+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:

1 Samuel 20:24-42, Acts 13:1-12, Mark 2:23-3:6

And Jesus said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.”
Mark 2:25-26

Some scholars posit that Jesus’ goal was a reformation within Judaism rather than “founding a new religion”. We can see this in the sayings of Jesus as he reinterprets various parts of the legal tradition in which he finds himself. We get two today on the Sabbath. The entire text of the “Sermon on the Mount” is such as well.

It’s one theory out of many. And, of course we can’t know because history intervenes. Even if you take a “high” view of church as active presence of God in the world, one notices the change between the Jewishness of such documents as the Didache, Melito of Sardis and even even Ignatius as compared to the overwhelming Goyische qualities evident by the time of Justin Martyr - although they were creeping in even in the text of the Book of Acts. We can trace the evolution from Messiah (a title shared by several within Jewish tradition) to “Christ-God”, as the Orthdoox say.

Christianity disconnected fully from Judaism by the time of the Bar Kochba revolt (in 135CE) but certainly relations had been strained even early on. What form would Christianity have taken had the two communities - those who accepted Jesus as Messiah and those who rejected him in that role - been able to stay together as friends even if not within the same worshipping community? We’ll never know. The division between the two halves of the same community became acrimonious. The Christians thrust out the finer traces of ties with the Jews (even disconnecting the dating of Easter from the Passover) and the Jews cut off any connexions with Christians (even adding prayers to the Synagogue service cursing Christians). Sometime after the division Christianity began to dogmatically solidify, gradually weeding out or disconnecting from various alternative forms. Judaism, however, following the destruction of the Temple, was on an evolutionary path, seeking to find forms of expression that would hold together the people and honour both God and the traditions of the ancestors.

Jesus’ attempts at reformation of Judaism were part of an on-going process. We see it in the evolution of Judaism from shrine forms to temple and then, because of exile, to synagogue form, then to a hybrid of synagogue and temple, then back to synagogue. The evolution continued even through the nearly two millennia of Christian anti-semitism. We can see this if we just look at some of the exceptions that have evolved within the legal structure.

While you were enjoying your carnivorous meal during the Nine Days, you should have gone all out and allowed yourself a glass of whiskey, preferably one that is chametz which was sold to a non-Jew over Pesach. I hope you also had some Israeli pickles with your hamburger, probably ones that grew during a Sh’mitta year in a Jewish-owned farm which was temporarily sub-leased to an Arabin order not to transgress the laws of Sh’mitta. I’m assuming you haven’t been negligent about your personal hygiene this week; Halakha clearly states that one should not bathe this week, but loopholes such as the one you’re using to avoid feeling and smelling like a homeless person were invented to make this decree more bearable. While you’re benefiting from halakhic loopholes, enjoy the rising interest rates your CD is earning at your Jewish-owned bank.

Read the entire post here to get a better idea. From a legalistic point of view (which many Christians share with many Jews) these exceptions might seem like breaking the rules. But really they are the hallmarks of a living community, one that is evolving. If we look carefully, we can see this in some parts of living Christianity as well. But, fearing evolutionary change, some parts of Christianity are or else are only becoming more ossified. In this ossification they have locked themselves into a tiny space, safe, windless, enclosed.

While this is the public face *many* see when they look at Christianity it is, in fact, not the experience of many. “Where the rubber meets the road” even the conservative sorts of ecclesial communities such as Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox have exceptions to the rules. Although very pious converts in both communities can quote canons or catechisms, it is the priest of a parish who gets to decide how the rules apply or do not apply in a given situation. They are not as ossified as they would have us think - witness the wide range of responses I received to recent changes in my life.

And that’s where I want to wonder as I write this: in that space between Jesus (and David) changing the rules and our pastors today who do the same thing. I’m fascinated by Reconstructionist Judaism and by concepts such as this:

The classical view of revelation is that “God revealed Torah to Israel.” The Reconstructionist understanding is that “Israel in its search for God creates or unfolds Torah.” Torah, in the religious vocabulary of Reconstructionism, is a human document. It is holy not because it is God’s final and unchanging word, but because it is the first word, the earliest record of our people’s ongoing quest for God, for the values that make for salvation. For the ancients, miracles and supernatural events were believed to be the source of truth and ultimate values, Today, we must learn to discover godliness, holiness, and goodness in the world of nature and in the human experiences, relationships, and struggles that affirm human dignity and our common humanity, as well as in the beauty of our heritage. Reconstructionist Judaism teaches us to think of Torah as a way of searching. We are not merely descendants, but also ancestors to future generations.

How can we bring such ideas into fructifying relationship with our often-locked-in-place legalism? How can we eat food on the Sabbath and lunch on the presence bread?

(Sadly, the name “reconstructionist” is already taken - by wingers so far to the right as to scare even some of my most conservative friends. We’d need another words to describe the reconstructing of Christianity.)