Jesus and the Professor

Know Jesus, Know Judaism

I started this blog in April of this year (2010) to give Christians a better understanding of Christianity’s Jewish roots. Recognizing that Jesus was a Jew, as was his entire family, disciples, and early followers, as well as virtually all of the authors of the New Testament, it is axiomatic that one cannot understand Christianity without understanding Judaism.

Initially, to give Christians a better understanding of Judaism, I explained Jewish concepts, such as the Messiah, from a Jewish perspective. Later, I did the same for specific themes, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the trial of Jesus. Beginning today, I embark a new approach: I will provide a verse-by-verse commentary on the New Testament.

Why have I chosen to go this route? Why do a verse-by-verse commentary?

Virtually all of the study bibles available for Christians are Christian-authored, whose understanding of Judaism is incomplete—at best. Hence, I now undertake a (very, very long) project that I hope will enhance Christian understanding of Judaism, the Jewish people, and, hence, Jesus. In the process, I also look forward to fostering better understanding between these two great religions.

To do this I will be using the King James Version. I adopted this translation because it is the best known and is in the public domain: there are no copyright issues using this version. Nonetheless, the King James Version can be difficult to understand. Hence, I will be giving my understanding of the King James Version: I will put the King James Version into modern English (no “thou” and “thee” language) with complete punctuation marks. That is not the key to this online study Bible, however. The heart of this study Bible will be its distinctive Jewish-based commentary.

Jesus and all his early followers were Jewish. If you do not know Judaism, you cannot know Jesus or fully appreciate his teachings. Put another way, no Judaism, no Jesus.

I start with Mark’s Gospel because Mark was almost certainly the earliest of the four Gospels written. I will put up a new post on Tuesdays and Fridays. I will look forward to your questions and comments.

To learn more about me (I am Jewish), please visit, “About.”

I hope this blog furthers goodwill among all. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Shalom!

Copyright 2010 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Jesus, the Demoniac, and the Roman Legion

Mark 5:1-9

Now Jesus and his disciples went to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. When he had left the ship, a man who looked like death, who had an unclean spirit, met Jesus. This man dwelt among tombs. No man could bind him, not even with chains, because when someone tried to, he tore the chains to pieces. No man could pacify him. Morning and night, this man was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. When the man saw Jesus, he ran to him and bowed down to him, in respect. A voice cried out from the man, “What have I done to you, Jesus, son of the most high God. I direct you, in the name of God, do not torment me.” Then Jesus said, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.” Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He answered Jesus, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

As we have discussed earlier (see “Jesus and Demons,” post of November 26, 2010, discussing Mark 1:23-28), demonology has never been a part of Jewish theology, but it was certainly a part of Jewish—and worldwide—culture 2000 years ago. Christians traditionally understand these verses to mean that Jesus healed a demoniac. I give a different interpretation here.

I believe that this passage is an allegory. The demoniac, near death and unchained, represents the Jewish people, suffering under Roman subjugation. The demoniac’s breaking of the chains signifies the continuing rebellion of the Jews against invaders, the latest being the Romans. See “Trial of Jesus: Jews, Maccabees, Zealots, and Judas Iscariot,” post of August 27, 2010. Indeed, that the name of this particular demon (or demons) is “Legion,” cannot have been a coincidence. Of course, the core army unit of the Roman Empire was the legion, a 6,000 man strong troop.

Note, too, that the reference to Jesus as “son of the most high God” (I do not use an uppercase “S” here) is, from a Jewish perspective, nothing more than a recognition of Jesus as a righteous man. See “Jesus the Messiah and Son of God,” post of October 8, 2010, discussing Mark 1:1.

I will continue with the balance of this allegory (Mark 5:10-20) in the next post.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Shalom!

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Faith: Of Jesus, Jews, and Christians

Mark 4:35-41

Now the same day, when evening had come, Jesus said unto his disciples, “Let’s pass over unto the other side.” The disciples then sent away the crowd of people and they and Jesus went into a ship. There were other ships in that area, too. Then, a great storm arose and waves beat the ship, so that it was filling up with water. Jesus was in the stern of the ship, sleeping on a pillow. His disciples awoke him and said, “Master, don’t you care that we are going to perish!” Jesus arose, and scolded the wind and said to the sea, “Peace. Be still.” The wind then ceased and the sea became calm. Jesus then said to his disciples, “Why are you so fearful? Why do you have no faith?” Now his disciples became afraid and said to each other, “Who is this man that even the wind and sea obey him?”

