I went to a presentation on the Passover seder by these Jews for Jesus folks tonight. The format was a lecture by a visiting Jews for Jesus missionary in a church sanctuary.
A Passover seder is a meal, in imitation of the meal eaten just before the first Passover in Exodus, when God slew the Egyptians' firstborn sons. It is a remembrance of God's mighty act in saving the Israelites from Egypt. ["Mighty act" isn't my phrase, but it's a common phrase in use, and does sound good. Draw out the "m": "mmmighty act!"] It's a big deal. Jews eat special food and sit in a special posture (slouching, basically, in celebration of freedom: "we don't
have to sit upright anymore!"). The food is: greens (e.g., parsley), salt water (tears), a kind of chunky applesauce w/cinnamon and nuts (mortar for bricks w/out straw, a hard task set by the Egyptians for the Hebrews to perform), horseradish (to make you suffer and cry, as the Hebrews in Egypt did), a roasted lamb shin bone (I forget the significance of that, exactly) and a roasted egg (a medieval invention, and I sort of forget the significance of that, too). In addition to being a meal, it is a retelling of the Exodus story for children, and it is intended to be a fun, participatory, educational exercise for children, in addition to being a solemn occasion for remembrance. Traditionally, four glasses of wine are consumed by each person. And there's some singing. So, it's basically a good time.
Here's some stuff from
jewfaq.org (I skipped a lot):
A vegetable (usually parsley) is dipped in salt water and eaten. The vegetable symbolizes the lowly origins of the Jewish people; the salt water symbolizes the tears shed as a result of our slavery.
A blessing is recited over a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish; sometimes romaine lettuce), and it is eaten. This symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. The maror is dipped charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon and wine, which symbolizes the mortar used by the Jews in building during their slavery.
The third cup of wine is poured, and birkat ha-mazon (grace after meals) is recited. This is similar to the grace that would be said on any Shabbat. At the end, a blessing is said over the third cup and it is drunk. The fourth cup is poured, including a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to herald the Messiah, and is supposed to come on Pesach to do this. The door is opened for a while at this point (supposedly for Elijah, but historically because Jews were accused of nonsense like putting the blood of Christian babies in matzah, and we wanted to show our Christian neighbors that we weren't doing anything unseemly).
A simple statement that the seder has been completed, with a wish that next year, we may celebrate Pesach in Jerusalem (i.e., that the Messiah will come within the next year). [If we equate this w/the Second Coming, I could be up for that, but, please, not before I get my life straightened out.] This is followed by various hymns and stories.
I can see why many Jews are so upset about these folks. The lecturer was pretty fast and loose w/the seder, drawing parallels that I don't think were intended by the originators of the seder, nor valid.
For example:
- The matzoh is striped and pierced like Jesus was.
- When you go to the door to open it for Elijah, you won't find him there, because Jesus is already in the room.
- The afikomen, the "piece that comes later," represents Jesus.
- If we were to talk to Moses today, he'd say the greatest miracle God worked was not the exodus, but the raising of "the prophet" described in Deut. 18:18.
I can't remember all the rest.
It's not really
Jews for Jesus, it's more like
Converted Jews for Jesus. Maybe that's too fine a point.
According to Peter Gomes's book,
The Good Book, Paul declares that the Jews already have the promise, and that, for them, the Torah is the equivalent of the Cross for Christians. Meaning, the Torah is the instrument of God's salvation for them; by following it, they are fulfilling their side of the covenant, and pleasing God. Or something like that; I'm sort of making this up.
Take a look at
Romans 11. Verse 1: "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!" Verse 11: "So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! " And, finally, my favorite, vv. 13--36, the wild olive branch [my notes are in square brackets]:
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in order to make my own people jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy. But if some of the branches [some Jews] were broken off, and you [Gentiles], a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.
So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob." ["Jacob" is sort of a synonym for Israel.] "And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins." As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election [i.e., God's choice of them] they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors [i.e., because of the promise God made to their ancestors]; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Hmm, i got carried away with the cut-and-paste, I guess.
So, anyway, I don't feel that I really learned much about the Jewish seder, because the lecturer was moving pretty fast and seemed to be more interested in propagandizing. However, I did get exposed to how Jews for Jesus works, and I can't say I'm real impressed.
I would really like to know more about Judaism before I'm willing to jump up and say they need to accept Jesus as the Messiah to keep from going to hell. And even then, I might be willing to say we can't possibly know their ultimate destination, whether they accept Jesus or not, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
Jews for Jesus seems to be concentrating some of their energy on proselytizing Russian Jews in Moscow, many of whom are having crises of faith (apparently). I'd be less aggressive in proselytizing; maybe I wouldn't make a good missionary. Conversion on the basis of deception is bad (isn't that what the snake did to Adam and Eve?); I'd rather a person in doubt examine his/her own faith more closely before deciding to abandon it.
I guess I'm always going to come back to some statement like the following, until convinced otherwise: God presents himself (hirself?) in many guises to the people of the earth. As long as they follow Jesus's teaching of radical, aggressive compassion, they are doing God's bidding and are blessed by him, like the first son in the parable of the man with two sons and a vineyard (
Matthew 21:28--32).
(Hmm. "Radical, aggressive compassion." I should really get crackin' on that.)
