Repairer Of The Breach

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded The People of the Book with the following words of Jeffrey J. Butz:

 

(p.187) If Jewish Christianity had prevailed over Pauline Christianity,

history would likely have been written quite differently. It is quite likely

that such atrocities as the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust would

never have transpired. If the Jewish Christian understanding of Jesus had

prevailed, Jews and Christians might never have parted ways, and Islam would

never have become Christianity's perceived enemy. To this day, it is the refusal

of Jews and Muslims to accept the full divinity of Jesus that makes them

" pagans " and " heathens " in the eyes of many Christians.

 

The Brother of Jesus (And the Lost Teachings of Christianity) Chapter 10, pg.

187.

 

Here now, is Repairer Of The Breach.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

 

Repairer Of The Breach

 

(p.187) The breach between the people of the Book had already begun two thousand

years before Jesus at the time of Abraham. Abraham had two sons--Isaac and

Ishmael (see Genesis 16-17). Ishmael was the first-born. According to the

biblical story, Isaac is the ancestor of the Jews and Ishmael the ancestor of

the Arabs. Fundamentalist Christians look upon Ishmael as an illegitimate son,

and not part of the eternal covenant God made with Abraham, because he was born

of the slave woman Hagar. But according to Jewish law there was certainly

nothing illegitimate about the way Ishmael was born. When a woman was barren, as

Abraham's wife Sarah had been, it was lawful to conceive a child through a

maidservant or a concubine.* And that is what Abraham legitimately did with

Sarah's approval. And, apparently, God's as well, for God told Abraham that he

would bless Ishmael: " I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly

numerous...and I will make him a great nation " (Gen. 16:10). Muslims trace their

ancestry back to Abraham through Ishmael.

 

But when Sarah was ninety years old, God opened her womb and she conceived

Isaac, through whom the Jews trace their ancestry back to Abraham.

Fundamentalist Jews and Christians today make the claim that the eternal

covenant God made with Abraham was continued through Isaac alone and that

Ishmael and his descendants were cut off from the covenant. But while certain

statements in Genesis could be interpreted that way, it is vitally important to

note what Abraham did after the covenant was established (even before Isaac was

born): " Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his

house...and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day...And his

son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his

foreskin " (Gen. 16:23-25). Ishmael was circumcised the very day that God

concluded his covenant with Abraham. Circumcision was the sign, literally a

" sign in the flesh, " that one was part of the covenant, thus making Ishmael and

his descendants part of the covenant. One can see why the issue of circumcision

for Gentiles was the central issue at the Jerusalem Conference.

 

The recovery of James and the original Jewish Christian understanding of

Jesus may represent a real opportunity for more open-minded Christians, Jews,

and Muslims to heal the centuries of bloodshed and misunderstanding that have

divided them. James can serve as a desperately needed " missing link " between the

children of Abraham. In the words of the prophet Amos that James quoted in his

effort to unite Jews and Gentiles, James can today be the " repairer of the

breach. "

 

It is highly ironic that the overarching reason for James's obfuscation in

the church's tradition is that his very existence pointed to the real humanity

of Jesus. As long as James could be ignored, the dogma of the perpetual

virginity of Mary, and the associated dogma of the divinity of Jesus, could be

more assuredly asserted. But ever since the Enlightenment and the paradigm

changes in human consciousness wrought by it, more and more Christians have come

to question the doctrines of the incarnation and the Trinity. Taken literally,

these dogmas have not only divided Christians, Jews, and Muslims, but have also

divided Christians from each other.

 

In point of fact, not all Christians have adhered to these dogmas, and a

significant number of Christians in modern times have rejected them, the

Unitarian Universalist Church being the prime example (although many Christians

would say that Unitarians' denial of the trinitarian nature of God disqualifies

them from being " true " Christians). (p.189) The Jehovah's Witnesses have

similarly rejected Jesus' divine nature (and consequently they are labeled a

cult by many Christians). Most " true " Christians today, however, do not realize

that the divinity of Jesus was not an essential doctrine for most of the

founding fathers of the United States, many of whom were Unitarians and Deists.

Neither George Washington, nor Thomas Jefferson, nor Benjamin Franklin believed

that Jesus was anything more than a divinely inspired and chosen human

being--which is 'exactly' what James and the earliest Christians believed.

 

The recovery of the historical James represents an unprecedented opportunity

to " repair the breach " that has divided the family of Abraham. With the current

resurgence of interest in the historical Jesus (especially the increasing

acceptance of the Jewishness of Jesus), with the recent breakthroughs in our

understanding of Paul and Second Temple Judaism, and with the recent surge of

interest in James, an enormous paradigm shift seems to be looming on the horizon

for the Christian faith.

