Erev Rosh HaShana 5778

Welcome to Congregation Beth Messiah and l’shana tova. If you are new to CBM or new to Judaism I want to give you one of our insider phrases. It’s the kind of phrase you know because you are raised in a Jewish home. It is kind of like when Christians say, “He is risen” and then they respond with “Risen Indeed.” We have a Jewish version of this on Rosh Hashanah.

I say to you Ketivah Tovah which is the abbreviated way of saying, “May you be inscribed for a great year.” And the response is Gam Le’mar “To you too.” So I say to you Ketivah Tovah and you say to me Gam Le’mar, “To you too.” Now you say to me Ketivah Tovah and I say to me Gam Le’mar. Now I know this will be a great New Year.

Rosh Hashanah is as joyful as it is disturbing. It is an odd paradox of a Holiday. It is a bit like getting a flu-shot. You know it will help you to not get sick for a season but disturbing to get pricked by that needle. At Rosh Hashanah we encounter this great polarity between joy and disturbance.

This is a joyful day as are Jewish sages said a long time ago it is B'Tishrei nivrah ha'olam - that the world was created in Tishrei, so that Rosh Hashanah commemorates the Creator God and the creation itself. It's our planetary birthday as it were, and this gets reflected in the Machzor itself when we say; Hayom harat olam - today the world, the universe, was conceived.

This is also a joyful time because we know the great prayers of hope, the slichot prayers that offer warmth, encouragement and a constant reminder of forgiveness and the Tashlich service where we cast our bread upon the waters representing the complete removal of our sins.

On the other hand, this spiritual journey to joy is disturbing. I don’t mean the use of the word disturbing the way kids use it today when speaking of a disturbing Movie or Instagram. I mean the actual dictionary definition of disturbing, “causing anxiety.” When something or someone disturbs you then it messes with how your respond to the world around you.

It is disturbing to go to someone during this time and ask them to forgive you for some it may be equally disturbing to give forgiveness. You have to push that false awkward smile on your face, you start taking those deep-sighs, some of you start sweating profusely, if you are under 50 you start checking your social media every 15 seconds, some of you develop “Spidey” sense and can hear and sense everything and start acting skittish.

This is the time of the great disturbance. During the High Holy Days our disturbance comes because of one of the great themes of these days: God’s testing our works. The sages called it Yom Ha’Din “The Day of Judgment.” The ancient Jewish sages uses to say that Rosh Hashanah was just like a military call to inspection. Military men for millennia have responded to the call for an inspection first by squad leaders and high ranking commanding officers. Ask most any of our military men in this room and they will tell you that the call to an “inspection” was a great test and definitely created a disturbance/anxiety. When I asked one of our former marine, 0317, about the call to inspection his posture changed he stood up tall, his face got stiff, I could tell just the thought of it set him on edge.

And, if you have are having an exceptionally sweet Rosh Hashanah you have asked for and received forgiveness from someone you wronged or they wronged you. This wiping down of the slate is comforting. Vertically the slate is clean with God and horizontally with our friends and family. It is comforting to make this sweet spiritual pilgrimage of the heart re-pledging our allegiance to His kingship and to making our most important relationship, most important.

During the High Holy Days our disturbance comes because of one of the great themes of these days: God’s testing our works. The sages called it Yom Ha’Din “The Day of Judgment.” The ancient Jewish sages uses to say that Rosh Hashanah was just like a military muster call. Military men for millennia have responded to the call of the sound of horns and bugle and were expected to muster for roll call, to be tested, to be inspected by commanding officers.

The sages said that Just as a military commander reviews the troops who pass before him, so “on Rosh Hashanah the Trumpet is sounded and we all pass before God to be tested to be inspected. They said the rest of the world will have to face God on being absent to the inspection but we are here and we all come before our God. This is the discomfort, the call to come before the King, the Creator and the Judge. This is the anxiety that causes me to sit forward, to come to attention, to confront the evil parts of my soul and renounce the wicked ways within me.

This discomforts me because I don’t like inspections.

I am not sure about how you feel about taking tests either but the idea of taking a test is about as appealing as eating bag of rusty nails. After earning a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree I have had my fill of tests, papers and quizzes. I don’t care how you spruce the thing up, a test is simply that a test.

I never served in our amazing military but I know what it is like to be inspected, to be tried. There was one inspection I took that I will never forget. This inspection/test had nothing to do with school. It was not given in a school house unless you count as a school house, the school house of life.

Honestly, I did not know that I was being inspected until after the whole test was over. It is one thing to have forewarning that “this is a test” but it is another thing to not know that you are being tested.

