Dear Refiner's Fire...

What I was going to ask you was basically the question of why Pharisees didn't like Jesus, as this would give hint on what it means to be "not of the world". I know that there are objections that Messiah should bring piece on earth. However, those aren't found in pages of the Bible. The main objection that you would see in the Bible is basically the fact that Jesus and/or his disciples were breaking Oral Law. The accusation of blasphemy of posing to be a messiah is a consequence of the violation of oral law, since if he kept the oral law then perhaps they would believe in his messiah-ship.

So then the question is what is the intention of such rebellion? I understand that messianic response is that you want to keep the written law but not the oral law. But still, there isn't a point of telling Irish to foresake their traditions in order to be christians. So why the trouble? I know that Jesus' objection was that people were so hung up on the oral law that they ignored the relationship with God. So he chose to rebel against the law. But this only caused them to be so hung up on his rebeliousness that they ignored the evidence for him being messiah. So in either case they are too hung up on something they shouldn't have. So what's the point of rebelling against oral law for the sake of rebelling?

I guess the reason I am asking is that this rebellion against oral law brought him to cross. So doesn't this, by itself, imply anti-semitism? After all, if there was a death penalty for breaking Irish traditions, then we would all comply with them. So Jewish traditions must be somehow worse than Irish ones, since Jewish law is the only law that you are taught to rebel against.

And by the way, Jesus didn't rebel against Caesar despite the fact that Caesar isn't the minister of God either. After all he said to give to Caesar what is Caesar's. And also when he knew he shouldn't have paid a tax he performed a miracle of getting money out of a sheep in order not to cause trouble. So why not also wash his hands before the meal just not to cause trouble?

Our Response....

You actually "hit the nail on the head" all by yourself! The Pharisees were "of the world", coming from their own, human, limited mindset. They hated Him because He spoke with authority (for instance, rabbis would always say, "thus saith the Lord", whereas Yeshua said, "You have heard it said, but I tell you...." And then He performed miracles before their eyes, even on the Sabbath, because He was trying to show them that they had made Sabbath into a burden rather than a day of rest from their normal work. It got to the point where many people wouldn't even get out of bed on the Sabbath for fear of being guilty of doing any kind of work! Yeshua told them that was wrong, and they hated Him for going against what THEY thought was the Word of God.

Ask yourself this: WHAT "oral law"? The Bible tells us that Moshe wrote EVERYTHING down that ADONAI told him on Mt. Sinai, so WHERE was the "oral law"? It came strictly from MAN's mind, which tried to dissect what ADONAI MIGHT have said or meant....

Yeshua wasn't blaspheming. As an aspect of YHWH Himself, He was God Incarnate, come down to teach man in a way that MAN could identify with. Was the "burning bush" blaspheming by pretending to be the voice of God? Were the "three men" (of which Abraham address THEM only as "Lord" - alluding to the ECHAD nature of God) who came to see Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre blaspheming God by advising Abraham that his old wife would have a son? (See Old Testament God) Was the donkey blaspheming God by "speaking" to its abusive master? How about the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night? They were "God" leading Israel in the wilderness....So what's so hard to understand about God sending an aspect of Himself in the form of a human being? Not only that, but THAT particular human being who was GOD IN THE FLESH was to be the once and for all DIVINE sacrifice, which did completely away with the need for anymore blood sin sacrifices!

Firstly, Yeshua never rebelled against Torah (the "law")! Never! He came to "kum" = establish/confirm Torah, not negate it in any way or abolish it altogether (see Mat 5:17). What he rebelled against was the RABBINICAL "law" - the rabbis had people so wrapped around the axle about God, that God's word had become a burden, more than anything. For instance, someone would be guilty of "work" on the Sabbath, if he spit on the ground and it rolled down the hill and formed a mud ball....

It's nice to have "traditions", but when those traditions negate the word of God, you're in trouble. God plenty of times rebuked people for their traditions. Here is what the BIBLE says about oral traditions:

2 Timothy 3:16-17: All scripture thoroughly equips you for every good work.

Mark 7:1-13: Tradition of religious leaders disrupts God’s word = hypocrites.

Colossians 2:8 - Watch out, so that no one will take you captive by means of philosophy and empty deceit, following human tradition which accords with the elemental spirits of the world but does not accord with the Messiah.

Proverbs 30:5-6: 5 Every word of God is pure; he shields those taking refuge in him. 6 Don't add anything to his words; or he will rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

Ecclesiastes 12:11-13: 11 The sayings of the wise are as sharp as goads, and those given by leaeders of assemblies are like well-fixed nails; [in this case,] they are presented by a single shepherd. 12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books - there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh. 13 Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. 14 For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.

Jeremiah 10:3 - Customs = vanity.

Genesis 40:8 and 2 Peter 1:20-21: Interpretations belong to God and not men.

Many things brought Him to the cross, mainly OUR sin. He CAME to be the final SIN sacrifice, and YHWH used man's actions to bring Yeshua to that point. Where's the anti-Semitism? Only the Jewish rabbis at that time were guilty of wanting Him dead. Yeshua had many followers and the rabbis were jealous. The Romans were the ones who actually nailed Him to the cross, but that wasn't necessarily anti-Semitism; they were doing the rabbis' bidding. God used the human sin nature to bring about His ultimate goal: To teach man in human form how to worship God and how to treat each other, and then be a Divine Sacrifice for ALL mankind. Simple as that.

Could you give me the Scripture that says Jesus got money out of a sheep?

Yeshua didn't "rebel" against anybody; He simply taught God's Truth. He did what He did to SHOW men where they were going wrong in GOD's eyes (by following traditions and oral interpretations of men). That's part of why He spoke in parables (as the OT said He would: PS 78:2), Mt 13:35) and challenged them to think for themselves (normally the rabbis did all the thinking FOR them...)

When He said to give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, He meant that we need to also obey our man-made governments because laws are necessary. Without laws, people would be running TOTALLY amuk, with everybody doing whatever was right in their own eyes. The Bible TELLS us to obey our leaders. The problem comes when our HUMAN laws go against GOD's laws.