[NOTE:
Asch's books are hard to find these days - but if you can find The
Nazarene or The Apostle on the used market, they will really change your
thinking about the life and customs of the men and women who preceded us
in the journey. jhs]
Luke 18:9.
Yahshua spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves
on being upright and despised everyone else, 10. “Two
men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax
collector. 11. The Pharisee stood there
and said this prayer to himself, ‘I thank you, Elohim, that I am not
grasping, unjust, adulterous like everyone else, and particularly that I
am not like this tax collector here. 12. I
fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.’ 13.
The tax collector stood some distance away, not
daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said,
‘El, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ 14.
This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did not. For
everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles
himself will be raised up.”
Romans 5:17-19.
It was by
one man’s offence that death came to reign over all, but how much greater
the reign in life of those who receive the fullness of grace and the gift
of saving justice, through the one man, Yahshua Messiah. 18. One man’s
offence brought condemnation on all humanity; and one man’s good act has
brought justification and life to all humanity. 19. Just as by one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience are many to
be made upright.
Justification
These two men,
a rabbi and a tax collector, went into the Temple court to pray. The
reason for them being there and doing that was so that each
might be justified before the Heavenly Judge. The word “justify”
is very important to our faith, and it means, “To free a person of the
guilt and penalty attached to grievous sin.” Paul defines
justification as “saving justice.” As disobedient creatures, we must seek
out and find our justification before Yahweh if we’re to be saved from a
wretched end. Again, Paul reminds us that,
Romans
5:18.
When one man sinned, all mankind became
condemned. But, in the same way, through one man came an act of
righteousness. It could bring life and make all men right with G-d.
(Simple English)
Of course, the
“one” man herein spoken of was Adam, and the second man, Yahshua.
1 Corinthians 15:22.
For as in Adam all die, so also in [Yahshua]
shall all be made alive. 45. Thus it
is written, “The first man Adam became a living soul,” but the last
Adam, a life-giving spirit.
Let us seek
complete justification – that our guilt might be washed away – that our
record might be expunged – that we might go forward to perfection in the
body of the life-giving spirit, Yahshua.
The Pharisee
Look at how the
Pharisaical rabbi tried to justify himself before the Heavenly Judge. He
spoke to Yahweh, comparing his good deeds to those of a man across the
room – a tax collector – the agent of Rome. The rabbi saw this man as the
chief of sinners, a traitor to the nation, a collaborator and profligate –
and he thanked G-d that he was so wonderfully righteous in comparison. He
reminded the Judge that he’d never been greedy, adulterous or unfair, as
everyone else had, especially that tax collector. After all, shouldn’t
the rabbi be rewarded with justification since he paid his tithes and
fasted twice a week? “Aren’t I good boy, Yahweh?” he asked as he stuck
in his thumb and pulled out a plumb. Although his works were good,
the Pharisee was neglectful of the weightier matters of the law. While
the outside of the cup sparkled, inside were cucarachas, maggots and
decaying flesh. The Pharisee was only fooling himself – he would not be
saved.
The Tax Collector
On the other
side of the room, the odious tax collector beat himself up in anguish for
his sins.
“And
though I be unworthy (x) through my manifold sins to offer thee any
sacrifice, yet I beseech thee to accept this my bounden duty and service,
not weighing my merits, but pardoning my offenses.”
He admitted
everything, holding nothing back. He threw himself upon the mercy of the
Judge, begging to be sent forth from that holy place as a changed man –
justified – pardoned – cleansed – saved.
Yahshua tells
his hearers that it was the sinner who was freed from not only his guilt
but also his penalty – a death sentence. The Judge reveals himself to be
very shrewd and discerning; he’s able to distinguish not only the haughty
from the sincere, but also sincerity from insincerity.
You Choose
St, John tells
us,
1 John 1:
8,9. If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
To put it another
way, the rabbi, in trying to excuse himself by proclaiming his good works
and upright character in comparison with the low-downer across the room,
pronounced sentence on himself. “For the
wages of sin is death”
(Romans 6:23).