 

To repair the breach between the people of the Book would require Muslims,

Jews, and Christians to all give up the thing that most estranges them from the

others--Muslims, the " wall " of the Temple Mount on which the Dome of the Rock is

built; Jews, the " wall " of captured land and a literal wall in the West Bank;

and Christians, the " wall " of the divinity of Jesus. These are indeed enormous

sacrifices (perhaps most of all for Christians), but it is important for

Christians to remember that the early church councils such as Nicaea,

Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon were never about the 'full' divinity of

Jesus. Over and over again these councils, beginning with Nicaea, arrived at a

compromise position in declaring that Jesus was both 'fully human and fully

divine'. Unfortunately, throughout most of Christian history, Jesus' divinity

has been extolled at the expense of his true humanity. And that is exactly what

the recovery of James can help us to regain--the full humanity of Jesus and the

reconciliation of Abraham's descendents.

 

We should not be in a rush, as many modern writers seem to be, to reject the

church councils outright. There is nothing inherently wrong with the theological

compromise they reached. In fact, that is exactly what is needed today to

reunite the people of the Book. (p.190) Christians, Jews, and Muslims can all

surely agree that God was in Jesus just as surely as God is within us all. This

is something the early Gnostic Christians understood, something Christianity

lost when it declared Gnosticism a heresy, just as it lost the full humanity of

Jesus when it declared Jewish Christianity to be heresy. Perhaps the heretics

still have much to teach the orthodox. And the orthodox are being forced to pay

attention. It may be no accident that such astounding archaeological findings as

the Nag Hammadi library, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the James ossuary have all

come to light since the middle of the last century. A revolution in the

understanding of the common heritage of Jews, Christians, and Muslims is surely

under way.

 

Most fascinating is the fact that Jerusalem is, once again, at the epicenter

of religious evolution, a paradigm shift that was foreseen by the prophet

Isaiah, who foretold of a future day for Jerusalem:

 

Lift up your eyes and look around;

They all gather together, they come to you...

....the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Midian and Ephah;

all those from Sheba shall come....

All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you,

The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;

they shall be acceptable on my altar,

and I will glorify my glorious house. (Isa.60:4-7)

 

What is most intriguing here is the fact that Midian and Ephah, Sheba, Kedar,

and Nebaioth are all Arab tribes, and, through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah,

it is the God of Israel who declares that their offerings, " 'shall be acceptable

on my altar'. " At the time this prophecy was written down, its inclusive nature

was remarkable. In light of the current political climate between Jews and

Muslims, the passage is perhaps the most astounding and revolutionary statement

in the entire Bible. For Isaiah's vision to become reality--for Jews, Muslims,

and Christians to worship at the same altar--will obviously require no less than

a revolution in Jewish-Christian-Muslim understanding. But it can come to pass.

God's kingdom, the kingdom foreseen by Jesus when he prayed, " Thy kingdom come, "

may yet become a reality. Through Jesus' brother James, God seems to be calling

us to a common 'jihad'--to a holy struggle to bring reconciliation and healing

to God's splintered and wounded family.

 

(p.191) Dare we imagine a day when the children of Abraham have made

Jerusalem their shared spiritual home? Dare we be so bold as to imagine the Dome

of the Rock shining like a golden beacon from the center of the reconstructed

Temple, together with the New Jerusalem Church of St. James standing proudly

alongside? Dare we imagine Jews, Christians, and Muslims together worshipping

the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammad? Let us imagine as Isaiah did:

 

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift

up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your

sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their

nurses' arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and

rejoice. (Isa. 60:3-5)

 

And let us heed the words God spoke through Muhammad:

 

Your community is but one community, and I am your only Lord. Therefore serve

me. Men have divided themselves into factions, but to Us they shall all return.

(The Qur'an 21:92-93)

 

And therefore let us all take heart that Jesus' great prayer might be answered:

 

I ask...that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may

they also be in us, so that...they may become completely one...(Jesus, John

17:20-23)

 

The Brother of Jesus (And the Lost Teachings of Christianity)

Chapter 10, pg. 187-191

Jeffrey J. Butz

Inner Traditions - Rochester, Vermont

ISBN 1-59477-043-3

 

Notes:

 

*This was spelled out in the Law of Moses, as it was in the law codes of many

other ancient civilizations where it was considered a great curse and

humiliation for a wife to be barren and a man childless since they could not

then further the paternal line. Provisions were thus made for a man whose wife

was barren to have offspring.