to get anywhere in Jewish Christian relationships, we must leave that room, and we can and still remain in the “house.” Building relationships is like building a bridge, the utility of bridge building starts by building foundations on both sides of the divide with the construction on each side reaching out to make the connection.

In other words, both Jews and Christians have a job to do in this most sacred of tasks. Our Jewish brethren must overcome their animosity towards Messianics, which is an attitude that both concerns and saddens me greatly, as although we may not agree with “Messianics” on all matters and with some even adopting a spirit of superiority, we still regard them as our brothers and sisters. On our side of the ledger Christians must not see Jews as evangelical targets and must have a greater sensitivity to their concerns. We must on both sides of the divide be prepared to hand over our concerns to the Almighty for the sake of what Rabbi Nekrutman calls this most “sacred calling.”

Our Light is our love 

Let God do His own work by His Spirit, for both sides our light must be our love, and that love must be unconditional, no strings attached. The picture accompanying this article says it all, theological discussions are not the answer as the elephant is ever present, casting its shadow over all proceedings. I have seen many debates on the subject by leading Rabbis and Christian theologians over the years and they are interesting, but in reality don’t go anywhere, at least not from what I have seen.

However, encounters like this do; this one happened when I was attending the Bridges for Peace Institute of Israel Studies, in Jerusalem in 2019. The evening session of worship was to be led by an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, Rabbi Akiva Gersh, I couldn’t see it going anywhere spiritually but thought to myself this is novel and should be interesting. The young Rabbi quietly strumming on his guitar led us in a worship session that was profoundly uplifting. In moments without any conscious effort or understanding, I transitioned from an interested spectator to an enthusiastic participant. As I look back, I am still shocked at how I felt, and how close to God I felt at the end of our worship, we were all somewhat transfixed by the wonder of the moment. Shortly after, I went up to him as he was quietly packing away his guitar and with a voice trembling with emotion, said, “Rabbi you have touched our hearts tonight,” he looked at me and said quietly, “and you have touched mine.” Now that is the “room” we must go to as that is where reconciliation and understanding takes place, too much of our Christian faith is cerebral and not enough of the heart. It was a classic case of the “deep calling unto deep” we were communing at a level that transcended the realm of the theological, the realm of the mind. It is a state where the heart encompasses what the mind cannot. 

I must say I have had similar experiences such as the recent meetings with the Israel Ambassador Amir Maimon and other Jewish leaders last year at Nambour Baptist Church, where the Ambassador was reported to have said he was “blown away” by what he called the unconditional love of Christians, and the joyous celebration of our love for Israel and one another that was spontaneously shared by all. Also, the monthly Southern Cross Alliance For Israel zoom meetings hosted by Jews and Christians, and the Beersheba Vision broadcast on Jewish radio continue to progress this movement of reconciliation in a similar vein.

The Upper Room

In summary, if we are to progress further in Jewish Christian relationships, as indeed with all relationships requiring transformation, we must leave that room downstairs where the elephants are, and go to the “Upper Room,” where elephants can’t be found, to that transcendent place where God can do His transforming work.