Episode 8 -- Why Don't Jews Believe that Jesus is their Messiah?

This episode is the second of a two-part series about the differences between Christian and Jewish beliefs.  Last episode, Laurie left you with a cliffhanger: Why don't the Jews believe that Jesus is their messiah? This episode, she spends the entire time with detailed answers to that single question.

If you couldn't understand it before now, you will understand it now!

In place of a live guest, Laurie shares comments left by listeners from the Jewish and Christian perspective.

Transcript

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Hi, I'm your host Lori Larson, and this is the year I read the Bible. Welcome a Lifelong Christian. I thought I was familiar with the Bible, but in 2023 I accepted the challenge of reading the whole thing, cover to cover. Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand or wanted to learn more. I jotted it down, but I kept reading to stay on schedule. Then I reached the end Imagine Confetti rating down on me, and a huge sigh of relief. I had 40 topics to research in 2024. I started diving into all those topics. I did research, I wrote blogs and I shared them with whoever might wanna learn too. And in 2025, the project continues. I published a book containing all my essays, and now a podcast. Is there something you can learn from that dusty book that sits on all of our shelves? Yes. Yes, there is. Let's dive into The year I read the Bible. And welcome back. This is the topic, why don't Jews believe Jesus is their Messiah? This is the second part of a two-part topic that we started last week. A Christian chats with a Jewish rabbi. And as you may recall, I left you with a cliffhanger. In last week's episode, we talked about all the different questions I had for Rabbi Weissman about the way that the Jewish faith is laid out and what they believe and what they don't believe. But I left the cliffhanger, which is, why don't Jews believe Jesus is their Messiah? That's what we're gonna cover today. Was Jesus the Messiah, the son of God who was prophesied throughout the Hebrew Bible? Quite simply, Christians answer yes while Jews answer. No. Christians have a common saying. The entire Old Testament is about Jesus, just not by name. There are many Old Testament prophecies that point to facts about the Messiah that Jesus fulfills in the New Testament. He is born of a woman from the line of Jacob, born from the family of Jesse David's kingly heir. Born in Bethlehem. Born of a virgin. The basis of the entire Christian faith is that Jesus fulfills the prophecies throughout the Old Testament of a savior who will come to earth in human form and provide salvation for everyone who believes in him. So why do the Jews not believe Rabbi Weissman and I discuss this at length. During our conversation, he not only shared his own responses, but he also suggested some additional reading, a book called Kosher Jesus by Shmuley Bote. I did indeed purchase the book and dove into it with interest. As I organize this writing, I will include information from both sources. My conversation with the rabbi, as well as information shared in Kosher Jesus. But first, a little history lesson. Jews have been waiting for the Messiah forever, and they know that not everyone who claims to be a Messiah is in fact a messiah. The books of Jeremiah and Deuteronomy worn urgently about. Not being duped by false prophets who claim to be from God. Deuteronomy 1821 through 22 and Jeremiah 2316, Jesus wasn't the only Jew who showed up in first century Palestine, started a following and was labeled by some as a messiah. Other intriguing men of the time would Sermonize accrue followers and perform signs that the observers believed were miracles from God. Each time the Jewish leaders would watch, wait, and diligently determine if they were valid. Eventually, the movements ended when the subjects were executed by the Romans. Each time the Jews would apply the claimed Messiah to the criteria outlined in the Hebrew Bible and make the determination of whether they believe it to be true. For example, there were two men named Buddhists. One was mentioned in the acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. Acts 5 36. He performed signs and wonders and accrued 400 followers before Jesus started his own ministry. The Jews started applying the terms of the Messiah checklist, but ISTs was found wanting another man named Buddhist arrived on the scene a dozen years after Jesus' death. The second Buddhist took a group of followers to the Jordan River and allegedly parted the waters in two. This is a clear sign intended to resemble a miracle seen in the book of Joshua. The parting of the Jordan River is a significant biblical event that marks a pivotal moment in the history of the Israelites as they entered the promised land. This miraculous event is recorded in the book of Joshua, specifically in Joshua three, one through 17 and Joshua four, one through 18. However, the procurator of the region captured Buddhist, killed his followers and beheaded him. Obviously, he wasn't the Messiah, despite proclaiming that he was. I thank. Christianity dot com's article. Who were the two false Messiah's name foodist for this information? Simon Barr Koba was another self-proclaimed Messiah who led a Jewish rebellion against Rome some 100 years after Jesus' death. Now, this behavior was more like the Promised Messiah in the Hebrew Bible. A conquering savior Barr Koba was supported by the greatest rabbis of the day, and due to his military prowess, he checked off quite a few of the boxes expected of the Jewish Messiah, but his revolt ended in total Jewish defeat. Bar Coba himself was killed by the Romans and his followers were all either killed or enslaved within a year. Another promising Messiah candidate who did not fulfill the requirements as outlined in the Hebrew Bible. So what about Jesus to Christians? It is so clear that he is God's son sent by God to save the world, but not so to the Jews. Why here are the answers to this crucial question that I gained from both Rabbi Weissman. And the book Kosher Jesus. First, Jesus didn't fulfill the requirements of a Messiah. Jews believe that the Hebrew Bible lays out very specific qualifications so they can recognize the coming Messiah. Messiah is a title. Given to a very wise Jewish king who reestablishes Jewish sovereignty in Israel by putting a Jewish king on Israel's throne, rescues Jews from Roman, and all foreign tyranny brings truth and justice to the world. Ends all war and hate ends hunger. It brings about the universal conversion of all people, either to Judaism or to ethical monotheism and rebuilds the holy temple. How does Jesus match up? Jesus did not do any of these things. He didn't overpower foreign rule. He didn't restore a Jewish king to the throne, and he didn't provide peace to the world. On the contrary. He was overpowered the Jews oppressors the Romans and was crucified a violent