First, I need to apologize for not making my regular posts for November. Without going into details, I have been quite busy these past few weeks. All is fine, just busy. Now, let’s get to the passage in question as we proceed to go through the New Testament.

From this passage, some may think that Jesus’ actually did cause the wind and sea to become calm and, thus, performed a miracle. Others may think that this was a mere coincidence: that when he spoke the wind and sea, by happenstance, calmed down. Still others may believe that this passage
(as perhaps other passages, too) is pure embellishment by the Gospel writer. My approach is that one believes what one believes. I never get into discussions about whose believe is superior.

With that stated, there is an interesting aspect to this passage: faith. Jesus rebukes his disciples for not having faith. But what does faith mean? Moreover, is faith even relevant for Jews (and remember, Jesus wasa Jew, n ot a “Christian”), considering that Judaism is a religion that is based
predominantly on behavior? See, Judaism:Deed Not Creed, post of April 11, 2010, and Deed
Over Creed: Jesus’ View, post of April 18, 2010.

To Jews, faith means having a faithfulness or trust in God. Thus, the Torah describes God as a “God of faithfulness” (Deuteronomy 32:4), and the prophet wrote, “I will even betroth you unto Me in faithfulness” (Hosea 2:20). In this regard, faith or faithfulness means a complete trust in God. See 5 Jewish Encyclopedia 326 (Faith). This is the Jewish view and, certainly in the context of the passage discussed, the view of Jesus, too. Jesus, therefore, castigated his disciples for not having a faith in God, that He would preserve them.

Thus, faith in Judaism is not dogmatic. True, Judaism has its Thirteen Principles of Faith. See 2 Jewish Encyclopedia 148-52 (Articles of Faith). However, Maimonides redacted those principles in the twelfth century. Importantly, before that time, Judaism never had a fixed dogma. Moreover, and during and since Maimonides’ time, not all Jews have agreed with those principles. In fact, others have postulated different principles of faith, such as they are. The point is that “faith” in Judaism is a limited non-dogmatic concept and is not an all-encompassing dogma as it necessarily must be in Pauline Christianity, the normative Christianity of the world. See 11 Jewish Encyclopedia 70-87 (Saul of Tarsus). In Judaism, the essence of the religion is performance of the commandments; in Christianity, the essence of the religion is belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. Thus, because behavior, not a dogmatic belief, is the essence of the religion, the rabbis of the Talmud could declare, “The righteous of all nations have a share in the World to Come.” In Christianity, because belief alone is the necessary key to salvation, the Church Fathers could never make such an assertion. Faith saves; deeds do not.

I welcome your comments.

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Teaching the Masses and the Disciples

Mark 4:33-34

Jesus taught with many parables, because that is how the people were able to understand him. He did not speak to them without parables. Nonetheless, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained his teachings fully.

We have seen previously that Jesus, just like other Jewish teachers who came before and after him, taught by parables. See, for example, “Teaching by Parables,” post of May 31, 2011, discussing Mark 4:2. Still, when Jesus was alone with them, he taught his disciples something more. What was it that he taught them?

I believe that Jesus had two messages. For the masses, he taught one thing: peace, love, and forgiveness. See, for example, Matthew 5:39, where Jesus teaches his fellow Jews to not resist evil (frankly, something that the Romans would love but what Jews would find incongruent with the commandment in Deuteronomy 16:20 to pursue justice, and only justice). This message of peace and love and turning one’s cheek is something that the ruling Roman authorities would not find offensive in the least.

On the other hand, Jesus gave another message to his closest followers, his disciples. Thus, he taught them to buy a sword if they did not own one, and that he came, not to bring peace, but war. See Luke 22:36 and Matthew 10:34. So what was going on with Jesus? Why did he teach two messages? It may well be that Jesus was an “equivocal” Messiah, waiting for a specific time to lead his fellow Jews in revolt against Rome. See “Trial of Jesus: Jews, Maccabees, Zealots, and Judas Iscariot,” post of August 27, 2010. Until that time came, however, Jesus made the decision to avoid problems with Rome. See “An Equivocal Messiah,” post of December 28, 2010, discussing Mark 1:45. Of course, it did not work out the way his more fervent disciples would have wanted (and maybe not the way he wanted) as we shall explore in further posts.

