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Journey of the Magi
James Jacque Joseph Tissot
1836-1902
by Donna Diorio
Just like it is necessary for
Christians to acquaint themselves with the Feasts of the LORD that God
commanded Israel to observe in all their generations, it is essential for our “one new man” unity
for Messianic Jews to have the same regard for the Christmas story.
This is not a call for Messianic
Jews to enter into all the out of
control commercialization and materialism that Christmas has morphed
into for most people. If Christians are honest with themselves, these displays
of Christmas are a far cry from the real focus of Christmas, the story of His
birth prophesied hundreds of years before God’s purposes from the genesis were
played out in O Little Town of Bethlehem.
The failures of what Christmas has
become to most people – #1 being nothing to do with Jesus – should not
deter us from returning our hearts to what it was meant to be to us.
Clearly, the story would not have been detailed in Scripture if it were not an important witness to us.
As Luke wrote in his opening
statement, Luke 1
"Many have undertaken to
compose an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by the
initial eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning,
it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
Theophilus, 4 so that you may know
the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Gabriel
Foretells John’s Birth 5 "In the time of Herod king of Judea there was
a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah, and
whose wife Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron. . . ." [BibleHub,
Berean Standard Bible: Luke 1]
Luke’s “orderly account” of “the
things that have been fulfilled among us” include the prophetic fulfillment of
the birth of Yeshua. This testimony is essential to those of us are eager to
enter into all the fullness God has for us in our inheritance in Yeshua as
Christians and Messianic Jews. All we have to do is not fall for the devil bait
of debate arguing over the details of dates, pagan origins, etc. The simple
focus on the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word that was fulfilled in a miraculous
birth of His Son in human flesh is all we need to embrace a holy day to
recognize Yeshua’s birth.
I know that many Christians do not
believe they need to know anything about the Feasts of the Lord that the Jewish people observe, just like many Messianic
Christians don’t think they really need to take notice of Christmas either. It
may or may not be , but I suspect the reason both sides feel this way is because of the excesses of our respective
traditions that have nothing to do with what God’s Word said. I understand
that.
More and more I want to escape the
traps that Christmas has evolved into. It would just mean non-participation in
what the family did in one of our too-rare family get-togethers. We have to
balance our desire to stay true to the Spirit
- the real Spirit – of our holy days and not withdrawing from our
families.
As for our spiritual families, it
seems that like the apostle Paul saw Messianic Jews being able to eat at the
same table as the non-Jewish Christians, in the same way that now the issues
surrounding Christmas and the Feasts of the Lord are things we must reconcile
better as “one new man.”
That is my view, for what it is
worth to my fellow lovers of God and His Messiah. Thank you to all my Messianic
friends who have long made Christmas acceptable, even appreciated.
The
story of the birth of Yeshua is just as precious as any story in our Bible.
It is a story that changed everything for all of us. It is an important
testimony that nothing is impossible to our God who works in mysterious ways…even ways that offend us. I believe this
is one that will require both “one new man” of Messianic Jew and Gentile
Christians to overcome our offenses with each other’s holy days and find the
unity that exists is Scripture regarding them.
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