What exactly did ‘we’ do and who is this ‘we’?
I’ll tell you. ‘We’ have kept Jews from believing in Jesus, and ‘we’ are Gentile Christians.
How did we do this?
By taking Jesus out of His Jewish surroundings and dressing Him in the garments of a Gentile.
Now I know these are strong words, but please hear my heart. A couple of week ago I watched a teaching “A Rabbi Cross-Examines Christianity” it broke my heart because in a sense, Rabbi Michael Skobac is right!
Within the first 16 minutes of the teaching, he makes some very valid points. For me, the one that hit home was when he quoted Gamaliel in Acts 5:34-39.
But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him, but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”
Rabbi Skobac points out that Gentile Christians today mistakenly place themselves in this text. He said that Gamaliel never would have said this about someone who was desecrating the Sabbath and eating something unclean. And he’s right!
Because we’ve distanced ourselves from Judaism, we’ve misunderstood the purpose of Torah; why God gave the Torah; and much of Paul’s writings about Torah.
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