How to make the world better: The problem of sin or whatever you call it (A Yom KIppur message)

Given on Yom Kippur 5783 (5 October 2022)

 

L’shana tovah to each of you as we meet this morning in person and as we continue to process the 10 days, this period in Jewish history, and dare I say, human history, when God sought and seeks a visit with each one of us. In the Torah, in Leviticus chapter 23, God invites us to meet with him, appointments we call them in modern days, mo’edim in Hebrew, and these are special annual appointments. 10 days ago we celebrated here on the 5^th of those appointments, and there are 7 of them all together. Today is the 6^th of them. We call it the Day of Atonement. During these special 10 days we have been invited to meet with the King. 

You know that millions, if not billions of people watched at least some of the endings of Queen Elizabeth II. Farewelling someone after they pass, is a picture of respect to be sure, and how that person who is now gone, has helped or impacted us. I wonder what you would say if you had met with the queen or the new king. What if you had met them previously and had to comment to us about that meeting—what would you say? What if his assistant would ring you later today and invite you to meet with King Charles, what would you say? 

I enjoy pondering such almost-impossibilities. Like the old “What would you use the funds for if you won the lottery?” Or, in mathematics I used to discuss ad nauseum with professors and other students alike formulas and games and puzzles that just didn’t add up, at least not easily. About polynomials and non-negative integers and how many … oh, sorry about that. Back to our subject.

What would you say if you were invited to meet King Charles? And what would you say if you took this notion of appointment to meet the King of Kings today? This is a serious exercise. It’s what we are doing today and I’d like to give you a subject about which to speak with our King… the world is a mess, and seems to be getting messier. Do you think this is true? Some people don’t speak with each other in kindness. The exchange rate against the Greenbacck is down to 64 cents to the dollar, and our own rate of borrowing is climbing, and inflation is killing us, and petrol prices as well are out of control. The world seems to be messy. And if so, who on earth can fix it? Maybe you and the king can sort this out?

In all fixing situations, whether in the chemistry laboratory or every unsolved crime drama on the television, there are many who have the answer or answers, and then the majority of folks who scratch their heads in pondering. When I was 18 I knew how to end all wars, and I proved that by participating in campus riots and end-the-Vietnam-war protests. I was reminded of them last Saturday in a park by Central station as the Iranian protests continued with loud volume, signs and hair cutting. I doubt the ayatollah will even be made aware of any of our activities here.

Dealing realistically with the troubles and problems that face your world, your country, your city, your household, even your psyche--  how is a person supposed to fix it? 

Let me offer three possible solutions and then dismiss two of them fairly quickly. 

Yom Kippur is celebrated today on the 10^th of the month of Tishri. And maybe ‘celebrate’ isn’t the right word. You see it’s the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the day of Atonement, making right with the God of the universe after a year’s worth of not exactly living as holy as he requires. So it’s a day of asking for forgiveness and apologizing for a massive list of sins, some of which we have done in the Vidduy/ Al Chet. We admitted things we did wrong and things we simply failed to do that would have been right. A full day of apologies sounds a bit much for many people, but in context, it’s refreshing and freeing to mention sins by name, one by one, and leaving them at the foot of the Lord. He loves to forgive us. And desires us to make right with him. 

Let’s dig in a bit more on this subject of today’s appointment, before we consider how to repair the messy world. Yom Kippur is actually the day of ‘atonements’ (Plural). Why? Because we have many things in many circumstances that need repair. Economic, political, social, personal, interpersonal, the list goes on. Getting right with people and getting right with God. The 10 days that end tonight are nicknamed the “Aseret Y’mei T’shuva” or the “10 days of awe (or repentance)” God as King is highlighted and he judges us one-by-one. That’s why we offered prayers of repentance and why I’m giving a sermon about God’s awesome desire to forgive us as well. 

Sin, which is not usually a big issue for Jewish people, comes to the fore. We try to do good all year, and then however it comes to us, at this season of the year most notably, we consider the idea and the terms of sin. Usually we consider sin only in terms of big evils, like war crimes or major global players getting caught in obvious crimes. But during the 10 Days, we are reminded again and again, in synagogues and in private conversations, that our sins are ever before us. 

I’m sorry if this notion of sin is uncomfortable for you.  You see, without admitting our sins we would never even begin to consider our need for a Saviour. We each had to look at the mirror of our lives, realize our sin, and then begin to look for salvation. 

