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Paul, the great Emissary of Messiah Yeshua, wrote: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile (lit. Greek) (Romans 1:16).
I think by now you all know that Alexandra and I take special joy in being a Jewish-Greek couple. And I think by now you all know that one of my very favorite themes in the Scriptures is how God brings Jew and Gentile together in the great Flock belonging to Yeshua the Messiah. In fact, I consider it to be one of the subtle but great themes of the holiday of Shavuot.
From our reading this morning of Acts 2:5-8 in many languages, I’d like to zero in on verse 5 especially, because I think there are broad and important implications. Once again, it reads: Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Luke tells us that these God-fearing Jewish people were ‘staying’ in Jerusalem; not ‘living,’ there, but ‘staying’. In other words, they were visiting from distant lands, and had remained in Jerusalem for an extended period of time.
Since Passover and Shavuot are two of the three holidays for which God required Jewish men to be present in Jerusalem, and since Shavuot followed Passover in a relatively short time, it would make no sense for Jews who lived in distant lands like Persia or Rome or parts of North Africa, requiring weeks of travel, to return home after Passover, only to have to turn right around again and hurry back to Jerusalem. So in most cases, they would arrive in time for Passover, and remain in or near Jerusalem through Shavuot, staying with family members or close friends. Consequently, Jerusalem would swell to over twice its usual population during that season.
Why were Jewish people living in all these other countries? How did they get there? How long had they been there? It goes back to the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Because of our idolatry and disloyalty, Adonai sent us into exile. Our people were scattered, not just to Assyria and Babylon, but across the face of the earth! And even when the way was opened for us to return to Judea, only a small fraction of our people took advantage of it. We’d grown too comfortable in the lands of exile. But as sad as life in the Diaspora had been, those same circumstances set the stage for something wonderful that God was about to accomplish.
Now one of the wonderful things I appreciate about Adonai, is that He is very efficient. So, think about this: what better way for the Good News to make its way to the far reaches of the earth, than to have so many devout Jewish men from these nations gathered in Jerusalem at the zenith of Yeshua’s earthly ministry?
Perhaps some of them saw Him raise Lazarus from the dead. Certainly, some of them were present at His death, and then learned of His resurrection on the third day. Some witnessed the incredible transformation of His once fearful disciples into courageous apostles. And, these men were still present in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in power at Shavuot. Among the 3,000 that became believers that very day, undoubtedly hundreds and hundreds of them returned to their respective countries, now filled with the Holy Spirit and bearing the message of salvation!
Consider the scope of what Adonai was wanting to accomplish. You see, He wants people from all nations to believe in Yeshua, and to become His people. And, once again, Jews were His chosen messengers. Do you think it mere happenstance that Jewish people are disproportionately talented in the communicative arts? I believe Adonai made us this way, so that we would convey to the world the message of salvation.
The problem is that our Jewish people, for the most part, have squandered that gift because we refused to embrace God’s Chosen Servant, Messiah Yeshua. So today you have Jewish people, consummate story-tellers, authors, comedians, movie producers, educators… being divinely-equipped to tell the ultimate story, the Gospel, yet unwilling to believe, let alone advance it. What a sad irony.
Nevertheless, the very first missionaries – ambassadors of the Good News were all Jewish men. And through these faithful and courageous Jewish men, people from all the nations of the earth have had the Gospel preached to them.
Something else about Shavuot: I believe the greater message of bringing Jew and Gentile together under the Kingship of Messiah Yeshua was prefigured in the commandment that on Shavuot the High Priest wave two lambs and two loaves of bread before Adonai. We read about this special wave offering in Leviticus 23.
From the day after the Sabbath – the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering – count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then, present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering… They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops… The priest will lift up two lambs as a special offering to the Lord, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops (Leviticus 23:15-17a, 20).
It wasn’t two wave offerings, but one. Two lambs waved with two loaves. The loaves, baked with leaven, represent the two categories of people in the world: Jews and Gentiles. Leaven, because humanity is infected with sin. Lambs, because like sheep, human beings are prone to foolishness; we often don’t know what’s good for us, we wander off into dangerous places, and we are easy prey if there isn’t someone watching over us.
Through faith in Jesus the Messiah, Jews and Gentiles are brought together – a pleasing offering before the Lord. For this reason, Yeshua could say that in Him there would be one flock and one Shepherd (John 10:16).
We are that flock – HIS flock. May our lives reflect the joy of being a redeemed people, and may our genuine love for one another reflect the unity that Shavuot was meant to foreshadow.