How do we come to be so confused?

I was walking up the road one morning to do some shopping when I was stopped by a man begging the price of a cup of coffee. He was just out of prison, he said. He had been in prison a number of times, and always for the same offence: stealing from off licences. We continued to chat, and the conversation turned to spiritual matters. He said he was a Roman Catholic. OK, I said, but I suggested that the most important thing was not the denomination he belonged to so much as a personal relationship with God. After all, I said, Jesus wasn’t a Protestant, or a Roman Catholic. He was a Jew. “No, he wasn’t,” he said. “Nah. He was the first Roman Catholic.”

Does that seem surprising? Then how about this.

Richard Harvey, a British Jew, went with a mixed group of youngsters on a visit to a synagogue. The rabbi asked each one to describe his religious background. Harvey said he was a Jewish Christian. “I’m sorry, you don’t exist,” the rabbi told him.

Here’s something that may seem strange at first sight. A Jew is born a Jew, and consequently will always be a Jew. You can be a Buddhist, and still be a Jew. You can be a humanist, and still be a Jew. You can even be an atheist, and still be a Jew. But according to Jewish thinking, it’s impossible to be a Christian and a Jew. The two things are mutually exclusive. If you’re a Christian, then you are no longer Jewish.

Another Jewish rabbi, explaining why Jews don’t believe in Jesus, wrote that for 2,000 years Jews have rejected the Christian idea of Jesus as Messiah. That’s not wholly true. The early Christian church was Jewish. The apostles were all Jewish. The believers were all Jewish. Gentiles may have been touched by the gospel as it began to be preached after the resurrection, but it was only after Peter’s encounter with Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 that church membership was opened to the Gentiles.

How did we get into such confusion? Is Jesus Jewish? Was He the Jewish Messiah, the long-awaited fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy? Why is it impossible for a Jew to believe in Jesus? Did He just come to found a new religion?

There has been frightful misunderstanding. But something is happening in our day. More and more Gentile Christians are becoming aware of the Jewish roots of their faith. Equally, at the same time, more and more Jews are becoming aware of Jesus. Not, I would suggest, by accident.

Consider the facts.