Yahweh is merciful and compassionate, but he’s also smart enough to know
what dwells within each man. “For
everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles
himself will be raised up.” As it turned out, one sinner’s
repentance was a greater work unto justification and salvation than all
the good works of the Pharisee put together.
Now when we
remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, we’re
psychologically forced to put ourselves in the place of one or the
other: that of the saint who is rejected or the sinner who is accepted.
Although most want to think we’re somewhere in between, there isn’t that
choice – it’s one or the other, my friend. Or maybe it’s both at once.
Sholom Asch[1]
I use this
parable to introduce an essay I discovered this week
written by Sholom
Asch in 1941. Born in Poland in 1880 and raised in an intensely Jewish
environment, Asch acquired an excellent Hebrew education. He became a
United States citizen in 1914 and a patriot for his adopted nation. As
his career in writing about Jewish life flourished, many of his readers
began to wonder just what kind of Jew Asch really was. Why? Because he
wrote favorable biographies of Yahshua, of Mary, and of “The Apostle,”
right along with more “Jewish” kinds of characters.
I discovered
Sholom Asch this week in a book that’d been lying on someone’s shelf for
sixty years. As I read, I was struck by this man’s patriotism, faith and
politics, and the fact that the world situation of 1941 that he wrote of
was so similar to that of today. So with your permission, the remainder
of this message will express his lost thoughts – thoughts that I
hope will encourage you to do what’s right though not necessarily
expedient in the days ahead as you seek your own justification before the
bar of the Heavenly Court.
Sholom Asch
writes:
Man’s Sin[2]
We have all sinned. We
are all guilty in the calamity that has come upon us. We have all
contributed to the elevation of the demon of evil to the throne of G-d.
Have we Jews lived according to all the prescriptions thoughtfully
provided by our wise men ..., or according to the ethical concepts of the
Jewish faith? Were we the holy people, the people of the election, which
we were bidden to be, and which we persuade ourselves that we are? What
shall I answer?
We have commissioned
our Rabbis to make a “settlement” for us with the Accountant on High,
while we ourselves pursued earthly well-being as the highest good. It may
be, indeed, that we have been somewhat more generous than others ...,
simply because ... our common suffering has awakened in us a strong
feeling of mutual responsibility as a means of self-preservation. But
against this, we have been too [boastful], lacking in reserve and modesty
both in our acts and in our contacts ...
... I have the right
to address this question to the Messiahians [as well]: has Messiahian
man ... lived according to this faith? Has he suffered, surrendered, died,
and been purified in the spirit of Yahshua? Have the limbs of the
Messiahian been the vessels of Messiah? How can Messiahian man lift his
hand to do evil if he believes that he is a part of the suffering
Messiah and the Messiah is a part of him?
All of us must beat our
breasts in confession. A great Day of Atonement must come over the world.
Life must be remolded. Jew and Messiahian alike must turn back to the
origins of faith. We must choose a path of which we can say with the
utmost certainty that it is the good path. – G-d’s path – the
only one to be followed. More than at any other time in our history
we must be armed morally, so that every one of us may be conscious
that he is a defender of those moral goods without which life is
not worth the living. Our house must be put in order, and the order must
be a just one, so that every one of us is prepared to lay down his life
for it.
Such a change within
us, such conviction that we stand on the side of G-d, cannot be the result
of ideals emanating solely from the intelligence. One ideal alone
can save us – that which is [equated] with faith in G-d ..., There is no
measure of justice other than the justice of G-d: for justice is truth,
and there is one truth, and one truth only.
What I Believe
(1) It is my deepest
belief that just as I have a share in the G-d of Israel through my faith
in Him, that I stand under His authority and am included in the promise of
redemption, so my Messiahian brother has his equal share in the G-d of
Israel, stands equally under the authority and is included equally in the
promise of redemption: for he is a son of Israel equally with me.
His faith has made him a son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. My rights are
his, and I have a share in his religious values as he has a share in
mine. Basing themselves on this concept of equality, the sons of every
faith must justify themselves in [their] works. Man’s
ladder to [Heaven] is a ladder of works. ...
(2) It is my deepest
belief that man has been chosen by G-d’s grace from among all creatures.
