This blog post recounts the transformative journey of a Jewish father, Stan, as he grapples with his daughter's belief in Jesus as the Messiah. Through personal anecdotes and scriptural exploration, he confronts his long-held beliefs and ultimately finds faith in Jesus, challenging the notion that Jewish identity and belief in Jesus are mutually exclusive.
In a heartfelt narrative, Stan shares his personal journey of faith, sparked by a phone call from his daughter, Judy. This call would challenge his understanding of Jewish identity and belief in Jesus as the Messiah, leading him down a path of exploration and revelation.
One Sunday night, Stan received a call from his daughter Judy, a student at Boston University. The tone of her voice indicated something was amiss. After some hesitation, Judy revealed that she had written a letter over two weeks, expressing her belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Stan was taken aback, feeling as if a knife had pierced his heart. He struggled to comprehend how his Jewish daughter could embrace a belief he had always considered impossible.
In his confusion, Stan reached out to a rabbi friend for advice. The rabbi reassured him that Judy was a good Jewish girl who would eventually return to her roots. Stan clung to this hope, but the reality of Judy's belief weighed heavily on him. When Judy returned home, their conversations were fraught with tension as Stan attempted to reason with her, insisting that a Jew could not believe in Jesus.
Judy challenged her father to read the Bible for himself, asserting that it was either true or false. Stan, determined to prove her wrong, reluctantly agreed. He began reading the New Testament, starting with the Gospel of Matthew. To his surprise, he found himself captivated by the text, despite his initial intentions to disprove it.
As Stan continued his reading, he encountered passages that resonated deeply with him. In the Gospel of John, he was struck by Jesus' assertion that Moses wrote about Him. This revelation prompted Stan to reflect on his own knowledge of Jewish scriptures, realizing he had never truly engaged with them.
The pivotal moment came while reading the Book of Acts, where Peter's vision challenged the exclusivity of the Messiah to the Jewish people. Stan was confronted with the idea that Jesus was not just for Jews but for all humanity. This realization forced him to reconsider his long-held beliefs.
Stan's exploration led him to Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53, where he saw the suffering servant and the prophecy of the Messiah's death for the sins of others. Overwhelmed with emotion, he wept as he recognized the significance of these scriptures in relation to Jesus. The idea that he had spent his life in synagogue without ever reading these crucial texts filled him with regret.
Further reading brought him to Jeremiah 31:31, which spoke of a new covenant with the house of Israel. This promise contradicted everything he had been taught about the new covenant being solely for Gentiles. Stan grappled with the implications of this revelation, realizing that his understanding of God’s promises was incomplete.
In June 1975, Stan attended a conference in San Francisco, where he met individuals who shared their faith without pressure. This experience deepened his inquiry into the nature of his beliefs. A conversation with a fellow attendee, Lillian, forced him to confront what he truly worshipped and whether God was at the center of his life.
After a night of turmoil and reflection, Stan found himself unable to sleep. He asked his roommate to pray for him, marking a significant moment in his spiritual journey. The next morning, during a meal with newfound friends, he found himself leading a prayer and, for the first time, ending it with "In Jesus' name." This moment was a volcanic eruption of faith, as he realized he had already believed but had been hesitant to accept it fully.
Stan's journey illustrates the profound struggle between tradition and faith, identity and belief. His story is a testament to the transformative power of seeking truth and the unexpected paths that lead to faith. Through his daughter's challenge and his own exploration of scripture, Stan discovered that being Jewish and believing in Jesus as the Messiah are not mutually exclusive, but rather part of a broader understanding of faith and identity.
