Ki Tisa (When you take)
Ex. 30:11 - 34:35

This week's Torah for Today is by Russ Resnik, General Secretary of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
 

Moshe rabbenu ­ Moses is our teacher not only because he brought down the very words of God from Mount Sinai , but also because he lived those words himself. And to live the teaching of God, Moses had to endure a number of tests. In this week's parasha, Moses endures a test that I believe we all as Messianic Jews endure as well. Indeed it is a test of our entire movement. Will we remained identified with our people, despite the great Jewish "No" to Yeshua, or distance ourselves from our people? Will we remain identified and thereby gain a powerful position of intercession on behalf of our people, or develop a religious movement designed for our own comfort and self-fulfillment?

When Moses remains on Mount Sinai longer than the people of Israel expected that he would, they collaborate with Aaron to build an image of the "god" that brought them out of Egypt .

Here is the great test: Will Moses distance himself from Israel because of their sin, as the Lord seems to suggest, or will he continue to identify with his people despite their sin? Leading this band of former slaves filled with contention, doubt, and rebellion, through the wilderness to freedom has already proven to be a great burden. Here is a more direct and less troublesome way to accomplish God's purposes. Let the people receive their well-deserved punishment for the sin of idolatry, and the Lord will raise up a new people through Moses.

But Moses refuses this path, remains with his people, and thereby retains the right to intercede on their behalf. He maintains an intercessory position by identifying with his people despite their sin, and therefore can make an intercessory petition that saves his people from their sin.

The nineteenth-century Hasidic classic Sfat Emet quotes the Midrash on Exodus 32:19: "He hurled the tablets from his hands and shattered them."

This is the stance of intercession. Moses identifies so closely with his people that, in the thinking of the Midrash, he even sins to be more like them. Then, he who has communed with God face-to-face can plead on behalf of the whole people, as one of them. Moses as the Prophet has access to the very councils of God (Jeremiah 23:18 -22), and employs this access on behalf of Israel .

When I see us ­ the Messianic Jewish movement ­ in this story, I do not compare ourselves to Moses. We have certainly not attained his spiritual stature. Nor do I compare the Jewish "No" to Yeshua to the sin of the golden calf. Rather, the comparison is this: As Moses stood with his people in all their wanderings, so must we. As Moses, in the imagery of the Midrash, was even willing to become tainted for the sake of his people, so must we be willing. As Moses would not allow his privilege with God to distance him from his people, but employed it to intercede for his people, so must we intercede.

Identifying with imperfect people while drawing near to the perfect God is the essential intercessory tension. It appears repeatedly throughout Scripture, from Abraham pleading for Sodom , through Esther pleading for Israel in exile. Intercessory tension is embodied in Messiah himself, "who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:6-8).

Messianic Judaism is in a position to right the great error of former times when Jews were expected to divorce themselves from their people when they bowed to Messiah. Perhaps, like Moses, they could find reason to do so, but such a divorce would ignore God's highest purposes of redemption. Instead, by maintaining the position of intercession we, like Moses can petition in intercession on behalf of our people.

In current discussions of the meaning and identity of Messianic Judaism, we must include a self-definition as an intercessory movement. We must position ourselves in continuity with Jewish life and tradition. We are a Jewish faith expression, with Messiah as our distinguishing trait ­ distinguishing us within Israel , not from Israel .

In this position we can discern the powerful intercessory content of much of our tradition. Many of the prayers of the synagogue are cries for the salvation of Israel and the restoration of the world. As Messianic Jews we can recite these prayers with deep kavanah that we are standing in the place of Moses to intercede for our people, and all peoples. As a brief example, we may consider the final lines of the Kaddish, "May there be great peace from heaven, and life, upon us and upon all Israel , and say, Amen. He who makes peace in his high places, may he make peace upon us and upon all Israel , and say, Amen."

Such prayers remind us that it is not enough to maintain an intercessory position; we must use this position to cry out for the redemption of Israel . We need an intercessory prayer movement within Messianic Judaism, recognizing that prayer for the salvation of our people must undergird all the worthy efforts we undertake to build up the Messianic community.

This recognition has inspired our UMJC Prayer Campaign during the days of counting of Omer, April 8 through May 27. The goal is not only to unite a significant element of Messianic Judaism in prayer for God's purposes among us, but to launch a prayer movement within our community.

You can participate in this Prayer Campaign as part of your UMJC member congregation, or by contacting office@UMJC.org for a prayer guide. Include your mail address with your e-mail.

What can we anticipate from such intercessory prayer? Moses turned down God's offer to make a great nation of him, and instead identified with the sinful nation dancing around the golden calf. He cried out to God to spare the people because of God's own nature and reputation, "and the Lord relented, VAYINACHEM, he changed his mind from the evil he said he would do to his people" (32:14). Our prayers have weight in the councils of the Most High. Let us employ our access before him to cry out for the good of our people Israel .