Continuing from Part One, if Jesus can be thought of as an (or “the”) Internationalizer of the Jewish Faith, then he was not trying to destroy the Jewish Faith, or replace the Jewish Faith, but transform it. As noted in the last post, the Jewish faith was what is sometimes called an “Ethnic Religion.” This is in contrast to a “Universal Religion” that sees its teachings, ethics, and practices as appropriate for all peoples, not one group alone.

What are some things that would have to happen for the Jewish Faith to be Internationalized? Here are a few:

—It cannot have a geographic center. The Jewish Faith was centered on the Temple in Jerusalem. We know there were other temples that were constructed to worship the God of Israel, such as Gerizim, and Elephantine, Egypt, but their validity was always questioned by the Jews who saw Jerusalem as the only place for proper ritual worship of Yahweh.

—It cannot be bound to ethnicity or an ethnic system.

—It cannot be tied to a national system. A state religion is not a universal religion.

—It must accept people of other ethniciies and cultures as equals.

When we look at the ministry of Jesus we see his focus on the Jews, and respect for the institutions of the Jewish faith, including the temple, synagogue, and annual festivals. He also clearly reverenced the Tanakh. Still in some ways, he undermined the more narrow aspects of the faith.

1. We see in John 4 in Jesus’ talk with the Samaritan woman that he saw the salvation of God coming through the Jewish nation, and that the Temple of Jerusalem as in some way more legitimate than the Temple in Gerizim. Despite this, he makes it clear that through himself times are changing. It will no longer matter where one goes to worship, and apparently ethnicity is not important since what is important is ‘spirit and truth.’ And as he reveals himself as Messiah, it is clear that he sees himself as much Messiah to the Samaritans as he does to the Jews.
2. Despite actively focusing on reaching out to the Jewish people, on numerous occasions went out of his way to reach out to non-Jews. This traveling through Samaria and ministering there rather than avoiding it, teaching and doing miracles in predominantly Gentile, and ministering specifically to Gentiles such as the “Canaanite woman” and the Roman Centurian, support this. They were not looked down as 2nd class, but were used as examples of faith that few Jews could match. (Note that one really should read the whole story of the Canaanite woman… don’t just read the first couple of lines to understand what Jesus was really saying. One of the biggest miracles and teaching event happened in Decapolis, a Gentile region, ministering to Gentiles. This is known as the “Feeding of the Four Thousand.”
3. His teachings focused on universal ethics (Great Commandment, Golden Rule) rather than festivals, sacrifices, and rituals.
4. Perhaps most importantly, his ministry was centered on the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven)— a “spiritual” kingdom that is not tied to ethnic or national institutions. The Kingdom of God is open to all, and the Messiah is for all people

It is interesting to note that the Jewish faith after the time of Christ became more in line with the Internationalizing message of Jesus. With the destruction of the 2nd Temple in the 70s AD, the Jewish faith lost is central location. Rabbinical Judaism dominated with focus on the assembly of the people (in synagogues) and focus on ethical teaching and doctrines. With the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt in the 130s AD, the last vestige of a link between Rabbinical Judaism to a nation or government disappeared.

It is in many ways too bad that the Internationalizing foundation of Jesus was often not embraced by the Christian church in the opposite direction. The early church became more distinctly, Greek, or Roman, or Coptic, or Syraic, or Celtic or whatever. It ceased, however, rather fast to be Jewish. Many seemed to believe that Christian liberty from Jewish requirements actually meant being obligated to avoid them.

Jesus told his disciples to be his witness to the ends of the world and to the end of the age. While Jesus did carry out much cross-cultural work, his internationalization of the Jewish faith, made the path fairly clear for his disciples (with occasional little nudges along the way).