What was this disturbing inspection? This was the inspection my now wife put me through before we were even courting. Lauren and I had known each other for a couple of months. I was 22 at the time and she was 19 and i felt like after a couple of months of knowing one another it was time to make this thing official. So I did what any 22 year old would do in the 1990s. I wrote her a very ambiguous letter stating that we could be friends or maybe more than friends but “whatever” to quote Nacho Libre.

Lauren and I had known each other for a couple of months and I felt like it was time to move the relationship from the friend zone to the boyfriend-girlfriend zone. Now I was 22 at the time and she was 19 so I did what any 22 year old would do in the 1990s. I wrote her a very ambiguous letter stating that we could be friends or maybe more than friends but “whatever” to quote Nacho Libre.

Lauren received my letter, called me to her home and took me to Sylvan beach, sat me down and said to me, “You are a great man of God but I will never be physically attracted to you.” Ouch!!! An ugly boulder crushed my sweet, fragile heart. It was horrible. Worst part, I had to drive her home and keep my composure.

I was crushed and I had to drive her home. It was horrible. After I dropped her off and picked back up the pieces of what remained of my broken heart or ego, I really was not upset with her. I never thought that I would marry someone like Lauren: godly, set-apart, grounded and a life filled with a good report.

After I dropped her off and picked back up the pieces of what remained of my broken heart or ego, I really was not upset with her. I never thought that I would marry someone like Lauren: godly, set-apart, grounded and a life filled with a good report.

The one thought that came coming back over-and-over again in mind was this, “I want the best for her and if I am not God’s best for her, then I want her to be with God’s best. I am okay with that.”

We remained friends with one another. We went to prayer meetings together, sometimes went to the same worship services and we spent time together in various venues sharing the gospel. But, Lauren kept her distance, she kept it cold, ice-cold.

Then one late evening after a night of sharing the Gospel at Mardi Gras in Galveston Lauren called me. It was late, maybe 2am, when she called. She told me she needed to clear up something, to tell me something important. She told me, “Michael the reason I pushed you away when you wrote me that letter was because I needed to see the kind of person you really were. I needed to know you really were a man of God, a man of real character. Michael, Iove you and I could not see spending the rest of my life with anyone else but you.” For Lauren my faithfulness to God and living out His Word passed her test.

So, two weeks later we got engaged and three months later married and 18 years later here we are: I passed the entry exam. There have been many other tests over the years but none that mattered to me as much as that one, that one test shaped my life and still shaping my life.

Tests disturb Us.

I am sure if you are alive and breathing at some point you to have been tested. And as the years wash over you, you begin to realize that there are tests that have much greater consequence than any test you could have taken in school. What makes the tests of life so disturbing is that we rarely know we are being inspected. If you are in the room tonight and you are in college please understand that your mid-terms and finals are nothing in comparison to the tests of life. Trust me, you will realize about 5 seconds after you get married that the tests of life are much more disturbing then any test at school you have ever taken.

These are the test that arise out of the school house of life:

· Provider financially for your family.

· Loyal to your spouse physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.

· Nurturer to your spouse and children.

· Truth-Teller when the truth might get you in trouble.

· Forgiver when someone has really hurt you and you could use that hurt as a great manipulation, leverage on someone else.

· Healthy living so that you can add years of life.

· Death of a loved one.

· Devoted God Follower.

These tests are disturbing. You will be tested by major changes, by delayed promises, by unchangeable conditions, by unanswered prayers, undeserved criticism, and even senseless tragedies.

For the wise and experienced in the room, you have to come to know that all of life is really a test. A test that reveals and develops (negatively or positively) what is inside the core of your being.

Many of us tonight have come here disturbed but want to leave filled with joy. As you should. But we cannot get to the joy until we pass before the One we must give an account.

So tonight, I want us to turn to our ancient text. It is the text that fills up our mind every year during this time. The Aqedah of because I believe this passage helps us to answer this important question, “How do I move from disturbance to joyfulness?” So we are going to look at the inspection of Abraham and follow his journey from disturbance to joyfulness.

Ha-foke-bah

De-Cola-bah

Ha-foke-bah

Mashiach-bah

Turn-it and turn-it everything you need is in it. Turn-it and turn-it the Messiah is in it

A Test Disturbs Abraham

Abraham Knows Tests ().

Genesis 22:1 TLV

Now it was after these things that God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham.” “Hineni,” he said.

So tonight, I want us to turn to our ancient text. It is the text that fills up our mind every year during this time. The Aqedah of want to talk to you about some possible ways to pass before God during this season, some possible ways to deal with the disturbance inside of you and I hope can show you how of them will only make you more disturbed and ultimately cause you to fail the test. Then I want to show you how to overcome the test, to end the disturbance and to truly be comforted.

Test disturbs Abraham ().