As always, I welcome your comments. Shalom!

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Kingdom of God, Mustard, and the Messiah

Mark 4:30-32 

And he said to them, “What can we liken the Kingdom of God to? What can we compare it to?” Then he said, “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it grows up, and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out great branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” 

Jesus again returns to a familiar theme: the Kingdom of God. See, for example, “Harvest and the Kingdom of God,” post of September 6, 2011, discussing Mark 4:26-29. As we have said in that and other posts, the Kingdom of God is a decidedly Jewish concept. It is the time when humankind will enter into a golden age, where all suffering will end (at least according to many rabbis, recalling that Jews never agree on anything!). Further, Jesus here states that the Kingdom will support those who take cover underneath it. But that is not to state that the cover is a present protection from all evil. It is not. The Messianic age has yet to arrive. It did not arrive in Jesus’ time, as evidenced by the horrific events that befell various peoples, including the Jews. Evil existed in those days and has continued to exist to the present day. 

When will we know that we are in the Messianic Age? When evil ends, we will know for certain that we are in the golden age. Of course, that is not to say that the Messianic Age must unfold in the blink of an eye. For all that we know, we are in the midst of it at this very moment, as it slowly unfolds. 

Today, only Orthodox Jewry believes in the coming of a Messiah. Many within the conservative movement believe in the coming of a Messianic Age, but not in an individual Messiah. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements do not entertain any such beliefs whatsoever. Instead, these movements believe that we alone can heal the world and, in this regard, and only in this regard, make our own Messianic Age, such as it is. 

I welcome your comments.

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Harvest and the Kingdom of God

Mark 4:26-29 

Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is similar to when a person throws seed unto the ground. The person goes to sleep at night and rises in the day. The man does not notice anything, but the seed is taking root and growing. One day, it springs up, and the man does not know how this happened. This is because the earth brings forth fruit all by itself, slowly but surely: first comes the blade, then the ear, until a fully-grown ear of corn exists. But then, quite suddenly, the sickle comes and slices it off, because the harvest has come.” 

Of course, the “harvest” is the coming of the “Kingdom of God.” This is not the first time Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God. See, “Kingdom of God,” post of June 14, 2011, discussing Mark 4:11. Here and elsewhere, when Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven, as often used in Matthew’s Gospel), Jesus is referring to the time when the “World to Come,” when God will establish his Messianic Kingdom here on earth, will be realized. In short, Jesus, like many Jews of his time, was hoping for the beginning of the Messianic time, when foreign subjugation of Israel will end and humankind will entire a golden age. The Pharisees (see “Sadducees and Pharisees,” post of May 7, 2010) believed that God would one day send his Messiah to usher in this magnificent age; the Zealots (see “Essenes, Zealots, and Trouble with Rome,” post of May 12, 2010) believed that they could actually hasten the coming of the Messiah by starting a war with Rome. (For further reading on this subject, see Jewish Encyclopedia (Kingdom of God); “Jesus, Jews, Rome, and the Kingdom of God,” post of November 5, 2010, discussing Mark 1:14.) 

Note that Jesus here uses the sickle, a sword-like instrument, in his parable. Note, too, that this was not the only time that Jesus used a sharp instrument to make a point (no pun intended). See, e.g., Luke 22:36.

Was Jesus merely speaking in parables? Or, was Jesus actually a Zealot?

I welcome your comments.

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Jesus: Fully Human

Mark 4:25 

“For he that has, to him shall be given; and he that does not have, from him shall be taken even that which he has.” 

Jesus continues with his “measure for measure” discussion. See “Measure for Measure: Suffering of the Righteous,” post of August 23, 2011, discussing Mark 4:24. 

