Messianic Judaism, Evangelicalism and Catholicism

Even though the New Testament does not impose the Jewish way of life to gentile believers, the idea is not to discard Judaism.  I am grateful for having discovered the Jewish feasts, the Shabbat rest, and the treasures of the Torah.  I believe Jewish believers have an essential role in keeping, valuing and cherishing their precious biblical heritage.  Christianity suffered a great loss when it separated itself from its Jewish roots, and it is encouraging to see that many gentile believers are rediscovering them today.  We have every interest in learning about Judaism and celebrating it.

For this reason, I was excited to find congregations where Yeshua could be praised in a Jewish way when I first discovered Messianic Judaism.  But was this form of worship really Jewish?  As I began to reflect on the "Jewishness" of most Messianic congregations, I was once again faced with a surprise.  I realized that the most Jewish form of worship to Yeshua was found elsewhere, where I least expected it.

Let's think for a minute of an average service at a Messianic congregation in Israel today.  Typically, we will have 45 minutes of praise and worship, a short teaching on the Torah portion, announcements and prayer, a sermon, a time for more worship, spontaneous prayer and personal ministry.  What picture do we see?  American Evangelical Christianity.  This is a Christian service, sometimes charismatic, with some cosmetic "Jewish touches" added: the "Sh'ma", the Torah portion, a correct "Jewish-friendly" vocabulary avoiding words that sound "too Christian", and perhaps the Aaronic benediction.   Apart from these few elements, we may want to ask ourselves whether Messianic services are really based on the Bible and on Judaism, or rather on the traditions of Protestantism and of the Pentecostal movement. 

Now let us consider some points of traditional Judaism: We see a liturgical form of worship with readings from the Scriptures, the singing of psalms, prayers for the deceased, and the presence of an oral tradition.  When we look at the people of Israel in the Tanakh we also see a human hierarchy ruling the people of God, and the use of physical means  - the temple sacrificial system - to express spiritual realities. 

Which form of Christian worship corresponded best to this picture?  I had to admit that Catholicism did.  The practice of asking for God's mercy for the deceased, in particular, not accepted among Protestants because it conflicts with their view of salvation and supposes the existence of purgatory, has been an ancient practice in Judaism even before the time of Yeshua.[9]  As for the sacraments, I realized that they were the New Testament way of expressing spiritual realities through physical means.  Far from being a distraction from Christ, Christ was truly present in them.

Many believers who come from a religious background experience a sort of "anti-religious" reaction when they come to faith.  I belonged to this group, and typically expressed my feelings by saying that I "had left the bondage of religion to find freedom in Christ", or "had found a simple faith in the Messiah" and therefore did not need anymore all these rules and regulations.  "Religion" was a bad word once you became a believer.

I now realize that such an attitude is nowhere to be found in Scripture.  Yeshua and the prophets before Him often denounced the hypocrisy of a religion devoid of inner contents, yet never attacked the religious system itself.  Isaiah, for instance, writes "Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies - I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.  Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates..." (Isa. 1:13-14).  Although his words are harsh, everybody knows that Isaiah was not criticizing the Jewish religion (established by God), but its hypocritical, outward practice when the participants' hearts were not right with God.

Although I made this distinction while reading Isaiah, I failed to perceive it when I attacked Catholicism.  I saw a religious system, knew people who belonged to it and were poor witnesses of the Messiah (including myself in the past), and therefore, I concluded, the entire system must be corrupt.  It did not occur to me that the Catholic liturgy could be a good and valid form of worship that could be abused by ungodly people.  I imagined that the early Christians had a free, Pentecostal-like service with no real structure.  But the testimony of the early Church proved me wrong once again, as I discovered texts revealing an early form of...the Catholic liturgy as the form of worship in the early church, which had developed from the existing worship in the synagogues.[10]

Not only is Catholicism not pagan, I wondered in amazement, it is Jewish!  Who would have imagined it? Many Jews, in fact, did discover this startling fact.  I found at Catholic Answers several books containing testimonies of Jews who found the Messiah in the Catholic Church.  Many of their stories are incredible.  Some directly converted to Catholicism from Judaism; others found Messiah through Evangelical Christianity or Messianic Judaism, and later found the fullness of their faith in the Catholic Church.

Eugenio Zolli, for example, was the chief rabbi of Rome during the Second World War.  Despite this important title, he is now a forgotten figure in both the orthodox and Messianic Jewish communities, because he became a Catholic.  This brilliant spiritual man tells of his own story in the book Before the Dawn, particularly fascinating because of his circumstances as a Jew persecuted by the Nazis.  Interestingly, he expresses much gratitude to Pius XII for his involvement in protecting the Jews of Rome from persecution, the very Pope that is now under attack for his alleged inaction and silence during the Holocaust!

Rosalind Moss is an example of an orthodox Jew who found her Messiah through Jews for Jesus and served the Lord as an Evangelical Christian for 18 years.  As she explored Christianity from biblical and historical perspectives, she realized that the Catholic Church is in fact the Church Yeshua established 2,000 years ago.  She entered the Church in 1995 and is now a staff apologist at Catholic Answers.

Other well-known examples of Hebrew Catholics include the brothers Theodore and Alphonse Ratisbonne, who founded the Fathers and Sisters of Zion in 1852, two congregations dedicated to prayer for and evangelization of the Jewish people; sister Edith Stein, who died in the gas chambers in Auschwitz and offered her life "as a sacrifice for the conversion of the Jews", Jean-Marie Lustiger, the present Cardinal of Paris who, like Zolli, was baptized during World War II; David Moss, brother of the aforementioned Rosalind and president of the Association of Hebrew Catholics; and Martin Barrack, author of the book "Second Exodus", which illuminates the Jewish heritage of the Catholic Church.  The book is the centerpiece of Marty's Second Exodus apostolate which helps Catholics serve Jews interested in learning more about the Church.