But there is another
question I believe everyone with a Christian Biblical Heritage should
ask – “What is most important to God?” I was taught that “believing
in Jesus” was most important. However, after thirty-five years of using
science based linguistic models to understand what Jesus did and said, I know that
what I had been taught was wrong. Instead of “believing IN him,”
he wanted people “to believe him and do what he taught.”
You do not have to
learn to speak Hebrew or spend decades using science based linguistic models to
understand what he taught. The most important thing you can do is become familiar
with the sacred stories behind his actions and words. They are our Bibles. You
will need some help to understand what they meant to Jesus and his Jewish followers,
but you have “Google” and BHC to help you.
The Loss of Two of Important Sacred Stories
The Romans executed
Jesus (around 30 CE), destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem (70 CE), and the original
Jewish apostles were executed or had died by 100 CE. Gentile converts became
the majority in churches, and they filled the positions of bishops and
leadership. The number of Jewish members decreased dramatically and the
Jesus Movement became a Gentile religion. Gentile converts knew nothing
about the Hebrew language, the Jewish culture and history, or the sacred
stories Jesus and his Jewish followers had heard their entire lives at their
synagogues. Understanding everything Jesus taught depended on being able to
recognize the links between the sacred stories and his words.
Greek speakers were
common in the cultures that made up the Roman Empire. Gentile converts were
introduced to the Scriptures of the church be reading the Greek translation of
the Hebrew Scriptures called the “Septuagint.” They learned about Jesus and
his teachings through Greek texts. Converts became Christians, but their
meanings of Greek words came for before they became Christians. They didn’t
understand anything about the Hebrew words behind the stories of the Septuagint
or the teachings of Jesus. What else could they do? We do
the same thing; except we use English words with American meanings.
What else could any human do? And, unlike us, they didn’t have Google!
One very important
sacred story of the Jewish people for the past 2,500 years has been “The
Story of the Exodus.” It is retold every year during the Passover
Ritual which begins on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. When the
Second Temple stood, Jews from distant places traveled to Jerusalem to offer
their Passover sacrifices. By the mid–2nd century CE, links to 14th of Nisan and
the Passover began to be severed. Churches in and around Rome celebrated “Easter”
on the Sunday following first Full Moon following the vernal equinox. They called
it "the day of the resurrection of our Savior." This created a
big controversy, and finally the 14th of Nisan date was condemned by
bishops.[i]
Another important sacred story was “The Story of the
Shabbat.” This story is found in “The Creation Story”
(Genesis 1:1-2:5a). It was a story that was part of weekly rituals in
their homes and synagogues. Jesus, the apostles, and their Jewish
followers all kept the Shabbat (sundown Friday to sundown
Saturday) – as did Gentile converts. They all attended synagogues on
Shabbat. On March 7, 321 – almost 300 years after Jesus -- Roman
Emperor Constantine the Great issued a civil decree making Sunday
a day of rest from labor, stating: “All judges and city people and the
craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun.” Shabbat became
the Sunday Sabbath and the Story of the Shabbat was lost.[ii]
With the loss of Passover and Shabbat,
Gentile Christians no longer heard and practiced two of the most powerful
stories that were the center of the lives of Jesus and his followers. They lost
the link generations who came before them that had done the same things. Those stories
were embedded with layers of wisdom that included instructions about God’s
relationships with humans, instructions about human relationships
with God, and instructions about human relationships with each
other as individuals and as members of the Creator’s community (kingdom).
So, how important was
the loss of just two sacred stories to Christianity? How important would the
loss of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the
United States to Americans? That’s probably how important the loss of the sacred
stories behind the words of Jesus was Christianity. Without knowledge of those
stories, accurately understanding the teachings and movement of the Jesus who
lived in first century is impossible. One of most important questions people
with Christian Biblical Heritages should consider is this question – How
important are the words of Jesus to me? I will introduce you some
of those sacred stories in my next emails.
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
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[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartodecimanism
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_in_Christianity
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