Here, however, Jesus seems to be not a “lamb” of passivity (see John 1:36), but a strident man, with somewhat of an edge. He actually says that those who have much will be given more, but those who have little will have even that little taken away from them. Whatever the context of this, I see here something that most Christians do not see: a Jesus who has an edge to him. Indeed, this is the same Jesus who said that the time was coming for a person to sell his garment, if he must, to buy a sword. See Luke 22:36. This is also the same Jesus that turns over the table of a moneychanger. See John 2:15. And let us not forget that the Jesus who taught, “Judge not, that ye not be judged,” (Matthew 7:1) also taught people to judge—yes, judge!—but to do so with righteousness, John 7:24. That is, we should judge, but only on facts in a righteous way. In short, he also taught, “Judge ye, that ye be a righteous person!” 

The point here is that Jesus was a man of multi dimensions; he was not two dimensional or simple. He got angry. He laughed. He spoke of war. See Matthew 10:34. He spoke of dissension. See Luke 12:51-53. He was fully human. 

Of course, Christians believe that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. See 4 Jewish Encyclopedia 49, 54 (Christianity in Its Relation to Judaism: Trinitarianism). Thus, Jew and Christian must respectfully disagree on this matter. 

I welcome your comments. 

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Measure for Measure: Suffering of the Righteous

Mark 4:24 

And Jesus said to the people: “Understand this: The measure that you hand out is the measure that will be handed back to you, and perhaps with even more severity.” 

What Jesus teaches here is what some would call karma. What goes around comes around. If you act mercifully toward others, someone in the future will act mercifully toward you. If you act unjustly toward others, someone, at some time, will act unjustly toward you. Indeed, the ancient rabbis of the Talmud expressly taught this “measure for measure” doctrine: “The Holy One, blessed be He, metes out reward and punishment to us in the same way that we mete out reward and punishment to others.” 

Thus, the Mishnah, Judaism’s Oral Law (see, “The Law: An Incomplete Torah?” post of April 29, 2010), relates the story of Hillel, the great sage who lived in Jerusalem in the generation before Jesus. One day, Hillel saw a skull floating in a stream, causing him to remark: “Because you killed another, someone killed you; and that person will himself be killed by another.” 

This idea of “measure for measure” is grounded firmly in the Jewish (and later Christian) view of reward and punishment. Thus, we read in the Torah: 

And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,   that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.   And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.   Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;   and then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 

Deuteronomy 4:13-17. 

The moral is clear: Comply with the commandments, and all is well. Don’t comply, and there will be big problems. 

Nonetheless, how far does this “measure for measure” go? When a child is beaten to death by sadistic and evil parents, does anyone believe that the child did something evil? Importantly, in Judaism, a boy under 13 (12 for a girl) is fully incapable of sin. Indeed, during the Holocaust, 1,500,000 of the Nazi’s innocent victims were children. They were the innocent among the innocents. 

We, therefore, strive to make sense of the world and the bad things that happen to righteous people and innocent victims. But the reality is that there are many times where we are simply at a loss to explain the suffering of the righteous. This was the great moral of Job: an innocent man who suffers horrific afflictions. 

Thus, in trying to respond to the perpetual problem of evil befalling the innocent, the ancient rabbis also taught, “It is not within our power to explain why the wicked are at ease while the righteous suffer.” 

I welcome your comments. 

Copyright 20111 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

A Virtuous LIfe for Jew or Gentile

Mark 4:22-23 

“For nothing is hidden. Everything is made plain. Neither is anything kept a secret. If a man has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

What did Jesus—the Jewish teacher—mean when he said, “nothing is hidden” and “everything is made plain”? The answer is simple: we have it all, already. 

When God gave the Jews the Torah, the Divine Revelation, on Mount Sinai, He gave them and their descendants all of the rules needed for them to lead a righteous life. With the 613 commandments encompassed in this holy writ, the Jews understood from that time on how to lead a complete virtuous life. (But see “The Law: An Incomplete Torah?” post of April 29, 2010.) 

I understand that many Christians, as a result of Paul’s teachings, believe that all of these commandments are quite burdensome, but that is not the Jewish view, and certainly it was not Jesus’ view. How could it be otherwise? If Jesus was God, as Christians believe, how could God think that God’s own laws are burdensome? Is God a practical joker? Is God a hypocrite? And if Jesus was a mortal teacher, as non-Christians believe, what else could a Jewish teacher teach except the loving laws given to his own ancestors? 

