FEB 2010 Clothesline

Greetings to all on 10 FEB 2010

Word for the Day Mishnah - from shanah, meaning instruction. Usually refers to the collection of Jewish oral doctrine from about 70 - 200 CE.

Quote for the Day
Turn it and turn it again, for everything is contained therein. [1] This phrase is used by the rabbis to describe the examination of a passage from many angles.

Website for the Day www.jews4jesus.net
Check it out for information about Messianic Jews.

Thought for the Day
A common Jewish method of teaching is called Midrash, which means “to search out.” This style was developed before Jesus but remained popular after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. In her book, The Burning Word, Judith Kunst writes, “The Holy Scriptures abound with gaps, abrupt shifts, and odd syntax that puzzles, even confounds, any reader of scripture. Jewish Midrash views these troubling irregularities not as accidents or errors or cultural disparities to be passed over, but rather as deliberate invitations to grapple with God’s revealed word – and by extension, to grapple with God himself.” [2]

Midrash involves four steps: Select a text. Identify a question or dilemma to resolve. Use your imagination to come up with a solution or new meaning of the text. Finally, defend your thought against someone to challenge your conclusions. [3] This may lead to an entirely new idea or interpretation. So, midrash is really a communal activity.

Since I can’t meet with you face-to-face, I’ll try to convey the concept with an illustration. One variety of midrash is to examine two seemingly unrelated texts and bring forth new meaning from the two. Another twist on that is to consider two passages that seem to contradict each other. This is the direction I’ll take.

I’m sure you are familiar with "The Lord’s Prayer” found in Matthew 6.13. Most of us memorized the last part as “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” However, a better rendering is “lead us not into times of testing but deliver us from the evil one.” The former was never a good translation because we know from James 1.13 that “God tempts no man.” Would you agree that the model prayer asks the Father to not lead us into times of testing?

By now you may recall another verse that says, “We should count it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” [JAM 1.2] Now it just so happens that the Greek word for trial is the same in both verses. Hmm … how can that be? Should we urge the Father to not lead us into trials or should we count it all joy? Or is it both?

Would you agree that the testing of your faith produces patience, as well as other virtues? If we only read James, it seems clear that trials are at least good for us, if not enjoyable at the moment. I suspect all of us would agree with this based upon our personal experiences.

Why would Jesus provide us a model prayer that asks the Father to not lead us into times of testing? The superficial response is that we should ask not to be tested because it might be painful. Could it mean to not test us too much, that is, more than we can handle?

Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I have no final answer for this midrash. I would encourage you to try this in your own study group or house church. The Jewish view is that it’s all right to argue, even question God’s message. It is incumbent upon us to wrestle with the scriptures, just as Jacob wrestled with the angel of the LORD, to find their message for us today.

May God Bless
Mike Toole
Lori Moores, ed.

1. Judith Kunst, The Burning Word: A Christian Encounter with Jewish Midrash, Paraclete Press, Brewster MA, 2006

2. ibid, p.3

3. ibid, p.8