So let’s talk about sin or the problems of our broken world, and the methods some use to fix them. First is what we will call “REFORM.” It’s where we as a community work hard to fix what is broken. We have heard that God will judge us by our deeds and so if we have more good deeds than bad deeds, surely he will reward us with another year of life on earth. The world is a mess and if we all simply reform ourselves a little and make good efforts to make the world a better place, then surely that will make it happen. Listen I applaud all such efforts by all good people to practice tikkun olam, repairing the world. Getting rid of corruption in politics and in casinos. Stopping the illegal drug cartels. Preventing the sex trade industry from advancing, having community clean up days. I’m all in favour of all those initiatives. Reform certainly has a role to play as we make the world in which we live better. I’ve lived in very poor neighbourhoods and in upscale locations, and to be honest, I find the usual safety in the upscale ones to be helpful and desired. 

But this week on the news I saw more information about gangs of youths sneaking around favourable neighbourhoods and seeking out cars to steal and houses into which to break. Video footage both by CCTV AND by the youths themselves who boasted on their social media about their crimes they (for now) got away with committing. 

For reform to work, it has to be comprehensive. Everyone has to participate. That’s one of those movie themes that gets much airplay. Everyone is going in one direction, usually to practice evil or to turn away from it, and one person, an Erin Brokovitch or a Tom Cruise or Sylvester Stallone steps in to give real hope and to save the proverbial day. 

Personally, reform is great, but if you know yourself by now, you know that pushing the “I’ll do better” button just doesn’t cut it. Reform always falls short. And that disappointment is a great teacher. We have to look elsewhere for fixing this mess.

The second option is one I title “REJECT.” I’ve been processing this for years. I find the notion of accepting the failed systems of governments an important part in fixing them. That is, I accept that the systems are broken. But I’m growing in my sadness in seeing many, even colleagues and mates, whom I’ve known for decades, rejecting the notion that things are broken at all. While others try to reform themselves and perhaps others, the Rejectors simply say things are going well. They say there is no need to fix anything. 

This is especially visible in religion. They seem happy enough with the philosophy of religion, with some of the mechanics of and actions of prayers and should I mention ‘fasting’ today? Religion thrives on observances and regularizing the practices of faith. And like reform, I’m all for such regularizing, but dismissing the holes and the emptiness, that’s not a thinking man’s religion. As a religionist for my entire life, that is, one who is a believer in God and one who likes to help others find the fulness I have found in religion, I don’t have any problem with questioning. I want people to question and to seek real answers. Dismissing and rejecting problems as if they don’t exist is not what God wants. It’s not what makes for healthy followers. 

I grew up in the Orthodox Jewish world and still feel very comfortable in those circles. I often pray in a small house synagogue not far from here run by Chabad. They all know who I am and what religion I represent. They know who I represent. Yeshua, that is. 

Last week, one of the rabbis put up a video in our WhatsApp group. It was a rather fanciful story of a famous rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (which is in Ukraine) who died in 1809 and was a Hasidic master. The story was, please forgive me, ridiculous and hyperbolic and had all the earmarks of hagiography. I don’t usually interact with the group on WhatsApp, but in light of this one I had to ask. “Does everyone believe this story? 100%?” A simple question, designed to find out if there were any real thinkers in the group, I guess.

A firestorm erupted. Several people replied in hostility to me. The originating rabbi even said, “stop abusing our community!” Was that really abuse? I asked a question. Later, I’ve spoken to two members of this small group and found out that they actually do not believe the story of Reb Levi Yitzhok and find many of the tales that are regularly told and retold to be outrageous and in simpler terms, “not true.” They are the few who resist the gaslighting that is extremely visible. 

Sometimes, to my point, religionists are often the worst at accepting the reality of brokenness in our philosophy and our declarations are empty. 

Let me amplify this on this holiest day in the Jewish calendar. 

Let me mention two different groups. There are people in synagogues here in Sydney and in Melbourne and throughout the country who don’t believe in a personal God but who are praying all day, even mentioning Kol Nidre and Ne’ilah in their notes to me this last week. They pray due to a sense of tradition, which at times is a good thing, but their resistance to the reality of a living God is notable. 

Then there are others who are also praying today who don’t believe they have been sinful, they don’t believe what God said about them and have dismissed and rejected the truths that we are sinners. They don’t really believe in atonement and are going through motions, but for what?

The first group don’t believe in God but pray. 

The second group don’t believe they need God. And they pray.

I picture it like this.

The first group are praying. “God, forgive me…” and God says, “Hello. I’ll be glad to help you.” The group members say, “Who are you?” “I’m God and I want to help you.” “Oh, thanks anyway, but I don’t believe you exist.” 

The second group are praying. “God, forgive me…” and God says, “Hello. I’ll be glad to help you.” The group members say, “Oh, thanks anyway, but we really don’t need help”

In the first case they don’t know who God is. 

