Jesus Christ- The Nice Jewish Boy Your Mother Didn't Tell You About

I've given it some thought- a lot of thought, actually- and I've concluded that Jesus Christ might be the least Christian of all of history’s famous Christians. Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying that I think that Jesus was lax in practicing his faith. Just the opposite! My understanding of Jesus is that of someone who was keenly devoted to his faith, and who understood his faith to be a vehicle for reaching out to and helping other human beings. Thing is, though, his faith didn't happen to be Christianity. It was Judaism. And given that Jesus practiced the Judaism of his day, and not the Reform or Reconstructionist Judaism of the modern era, this places him squarely in the Orthodox camp- Old Shul, baby.

This is not the Jesus Christ that my mother, my father, or my Church told me about, coming up as I did in the Roman Catholic tradition. I was taught about the wonderful and good things Jesus did: Jesus healed the sick, Jesus fed the poor, and so on. As such, it never occurred to me to give any thought to the fact that my Catholic religion, a faith established upon the person of Jesus himself, was/is fundamentally different than Jesus' own (despite the fact that they share important liturgical and scriptural elements).

Maybe my life would have continued in this same direction, maybe I would never have spent any amount of time reflecting on Jesus' Jewishness. Yes, maybe so, except that in the course of my life I fell in love with and married a Jewish woman. We swept one another off our feet, we vowed our undying love for one another, and we delighted in establishing an interfaith oasis of peace, love and happiness despite our different faiths. Despite our Utopian leanings it was inevitable that Jesus wound up serving as a confounding rather than a unifying figure in our relationship, given the unhappy history between Judaism and Christianity. While there is clearly common theological and liturgical ground shared between Jews and Christians, it vanishes the moment the subject of Jesus as Messiah, Savior, Lord, Eternal Son of God, etc., comes up.

Tricky stuff. Yet despite this, interfaith marriages are increasing in number each year, especially in the metropolitan Washington, DC area. In growing numbers, members of interfaith relationships and marriages continue to choose to engage in an experience fraught with pitfalls such as the “Jesus is the Messiah” / “No, he isn’t” conundrum. This conundrum is not always limited to religious couples. Even people who have not ever been religious per se can find themselves struggling to make sure that their “side” is given a fair hearing in the relationship.

I can’t speak for the Jewish half of my relationship, and maybe I can’t even speak for other Christians. What I do know is that whatever our individual reasons are I think it is pretty clear that those of us who belong to such relationships hold something important in common. We see something very good about coming together this way. We feel that it is better for us as members of different faith traditions and cultures to be close to one another, not divided and separate. We know this is true even as we struggle to figure out what this means or how it works in practical terms.

What causes some of the greatest difficulty for interfaith families is the fact that there is no such official religious institution that reflects this kind of construct, even for couples who have decided to raise their children in one faith tradition. For example, there are precious few rabbis in the metro Washington area who will participate in or otherwise recognize interfaith wedding ceremonies and marriages. Christian priests and ministers may be more amenable to co-officiating at interfaith weddings. However, I don’t know of any churches that have acknowledged the growing number congregants with Jewish spouses or that otherwise strive to address or help meet the religious needs of interfaith couples.

Does that mean that we toss our faith traditions aside and make up our own rules? I don’t know. What I do know is that it is better for people of different faiths to be closer to each other than for them to be separate and divided. I do know that while we all have our own thoughts and opinions about what “interfaith” means, it is good to share these thoughts with each other and to build a community through dialogue and exploration. Those of us with interfaith relationships and families are a part of something that is dynamic, exciting and growing. In the absence of official institutions to support and sanction the choices we are making we need to establish that support for each other. Any steps we take toward understanding and appreciating one another's beliefs and faith traditions are a necessary part of providing that very support and creating shared community.

I'd like to close by pointing out that, although Christians don’t say the Sh’ma at Mass or services, those of us who claim to be his followers (especially those of us with Jewish spouses) would do well to remember that this prayer, the most sacred prayer in Judaism, was very likely nearest and dearest to Jesus’ heart. To wit: “When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.’” (Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22, verses 34-40.)

The very commandment that Jesus cites as the most important is also found in the beginning of the Sh’ma:

"Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad."
(Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.)

"Barukh sheim k'vod malkhuto l'olam va'ed."
(Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.)

"V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha."
(And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.)

This is all to say that there is much good to be said about thinking beyond the established boundaries of our various faith traditions and exploring the unorthodox as a means to growing closer. For myself, I am excited to learn more about the Jewish Jesus. Not only does this provide me with a way to get to really know him better, to deepen my understanding of Jesus and his message, it provides a path for me to grow closer to my wife and her faith tradition. This will hopefully result in more common ground between us, more domestic tranquility. You know, the actual peace, love and happiness that Jesus preached about. Shalom.

-Doug L.

FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Reclaiming Jesus- The Jewish Standard, 12.09.2005

From Jesus to Christ (Frontline, PBS.org)

Jewish Voices About Jesus (Jewish-Christian Relations.net)