Jesus Wasn't A Christian

This was an article that I read from a magazine that I got at Breakforth Canada 2012. The piece was written by a man by the name of Joe Amaral and though I am two days late in posting it, it's really cool to think of post-Palm Sunday.

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That statement may or may not shock you: Jesus wasn't a Christian! I can almost hear some of you gasping as you read this. But think about it. What is a Christian? By our definition it would be someone who follows Christ... so can He be a Christian? Of course not. So what was He? He was a First Century Torah-observant Jew.

Most believers in the West no longer think about Jesus' teachings from within His original cultural setting. We have fallen "hook, line, and sinker" for the Gospel and the Jesus that Hollywood has presented us. Almost every movie we see about Him shows Him as a person with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a British accent! The truth is that He was thoroughly Jewish and so was the world He lived in.

Many times we come to the text and perceive it through our North American lens. The danger in doing this is that we often add our own meaning or slant to the text to make it fit our cultural perspective. We have to take cultural practices and traditions into account. As you read the biblical text you have to constantly remind yourself that the Bible was not written today in Canada or the United States, but it was written thousands of years ago in a very foreign and different culture. 

It's also important to note that the Gospel writers were Jews writing to Jews. THis means that they left out many of their cultural implications because their Jewish audience would have already known the background. But for us -so far removed in space and time - it leaves us scratching our heads.

Have you ever read a passage and felt like there was more to the story? I'm sure we all have experienced this at various times. Let me give you an example. The Gospels record a historic event that we as Christians have come to call Palm Sunday - the commemoration of the day Jesus rode the donkey through the Eastern Gate. Have you ever asked yourself how was it that the people of Jerusalem were all waiting by the Eastern gate; they all brought an extra jacket with them and they all decided to bring  palm branch with them? The truth is that there were 360 days on the Jewish calendar, so why did everyone show up on that day? There were 7 gates into the city, so why wait at that particular gate? These are facts that most of us take for granted.

Not me ... I wanted to know! So I investigated, I questioned and I interviewed as many Rabbis and Jewish people as I could. I was astonished by the research!

I learned that each and every year, four days before Passover, the high priest would enter through the Eastern Gate carrying the lamb he had chosen from a special field in Bethlehem as the sacrificial offering to atone for the sins of the people. Think about it: each year, on that exact day, the people expected what was known as "the lamb of God" to be carried in through the Eastern Gate. No wonder everyone gathered at the entrance on that day. They all brought an extra jacket to create a first century "red carpet". After the priest carried the lamb through the gate, the people noticed some other commotion.

There was Jesus - the one whom John the Baptist had declared as the Lamb of God - also being carried in through the Eastern Gate. People immediately made the connection, and their attention shifted from the sweet little lamb... to Jesus! Talk about a wow moment, right?

This is the kind of information that the Gospel writers left out on a regular basis. That is why it is so important that we as modern day Christians begin to go back and learn about our Hebraic Roots. The Jewish culture adds the colour to the stories. As we understand the people and the times Jesus lived in, we will begin to get a clearer and more complete picture of who He really was and what He really said.

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Used by permission. All rights reserved to Breakforth 2012 Magazine.