Genesis 22:1–2 TLV

Now it was after these things that God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham.” “Hineni,” he said. Then He said, “Take your son, your only son whom you love —Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains about which I will tell you.”

We Know Its a Test.

Abraham Knows Its a Command.

Test Strikes Heart-of-Abraham

What will enable Abraham to pass this test?

Marital-law fails test ().

Genesis 22:3 TLV

So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place about which God had told him.

Social-law fails test ().

Genesis 22:4–5 TLV

On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Sit yourselves down here with the donkey. As for me and the young man, we’ll go over there, worship and return to you.”

Family-law fails test ().

Genesis 22:6–8 TLV

Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son. In his hand he took the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Then Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father?” Then he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Look. Here’s the fire and the wood. But where’s the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” The two of them walked on together.

Every religious-law fails test ().

Genesis 22:9–10 TLV

Then they came to the place about which God had told him, and Abraham built the altar there, laid out the wood, bound up Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Abraham Passes Test ()

Genesis 22:11–14 TLV

But the angel of Adonai called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” He said, “Hineni!” Then He said, “Do not reach out your hand against the young man—do nothing to him at all. For now I know that you are one who fears God—you did not withhold your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold, there was a ram, just caught in the thick bushes by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham named that place, Adonai Yireh,—as it is said today, “On the mountain, Adonai will provide.”

Abraham Experiences Joyfulness ().

Genesis 22:15–24 TLV

The angel of Adonai called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I swear—it is a declaration of Adonai—because you have done this thing, and you did not withhold your son, your only son, I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed—because you obeyed My voice.” Then Abraham returned to his young men and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. Then Abraham dwelled in Beer-sheba. Now it was after these things that it was told to Abraham, “Look, Milcah has also borne sons to Nahor your brother: Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaph and Bethuel.” Then Bethuel fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.

God ratifies Covenant

God provides a Bride for Isaac.

It is tempting to think at this point that the point of the story is to have “faith like Abraham.” That we will move from disturbance to joyfulness by having a kind of superhuman faith in God despite everything else going on around us or within us. The point of the narrative is not just to have a more “concrete” faith in God. No, the point is to believe like Abraham that God will provide a sacrifice for Himself and his name is “My Son.”

Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: SESB 2.0 Version Chapter 22

אֱלֹהִ֞ים יִרְאֶה־לֹּ֥ו הַשֶּׂ֛ה לְעֹלָ֖ה בְּנִ֑י

Genesis 22:8 TLV

Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” The two of them walked on together.

You Pass the Test and Experience Joyfulness

Dogma disturbs Jews. Jews don’t believe God’s wants human blood to overcome judgment.

Rabbis overturn Dogma. Do you realize that the oldest teachings by Jewish Rabbis on the Aqedah all led to the conclusion that Isaac did shed blood on the altar and that blood atoned for Israel.

“The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: ‘I keep faith to pay the reward of Isaac son of Abraham, who gave one fourth of his blood on the altar’” (Mekhilta d’Rashbi, p. 4) and further on of the most official Targums on Genesis puts these words in the mouth of Abraham at the end of the Aqedah.

“Now I pray for mercy before You, O Lord God, that when the children of Isaac come to a time of distress You may remember on their behalf the Binding of Isaac their father, and loose and forgive them their sins and deliver them from all distress.”

Abraham Prepares Us ()

All of these are Rabbinic text dating about a 100 to 200 years after the death of Yeshua and they all admit that Jews do think human blood can overcome God’s judgment. There is an even earlier strand of Jewish teaching from a Jewish rabbi that gets within years of Yeshua’s death and resurrection. This Rabbi assures us that Yeshua is indeed the Son our Father in Heaven was willing to sacrifice and he was willing to sacrifice himself for us.

Rabbi Paul Assures Us (, , , )

There is no one in history who has shaped and formed faith in Yeshua like Rabbi Paul (you might know him as the Apostle Paul). I remember reading in one secular history book there would have been no way that faith in Yeshua would have survived more than a few years if it had not been for Rabbi Paul and his extensive writing and preaching career.

All scholars, religious and secular alike agree that there was really a historical person named Yeshua. He really lived and they all agree that Rabbi Paul was a real historical person who was trained in classic rabbinics and later came to faith in the Messiah Yeshua. It is also uncontested that there are seven undisputed letters written by the hand of Rabbi Paul in the New Testament:

Now in three of these letters Rabbi Paul unequivocally states that the only way to pass through God’s judgment is be believing on “the Son.” And these three letters two are within 24 years one within 16 years and the events described in two of them place us within seven years of the death of Yeshua. In other words, this was not something that was made up later on in history in some council. This was a normative Jewish belief.

Romans 3:21–26 TLV

But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua. God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.

