Remember that awkward nerd girl at school? You know, the one who tried to hang out with the cool cheerleaders? The cool kids would always pick on her. They’d say nasty things to her. They’d make fun of her when everyone’s watching.
Even so, the nerd still vied for their approval. She’d brush her hair. She’d lose the thick glasses. Change the way she dressed. She even stopped hanging around her nerd friends. Her nerd friends were saddened by all this.
Despite all these supposed improvements, the cheerleaders still mocked her and made her a public spectacle.
I think Messianic Judaism is that nerd. There's a great inferiority complex in Messianic Judaism. Some of its leaders are trying very hard to make it fit in with greater Judaism, even to the point of alienating its own gentile friends and abandoning the New Testament model of joint, equal fellowship of Jews and gentiles.
Oh, hello, fellow Jew. I’m a Jew, too; a Messianic one. We’re a legitimate form of Judaism. Honest! Now, excuse me while I
put away my nerd glassessweep our gentiles members and all their crazy theologies under the rug. Just nevermind them!
Hey, look at me, I’m reciting the Sh’ma! Are we cool now?
What makes the situation worse is, the Judaic world will never accept Messianic Judaism as a legitimate form of Judaism. Only deluded optimists believe otherwise.
No matter how much liturgy we chant, no matter how much tradition we embrace, no matter how great the wall we build to separate us from our “undesirable” gentiles, as long as Yeshua is Messiah and Lord of Messianic Judaism, we will be shunned and downplayed and isolated and delegitimized by greater Judaism.
Let me say it again: Messianic Judaism will never be a legitimate form of Judaism as long as Yeshua is Lord.
It is very painful to watch as certain leaders divide and build more walls and distance itself from its friends in an ever-futile attempt to legitimize itself in the eyes of greater Judaism. Like the nerd girl trying to fit in with the cheerleader crowd, it’s all in vain. Messianic Judaism won’t fit in unless it denies Yeshua as King. It is painful to watch our faith strive in vain for approval in the eyes of men.
I don’t want the nerd girl to become a cheerleader. She’s too caught up trying to fit in with the cool crowd to notice who her real friends are. We can only hope and pray she realizes this as she gets older.