Apart from the intelligence, which nature has given to every creature, ...
man alone among creatures possesses a heart[3]
that is a part of the endowment from above. Through his heart man stands
in mystic contact with heaven. By means of his heart man can acquire
intellectual and intuitive powers that are outside the competence of
nature ... G-d guides every individual destiny through the inspiration of
the heart. This inspiration is given to each one, and not only to the
elect, so that everyone may, in the exercise of his free will, reach to
the higher reason ... of the holy spirit. Each one of us can follow in
the footsteps of Amos, abandon the flocks, and become a Prophet in Israel.
I believe in the democracy of divine election; each one of us can become
even a Moses.
(3) ... It is further
my profoundest conviction that democracy[4]
– in the social system not less than in faith – is G-d’s especial gift to
man and resides in the act of grace that G-d performed for man in choosing
him among all creatures. Democracy is interwoven with faith and cannot be
separated from G-d. In having been chosen by G-d we became the children of
G-d: “For sons are
ye of Yahweh Elohim”
– all of us, and not just a few individuals. Any other
relationship between us and G-d or between ourselves would contradict the
will of the divinity, and would be incompatible with all that has
been given to the Jews by Moses and the Prophets, and all that has been
given to the Messiahians by Yahshua and the Apostles. Democracy is “all
the law fulfilled in one word, even in this:
Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself”
(Galatians 5:14).
This is the foundation that, together with love toward G-d, was given
through Moses, the Prophets, the Pharisees, Yahshua of Nazareth and the
Apostles.
“Love thy neighbor as
thyself” does not mean that you must be mild in your dominion over
[your neighbor]; it means that you shall not have any dominion
over him. He is a son of liberty not less than you, and the
relationship between you and him can be built only on a system that
assumes the rights of all. ... And as democracy is the will of G-d in
relationship between man and man, it is equally his will in the
relationship between man and G-d. ... The divine law was not given to the
angels, but to us. It lies before us like an open book. The measure is in
our hand.
Hence I believe
profoundly that there is no love of G-d without love of men. Service to
mankind is in my view the higher service of the divinity. But service to
mankind must not be seen in the throwing of crumbs to the poor; as we are
equal in our faith in G-d, so we must be equal in our faith in man. We
must work out a world order that shall rest upon equal distribution of
labor and rewards. “The right to happiness” must not remain an empty
gesture in our Declaration of Independence; it must be incorporated in the
administrative duties of the state. It must be interpreted in the material
sense to which men are bound by their nature: in food and clothing and
shelter, in the care for the aged, in our regard for widows, for the sick
and the weak. ... The inner security of our citizens must become the
cornerstone of our independence and freedom; it must become an [unspoken]
obligation ...; not because we regard social injustice as the most potent
instrument of the devil, ... but because without that obligation our
professions of faith are as empty as [gamblers’] oaths.
{Here 1
Corinthians 13:1-3 is quoted.}
(4) It is further my profoundest
belief that we must lead a life in faith; that is, we must become ... a
holy people. We can be a holy people only in a pure, ethical life ruled by
laws and commandments. But no commandments, though they have a thousand
eyes ... can purify and sanctify us if the heart of man does not sanctify
his life. The heart is a filter for all acts and thoughts. If the heart is
sound, man knows that his highest joy is bound up not with [indulgence]
and ... uncontrollable passion, but with purity, with modesty, and with
restraint.
There is no level of
corruption from which man cannot redeem himself, by the exercise of
his free will. Whenever he makes an effort at such redemption, he can be
certain of help from above. For G-d’s act of creation was not single and
unique; it is a continuity of relationship through the individual
destiny. I believe, therefore, that for every individual there [may
be] salvation, no matter how low he has sunk.
“Have
I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die,”
saith Yahweh Elohim, “and
not that he should return from his ways, and live?”
(Ezekiel 8:23)
The heart of man is
bound with the divinity through the light rays[5]
of divinity. To the darkest and most horrible retreats to which men have
withdrawn from the divinity, a ray of the divinity penetrates. And
for this reason we must never despair of a man, much less of a
group that is temporarily lost to the divinity. However deep a
group has sunk, we must continue to pray for it and help it with our ...
sympathies. And no matter how deeply we feel that we have been wronged by
such, we must exert ourselves to purify our hearts from bitterness.