Rabbi Paul in 57 CE tells the Romans exactly what we learned in the Aqedah. You cannot pass the test of being righteous before God by just keeping the Torah. It is apart from the Torah but the Torah and prophets all bear witness that God required the sacrifice of His Son’s blood in exchange for the redemption of sinful man. The spotless lamb for the spotted lambs. The sinless lamb for the sinful.

Rabbi Paul says that he learned this very early. Within years of the death and resurrection of Yeshua. In

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 TLV

Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the Good News which I proclaimed to you. You also received it, and you took your stand on it, and by it you are being saved if you hold firm to the word I proclaimed to you—unless you believed without proper consideration. For I also passed on to you first of all what I also received— that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

When we compare the undisputed letter to the Galatians to this letter. Remember, Galatians was written sometime around 49 CE. These letters describe an event that we know took place around 40 C.E. Who did he hear it from? Three important people: Cepha, Jacob and Yochanan. Or you know them as Peter, James and the Apostle John. Listen if you could go back in time and interview any one Jew about Yeshua and who they thought He was and what He did. You want to interview Peter and Jacob (the brother of Yeshua). Within the first 50 days after the death and resurrection of Yeshua he said this:

Acts 3:17–21 TLV

“Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your leaders did. But what God foretold through the mouth of all His prophets—that His Messiah was to suffer—so He has fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and return—so your sins might be blotted out, so times of relief might come from the presence of Adonai and He might send Yeshua, the Messiah appointed for you. Heaven must receive Him, until the time of the restoration of all the things that God spoke about long ago through the mouth of His holy prophets.

Within 50 days Cepha says the only way to pass the test of God’s judgment is by repenting of our sins and putting our trust in God’s Son who died in our place.

A Jewish scholar from Berkley California makes an incredible statement about this belief in the suffering Messiah. It is incredible because he is not messianic, he is not Christian; rather, he is self-described orthodox and chairs the department of Jewish studies at Berkley. He makes this incredible observant in his book: the Jewish Gospels

“This commonplace view has to be rejected completely. The notion of the humiliated and suffering Messiah was not at all alien within Judaism before Yeshua’s birth, and it remained current among Jews well into the future following that—indeed, well into the early modern period. The fascinating (and to some, no doubt, uncomfortable) fact is that this tradition was well documented by modern Messianic Jews, who are concerned to demonstrate that their belief in Yeshua does not make them un-Jewish… They have a very strong textual base for the view that the suffering Messiah is based in deeply rooted Jewish texts early and late. Jews, it seems, had no difficulty whatever with understanding a Messiah who would vicariously suffer to redeem the world. ”

Conclusion

Excerpt From: Daniel Boyarin. “The Jewish Gospels.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-jewish-gospels/id469811798?mt=11

Conclusion

As we come to this great disturbance where we pass before God on this Yom Ha’Din we can try:

Bargaining

I promise God I will be a better Husband.

I promise God I will be a better Employer.

I promise God I will be a better Father.

I promise God I will be a better Citizen of the Land.

I promise God I will be a better Religious Jew.

Lawyering

I have not been that bad of a Husband.

I have not been that bad of an Employer.

I have not been that bad of aFather.

I have not been that bad of a Citizen of the Land.

I have not been that bad of a Jew.

Repenting

Repenting first and foremost for trying to overcome this test by any other means than the Son the God has provided for us. By thinking we could have any merit that could somehow move us from disturbance to joyfulness. The kind of repentance that comes by putting faith in Yeshua is the deepest kind of repentance because it changes the motivational core of your being. It changes your affections, attitudes before it changes your behavior. It is a deep level change that everyone can see and can hardly believe it is possible.

Tonight, you have come wanting to do something about the disturbance of your heart. To move from disturbance to joyfulness. That is why we always come for Rosh Hashanah. It is like my good friend said to me the other day, “Rabbi, I am need of a spiritual massage.” I totally get that, everything aches, there is pain, there is hurt, there is sin it is a disturbance. You want to be free of the disturbance then tonight it is time for you to receive your Messiah Yeshua. The Beloved Son of the Father.

We know there are parts of ourselves that must change, there must be repentance. You are hoping that you will just have that moment, that release from the disturbance. Probably you have not told anyone around you but trust me they know. If you are married and if you have kids, I promise they know. They always know. Tonight, you have come wanting to do something about the disturbance of your heart. That is why we always come for Rosh Hashanah. It is like my good friend said to me the other day, “Rabbi, I am need of a spiritual massage.” I totally get that, everything aches, there is pain, there is hurt, there is sin it is a disturbance. You want to be free of the disturbance.

Lawyering

Repenting

The primary argument against faith in Yeshua is that God would never sacrifice His own Son.

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