Rabbis in NY these days are blowtorching restaurants and food processing plants. They are (Wall Street Journal, 4/18/11, A1,A12) working 24/6 "to get the leavened bread out of the Kosher Kitchen." Observant Jews still believe, at some level, that God is more pleased if they observe Passover without any leaven in any of their food during the celebration. In the effort to ensure that all consumed food is absolutely OK Kosher, the inspecting and scouring is in full fury.
There is something fun and good about this. Why not bring history to life with the same kind of ritualistic intensity that (presumably) ancient Israelites brought to the observance thousands of years ago? Not sure if they used blowtorches, but they must have been careful.
Yet still, is God more pleased today when Jewish people eat absolutely kosher food during religious holidays? In what sense pleased? Do such observers have more of a shot at being accepted by God, today, and in eternity? Can one earn or become righteous with such extraordinary effort at religious law?
Not according to the former rabbi, Saul of Tarsus. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe" (Romans 10:4). Righteousness today, it seems, is not acquired through undaunted obedience to ancient Jewish Law. It comes through faith in Christ, and through Him alone. It is a gift of grace, not a task for completion. Even Abraham, the father of faith (and of the Jews) found this to be true, before he was circumcized. His faith was reckoned to him as righteousness (Romans 4).
Preacher Hound
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