We were worms in our
physical creation; we have become human in our hunger for the divinity.
The drink of G-d ... has enabled us to mount the ladder of Jacob that
rises from earth to heaven. If we will endure, and continue the upward
path, we will attain to the true salvation of a world that stands under
the authority of G-d through a single, universal redeemer.
The renewal of faith in the
divine force of our moral values as our sole hope in the darkness of
our night is what I would wish to submit to a suffering humanity. It
is America, which has been saved from the worst terrors of the night,
which has not been corrupted with the cynicism that has been the undoing
of Europe; it is America, young and powerful, blossoming in the
virginity of faith, which must become the leading spirit among the
nations. It is America, the land which has taken me in, among so
many other homeless ones, as a child of her own, which I would like to see
as a “light to the Gentiles,” leading the world back out of the night into
the authority of the one and only G-d.
Thus ends the
sermon by Sholom Asch. It’s amazing that an American Jew wrote it over
sixty years ago. It’s so relevant for believers today. We must go forth
as a repentant and justified people – but not just that. We must DO RIGHT
in every situation. We must SAY RIGHT in every conversation. We must
INTEND RIGHLY in every transaction – and we must THINK before we ACT:
“Will what I say or do jeopardize my witness? Disprove my claim to love
my neighbor? Demonstrate my will above what I know to be the
directive of Yahweh? Am I being what Yahshua would be? Am I godly and
righteous even in my secret times? Do I prove my diligence before him
even when no one else can see? Or am I a Pharisee and a whitewashed
tomb? Am I bound for life or death? For heaven or hell? For justice for
all or justice for a few? Am I living as a real American, founded on the
Commandments of G-d and the Testimony of Yahshua, powerfully exercising my
right to a morally right opinion in this crucial time? Am I? Am I?
What kind of a Chr-stian am I before Yahweh? A Pharisee who talks the
talk but is an inward deception? What will I stand up for? Before his
judgment bar, what kind of American will I prove myself to be?”
Our perfect and righteous
heavenly Father,
This day guide and direct our journey.
Sanctify our steps and co-ordinate our thoughts.
Ever lead us in the ways of eternal progress.
Fill us with wisdom to the fullness of power
And vitalize us with your infinite energy.
Inspire us with the divine consciousness of
The presence and guidance of the seraphic [angelic] hosts.
Guide us ever upward in the pathway of light;
Justify us fully in the day of the great judgment.
Make us like yourself in eternal glory
And receive us into your endless service on high.
From “Three
Prayers” © 2004 TheoQuest.org
top
[1]
Writer, born in Kutno, C Poland. He studied at his local Hebrew
school, then moved to Warsaw (1899), where he wrote stories, plays,
poems, and novels in Hebrew and Yiddish. He emigrated to New York City
(1914) and began as a writer for Yiddish newspapers. His play The
God of Vengeance (1910) enjoyed great success in Berlin, and
several other plays were later produced in the Yiddish theatre in New
York. He continued his prolific career as a writer, occasionally in
English, but mostly in Yiddish, and although he became a US citizen
(1920) and had a home in Florida, he often lived abroad. Most of his
works dealt with Jewish subjects, as in Mottke the Thief (1917)
and Three Cities (1933). His most famous books (to English
readers) formed a trilogy, The Nazarene (1939), The Apostle
(1943), and Mary (1949), in which he attempted to portray
Yahshua, Paul, and Mary in a way that bridged Messiahianity and
Judaism, but he so antagonized some American Jews that he moved to
Israel in 1956 where he died in 1957. © Crystal Reference 2003.
[2]
From The Wisdom of Israel by Lewis Brown, Random House, 1945.
[3]
The translator, Maurice Samuel, uses “soul.” I have updated it to
“heart” to keep the hearer from confusing Asch’s concept of soul with
the Roman Catholic concept of “eternal soul.”
[4]
Samuel uses the phrase “the democratic principle” throughout. I have
used the “democracy” to defuse any political rendering of these
passages, or the notion that Asch is speaking of the Democratic
political party of the 21st century.
[5]
Or “radiations of divinity.”