In the second case, they don’t know who they are. 

What a waste, eh?

Rejecting the reality of a broken world and the need to have God fix it makes no sense to me. Especially on Yom Kippur. 

Finally there is a 3^rd option in looking at a broken world. And that is “REPENT.” Reformation has a place but is not fully satisfactory; rejecting the truth of the world being broken, even your world, that has no place. No, we need both to look honestly at the brokenness and our own inability to fix it. We must have something or rather SOMEONE from outside to repair it. And that’s when we come humbly to the story of Yom Kippur. 

The day is not about self-help, contrary to some great speeches I’ve read even this week in Jewish commentary. God alone is the King and the Judge. He alone can cleanse us and repair our brokenness. And He wants to do so. 

Back in Bible days, we had first a Tabernacle when Moses and Aaron lived and later a Temple in which sacrifices were made. Moses taught the people the words of God and they included these from Leviticus 16

“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the ¹mercy seat. ³ “Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering… ⁵ “He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶ “Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. ⁷ … ⁹ “Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering.. 11   “Then Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering which is for himself and make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall slaughter the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.”

In case you missed it, no one could stroll into the Holy of Holies and be casual about God. He required a mediator, and a blood atonement, for everyone, even the most holy people.  No one is left out. Since the end of the First Century, Judaism has changed the rules, and said that three things are now in place to substitute for those items. Judaism teaches that prayers, good works and repentance, tefilah, ts’dakah and t’shuva are enough for get God’s atonement. 

Problem is that God never dismissed the blood thing and the mediator thing. That’s why only those of us who believe in the New Covenant that Yeshua instituted can shout “Hallelujah” in this day. Only those of us who are truly forgiven can rejoice as Psalm 130 says, “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.” (.3-4)

A picture for you.

On the High Holidays in Temple days, at the time of Yeshua, a scarlet cord was placed outside, like a flag, and when the High Priest went into the Holiest of All and made atonement for the Jewish people, that cord turned white. So says the Talmud Yoma 39B. But unusual as that is, 40 years before the Temple was destroyed, that page in Talmud tells us that the scarlet cord no longer turned white. 

Why not? You see, that’s the year that Yeshua died. He died on Passover, six months before Yom Kippur, and the system of atonement was permanently changed in his dying on the Roman cross. 

The Gospel of Matthew is a biography of Yeshua written by one of his associates, one of his talmidim. Matthew says that when Yeshua died a few things happened.

“Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matt. 27.50-53)

The veil was torn in half, from top to bottom. So what? 

Only a being bigger than the veil would tear it top to bottom. That veil was 20 metres tall! I believe God Himself tore that veil. I believe that’s the end of the system of atonement from Torah. At least, the end of the mechanics of bulls and goats and their blood, of the High Priest and Judaism as we knew it then. It all changed. In one swift moment. Yeshua died and the veil was torn BY GOD HIMSELF not so that others could enter, for the priests alone could be in that sanctuary to see in, and no ordinary Jew like me could have gone it, but so that God could depart and go to Singapore and New Zealand and Australia, so that ‘whoever touches the hem of His garment” and “whoever calls on the name of the Lord” would be saved.

The sound of the torn veil is good news for Gentiles as well. It’s not only the political nations to whom God would make Himself known through us, but Gentiles individually are now able to be brought near by the blood of Yeshua. 

Redemption is possible to those who admit their need for a solution, to those who admit the world is broken, who admit they are helpless to fix it, and who profess faith in the Risen Yeshua. We repent and God repairs the world. We repent and salvation comes to us one-by-one. Reform? Sure, down the road. Reject our brokenness? Don’t go there; it doesn’t work. It’s fanciful and self-centered. 

How to make this work? Repent and believe in the Lord Yeshua and you will be saved, you and your household. 

During these 10 days we are invited to meet with the King. 

Will you do that just now? Will you repent and profess Yeshua as your Messiah and Lord? Say this prayer, right where you are. 

Father, forgive me in Yeshua’s name. I have broken your laws, I have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, in what I have done, and what I have failed to do. 

I receive Yeshua as my Saviour. He alone can fix me. I need Him now. I want to live for Yeshua. Help me by your Holy Spirit today, to begin a new life. Thank You for saving me. Amen.

If you did that, right where you are watching on Facebook Live or YouTube live or later, and you have received Yeshua as your Messiah and Lord, please let me know. Write Bob@jewsforjesus.org.au to let me know. I want to rejoice with you. And help you to keep going. Will you let me know? 

L'shana tovah!