PARASHAH

 Parashah (Portion)

Jesus was a Jew.  He walked and talked in the Jewish culture.  As an adult he was a carpenter and rabbi.  Rabbis had disciples (talmidim), people who dedicated themselves to studying under the tutelage of a particular teacher.  In the Jewish tradition Jesus would have read the parashah, or weekly portion of scripture each week from the Torah and the prophets.  The parashah was read and discussed in community life; reading, discussing, learning, and living the word of God was a way of life.  So, Jesus was a Jewish rabbi and I’m his disciple.  So does that mean I should study God’s word in the ancient traditions He studied in?  That I should study like a disciple following Jesus’ rabbinical way of teaching?  But I’m a Christian, not a Jew…or am I both?

Years ago I had surgery and they had to do a skin graft.  When the graft was healed I could see that the two pieces were different but had grown into one flesh.  Scripture says this is what happened to me when I was grafted in spiritually.  When I chose to belong to Christ I was grafted into his chosen people and their spiritual heritage.  So I am a Christian because I believe the only way to the Father is through Jesus.  But I also have a Jewish heritage that is rich and imperative to understanding Jesus’ culture and ultimately God’s word.

Riverside follows in this ancient tradition modeled by our rabbi Jesus.  As Christians we read from the Old Testament – the Torah and the prophets - and the New Testament (brit chadashah).  The portions are divided into thoughts or topics.  God has shown me that this is how He teaches me in everyday life - in thoughts, topics, lessons, themes.  To the unsuspecting person this collection of stuff going on in my life sounds like a cacophony – it’s just noise; it’ll settle down soon and life will be “normal”.  But when I look with my spirit and not my eyes I begin to see the lesson he has for me, the portion of himself he is revealing to me, the kingdom of heaven right here, right now.   When I take hold of this I begin to see the threads of my spirit weaving together with His.  I am grafted in.  Now I see… not everything, but a portion.

We cannot take all of God in at once.  He is too much; He is everything!  The world says you eat an elephant one bite at a time.  Our God gently offers himself to us one portion at a time.  Eat up!