That Jesus Glow

"Do they shine like Jesus?"

TWO MEN with the same appearance have a very different heart. Side-by-side, they resemble. Inside-out, they don’t.

We judge by appearances all the time. We’ve fought wars over it. But hatred is hatred in any clothing, and mercy is mercy in any culture. It isn’t their tattoos we should notice, nor their skin color, it is Jesus. Do they shine like Jesus?

A Jew wears certain clothing as described in the Torah. Depending on their conservatism, there are different styles. All of it has a Hebrew name and a particular purpose, both for men and for women. Married woman wear scarves over their hair, as suggested to the church at Corinth. Paul chose a Jewish custom from the Law to show proper decorum in that culture (1 Corinthians 11). Men wear tefillah on their shirts and a kefir on their head. They grow the hair on their temples to some length.

We’ve judged them for it. But who pleases God’s heart? Us, dressed in what we call freedom from the Law, judging them for the Law? Or them, following the Law, to show their covenant?

In another picture of the Jews, we have their rules of washing and eating. Paul himself covered this well in Romans 14. But see Jesus here. He honored the Law in His fasting in the wilderness. He honored it in His eating the Passover. He told the cleansed lepers to go show themselves to the priest, as commanded in the Law (Matthew 8:4;Luke 17:14). Though He made a point, more than once, in speaking to the Jewish religious leaders, to correct them for how they had corrupted the Law, He commanded no one to stop following it. In fact, He said in His sermon on the mount that He came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it (Matthew 5:17).

So given their covenant has been fulfilled and it is eternal, is our judgment of them really God?

Look at children. They do what they know to do where they are in age and knowledge. Yet, we speak of the Jews, without qualm. We let a language barrier and physical distance and wrong church ideas speak instead of the Spirit. And this thought applies to our need for denominations. God sees the heart of every man and angel and devil and knows us well. When we criticize pastors, rabbis, worship artists – Jew or Gentile – we show how immature we are. First, God doesn’t need our defense. We are told to pray for people (1 Timothy 2:1), to show them the love of God. He then does the healing. Second, hear Paul on this too:

“Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2 BSB)

They were arguing over church leaders. He called it childish. We make sin what isn’t sin. We make glory of what isn’t ours to glory in. Does it matter how the Jew dresses if he’s faithful to G_d? Or does it matter that we criticize them and say it’s acceptable? Which is more important, that we’re Pentecostal and proud? Pentecost is a Jewish holiday. The Day of Pentecost was 120 Jews in the Jews’ capital city celebrating according to the Law, and 3,000 Jews were saved. Now see Peter’s vision of the sheet let down from heaven. The Spirit said, “Rise, Peter; kill, and eat (Acts 10:13),” but he argued against it. “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean (Verse 14).” Peter was still following the Law. There is no place in God’s children for arrogance.

Jesus is humble. This is the first thing you’ll learn if you meet Him. Oh, and Jew.

Illustration by Chris Costa on Unsplash


----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com