Indeed, the Jewish view is that God gave Israel all of these commandments—some morally based and others ritualistic in nature—to give Israel the ability to be pure and holy. True, some commandments are “super-rational,” in that we cannot presently understand their reason (a Jew not eat pig but may eat chicken, but chickens carry as many diseases as do pigs). But because Judaism is a religion based on conduct, the key is performance of the commandments, even if we do not yet know the reason for them. See “Judaism: Deed Not Creed,” post of April 11, 2011 and “Deed Over Creed: Jesus’ View,” post of April 18, 2010, discussing Matthew 25:31-46. When will we fully understand their reason? We will understand when the Messiah comes and he explains these difficulties. Such is the traditional Jewish view, presently seen in the Orthodox movement. Note, however, that the Conservative movement within Judaism does not believe in a Messiah, although it does believe in the eventual coming of a Messianic Age. The Reform and Reconstructionist movements do not believe in either a personal Messiah or in a Messianic Age. No, Judaism is not monolithic, any more than Christianity is. 

But if Jews are bound by the Torah, what are Gentiles bound by? Gentiles are bound by the so-called Noachide laws, the laws that were given to Noah after the flood. According to ancient rabbinic tradition, these laws are the basic laws of humanity and bind all non-Jews. See “Sermon on the Mount: Christians and the Law: Matthew 5:17-19”, post of June 22, 2010. 

In short, both Jew and Gentile know how to lead a virtuous life. Nothing truly is hidden, as Jesus taught. If we don’t lead a moral life, it is our fault. To quote the famous line from the Pogo comic strip, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” 

I welcome your comments. 

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Light, Jews, and the Chosen People

Mark 4:21 

And he said to them, “Does someone buy a candle and put it under a bushel or under a bed? Of course not! When you buy a candle, you put it on a candlestick for it to shine.” 

Jesus, as we have seen, taught Judaism. That is, he taught Torah, God’s revealed plan for leading a righteous life. See “Deed Over Creed: Jesus’ View,” post of April 18, 2010, discussing Matthew 25:31-46. What are Jews to do with God’s word? They are to practice those words, whether or not they believe in them. See “Judaism: Deed Not Creed,” post of April 11, 2011. Moreover, by doing what God has commanded, Jews are to set the example for others in the world in and, in this regard, bear the burden of being a chosen people. See Exodus 19:5-6 and Deuteronomy 7:7-8. See also 4 Jewish Encyclopedia 45-46 (Chosen People). 

That Jews have given the world much is indisputable: It was only with Abraham and his progeny that the world experienced ethical monotheism wherein individuals have free will to make moral choices between good and evil. The “gods” do not control moral decisions; we alone do. 

If you are interested in seeing a full list of the contributions that this small group of nomads and their descendants made to civilization, see www.jinfo.org. 

I welcome your comments. 

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.

Hear and Do

Mark 4:20

“And these are the people who are sown on good ground: they hear the word, receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

As we have seen often in these posts, Jesus was a Jew who (essentially) taught Judaism. What is Judaism? A religion where behavior—not belief—is paramount. Of course, this is astonishing to Christians, but that is what Judaism is: a religion that focuses on deed, not creed. See “Judaism:  Deed Not Creed,” post of April 11, 2011. In fact, when the Jews accepted God’s covenant on Sinai, they accepted it on the basis of their promising to do God’s will—not on whether they believed in it. Thus, we read in the Torah:

In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.”

Exodus 19:1-8 (King James Version).

Thus, the covenant was sealed by the Jews agreeing to obey the covenant.  Action counts. That is Judaism, and that is what Jesus taught his fellow Jews and those who would be Jews. We have seen that before. See “Deed Over Creed: Jesus’ View,” post of April 18, 2010, discussing Matthew 25:31-46. We see it again, in the passage that is the subject of this post: The righteous hear the words (of the Torah) and act on it, by bringing forth fruit—deeds that effectuate the commandments of God.

Of course, the idea that deeds trump thought is incongruent with orthodox Christianity, and I understand and respect that.

I welcome your comments.

Copyright 2011 by Ira L. Shafiroff. All rights reserved.