In a nut shell…

(we continue our ongoing discussion of why this blog exists)

What happened is that the first century church leaders took it upon themselves to blame someone for the death of the Messiah. Isn’t that the human way - to gain stature and support by inciting blame? Not understanding it was not the “Jews” who killed Him but it was all of mankind that had struggled in "Adam’s" sin since the garden days.
Them, us, you and me. Our collective sins drove Him to the cross. Indeed Jesus had said that before the foundations of the earth were laid it was appointed that He would be the sacrifice Lamb by which salvation would be offered to all mankind. Eph 1:4, Heb 9:26, 1 Pet 1:20…

The simple message of belief and salvation were corrupted in that early church by those who sought power. All of the wonderful teachings and hidden meanings, the traditions and the celebrations of the Hebrew people – Yeshua’s people and the roots from which He sprang were cast aside as “Jewish” stuff. Jesus’ people were made out to be the “dogs of perdition” and the scum of the earth. How God the Father must have cried. Everything Jewish was to be cast away and forgotten. The murder and banishment of the Jewish people began in those days and continued throughout most of history up to modern times. The countless millions who were slain in the “name of the savior” is the blood the church fathers will bear one day in judgment.

We as Protestant or Evangelical Christians today suffer with the reality that when the Reformation came via Martin Luther (although it had begun and was growing strong from the eleventh century or sooner) along with the awareness of the place of grace in the gospel message that struck Luther came a learned hate for all things Jewish. This hate was bled into the church by Luther’s own calls for Jew hate and rejection. The opportunity to “right” things as far as Jesus’ roots and traditions went was lost on a new church movement mired in the same muddy hate as the Catholics had stirred up.

Today we have seen a new awakening in people who claim to want to go deeper and learn about their Savior in a new way. And to celebrate all He was and taught. My hope is that you will embrace this awareness and learn a fascinating possibility about your own roots that will challenge and maybe astonish you. Can you say baaa? It’s very “meaty.” More next time.