The Sage from Galilee

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder; . . .’”  Matthew 5:21 NASB

You have heard – Judaism rejects Jesus, but not because of his claim to be the Messiah.  Judaism rejects Jesus because Jews believe that Jesus rejected Torah.  Since Torah is the fundamental and unalterable basis of God’s instruction to Israel, anyone who rejects Torah cannot be in fellowship with YHWH, the God of Israel.  The Church teaches that both Jesus and Paul removed Torah from the circle of belief.  Therefore, no Jew can remain faithful to Torah and at the same time accept the teaching of Jesus and Paul.  At least that’s what we are told.

Our study of Yeshua and Sha’ul shows that neither man rejected Torah.  Our study demonstrates that both were Torah-observant throughout their lives.  The mistaken declaration of the Church has caused the schism between Judaism and Christianity.  It was not caused by Yeshua or Sha’ul.  But 2000 years of Christian doctrine has done considerable damage to reunification.  Jacob Neusner’s comments are typical of orthodox Judaism on this subject:

“A different approach to the encounter with God is taken by Jesus, who represents himself as the new Moses, able to recast Torah altogether.  . . . the approach taken by Christianity in assigning to Jesus authority to say, ‘You have heard it said . . . but I say to you  . . .,’ is expressed throughout the Gospels.  In making these statements, Jesus represents himself not as a sage in a chain of tradition but as an ‘I,’ that is, a unique figure, a new Moses, standing on the mount as Moses had stood on Sinai.  That view sages never adopted of themselves or granted to anyone else. . . . Sages, we saw, say things in their own names but without claiming to improve on the Torah, to which they aspire to contribute.  The prophet, Moses, speaks not in his own name but in God’s name, saying what God has told him to say.  Jesus speaks not as a sage nor as a prophet.”[1]

Everything Neusner says about Yeshua is true.  He did speak on his own authority.  He did add improving commentary to Torah.  He did challenge the teaching of the sages.  But Neusner has overlooked two crucial facts.  First, Yeshua claims that his authority is granted by the Father.  It does not come from himself.  He speaks what God Himself tells Him to speak, just as the prophets brought God’s message to Israel.  Judaism does not deny the revelatory messages of the prophets.  It does not claim that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke according to a chain of authority.  God manifested His message in these men and they were compelled to proclaim it.  Yeshua is no different.

Why, then, does Judaism reject Yeshua as a prophet?  Because Rabbinic Judaism believes that “prophecy has come to an end.”[2]  Rabbinic Judaism does not accept the possibility of any new prophet; therefore Yeshua cannot be a prophet.  But the grounds for this claim is simply the presupposition that the Hebrew canon closed with the last of the ancient prophets.  In other words, Yeshua is not excluded on the basis of His actual words (the words are rarely investigated for what they actually say about Torah).  He is excluded on the basis of a prior theological belief, in much the same way that Christianity rejects the eternal validity of Torah on the basis of a prior theological assumption.

When Yeshua says, “You have heard it said . . . but I say to you,” He is not rejecting Torah.  He is revealing the greater application of Torah, elaborating on its deeper implications, in much the same way that Moses expanded that summary in the Decalogue in Deuteronomy.  Yeshua is calling Israel back to Torah, back to its true application to all of life’s situations.  Yeshua is a prophet, the prophet, who reminds Israel of its legacy and its destiny.  And many, many Jews believed.

As long as rabbinic Judaism rejects the possibility of progressive revelation after Malachi as a presupposition of its philosophy of revelation, it cannot accept even a Torah-observant Yeshua.  And as long as Christianity rejects Torah as the code of living for followers of YHWH as a presupposition of its philosophy of grace, it cannot accept a Torah-observant Yeshua as the model of discipleship.  Both religions stand opposed to Yeshua and Torah.  They do so for different reasons, but the result is the same.  Neither religion actually embraces the One God sent into the world.

Topical Index:  Torah, rabbinic Judaism, Neusner, Matthew 5:21