death intended for criminals in front of the Jewish citizenry. Jesus didn't have the proper bloodline. The Messiah would have royal blood flowing in his veins from the house of David after rescuing the Jews from Foreign Rule. The Messiah would establish a new king in Israel with David's royal blood in the holy land. Although the gospels of Matthew and Luke lay out Jesus's genealogy, it's inconsistent. If you look at the two genealogy accounts closely, they're slightly different. So, which is correct or is neither correct. Furthermore, if Joseph. Is not the biological father of Jesus due to the virgin birth, then Jesus doesn't actually come from that bloodline like God promised. The genealogies in the gospels indicate that it was Joseph's side of the family that was connected to Jesse and David. Jews believe that the Holy Trinity violates God's law. Jews believe in the indivisibility of God. God emphasized in the Old Testament that we should worship. No God but him. He was singularly our God. No one else. With Jesus, the concept of the Holy Trinity is introduced. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jews believe that's against what God is. Jews don't believe the crucifixion was necessary to redeem us. Christians believe that the intent of Jesus's crucifixion was to atone for or pay the price of people's sins to earn eternal forgiveness from the father. That God loved us all so much that he gave us his only son to pay for our sins, but Jews believe that we each atone for our own sins through good deeds and prayer. Therefore, it wasn't necessary for Jesus to die for us to gain God's favor. Jews don't believe God would negate the Old Testament. Jesus's teachings changed the teachings of Moses. They introduced new laws and sometimes negated what the Jews had always followed. They don't believe God would completely change everything. With the arrival of this one man, the Christian Bible is called the New Testament. Jews interpret that title as if it replaces the old outdated. Ossified discarded testament. No, it's the word of God. He wouldn't just toss it out because of these literal, long held interpretations of the description of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus didn't make the cut, and therefore Jews don't believe he was the one. In Kosher Jesus, the author states quote, in the event that Jesus does return in a second coming, like Christians expect, Jews will have to rethink their current position. Until then, there is no justification for the Jews' acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah. But what about the New Testament? Do Jews read the New Testament and wonder about this huge following that Jesus has accrued? Rabbi Weissman explained that most Jewish congregants don't know much about the New Testament or about Jesus specifically unless they have personally done the research. Author Schmoley Boe spends quite a bit of his book, asserting that the New Testament is a historical document filled with errors. The gospels were written half a century after Jesus died, and details vary between them, but even so many of the facts were made up, for example, the idea that. Tia's Pilate was reluctant to crucify Jesus and it took an angry Jewish mob. Yelling for his crucifixion to convince him isn't true. Tia's Pilate was an insurrectionist and a very mean man. It wouldn't have been in his character to want to save Jesus. The gospel of Matthew portrayed Jews as angry people who wanted to kill Jesus. Which set up thousands of years of anti-Semitic sentiments among Christians In reality, Jesus was a Jew, raised Jewish and followed the Jewish laws. He chose Jewish men to be his disciples. The original early Christians were a Jewish sect, the average Jewish citizens at the time. Would have no reason to develop the sense of outrage described in the gospels, to demand the Romans to murder Jesus. The Rabbi explains that in general, the Jewish faith believes that if Christians want to believe Jesus is the son of God, then fine. You believe that? Just don't try to tell Jews they're wrong because they don't agree. Jews are very open and accepting of other faiths and religions, and they sometimes see that Christians aren't like that. The Rabbi noted that Jesus is love, but a lot of things are being done in this world, in Jesus's name that he didn't think Jesus would approve of this thought. Of course, brought to my mind Jesus' own words as documented. In John 1335. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Rabbi Weissman's closing words. We are all part of God's tapestry and we need to live in peace with others. In closing, I want to graciously thank Rabbi Weissman for the time he spent. Sharing his thoughts with me and also for the book recommendation. I went into this challenge uninformed about the Jewish faith and their thoughts about Jesus, and I came out much more educated. Will you please pray with me? Dear God, thank you for this deep dive experience into learning more about your chosen people. Thank you for the ability for people who all worship you to have rational discussions about their beliefs and where they divide and differ. I thank you for faithful Jewish followers as well as faithful Christian followers, and I pray that we can continue to live in that peaceful tapestry that the Rabbi so beautifully described. Amen. I have decided that for this episode I will not invite guests to come and speak with me. The last thing I want to do is to have a Jew and a Christian arguing back and forth about their differing beliefs. Instead, I decided to read to you two comments that were shared by listeners when I first recorded a video and published it to my video channel about eight months ago. One was a Jew sharing their reactions to this essay, and the other was a Christian. The first one is by a listener going by the name Loy Divine First Christian I see who indeed wants to learn the Jewish point of view respectfully. Jews don't accept any guy coming and saying, God talked to him. Why shall we believe him? We didn't hear God speaking to him. We have no logical reason to put any faith in his assertion. We only believe in Moses because we heard God talking to him at Mount Sinai. We too heard the voice of God then a full people of millions of souls. This event and fact was written in the Torah and nobody claimed ever it could be a conspiracy. Now, Moses told us in the Torah that if a person comes and pretend that God talked to him, we can believe him under certain conditions. One, he doesn't tell us to go against the Torah of Moses. Two, he is a Jew. Like Moses three, he gives us a sign or a prodigy, and it accomplishes exactly as he said except if it's a bad sign. And here we are. The man from Nazareth is a Jew deed. But he said there is only one commandment and therefore goes against the law of Moses, who we know for sure is a prophet. When this Nazarene, we don't know if God spoke to him, but when he says to nullify even one law of Moses, we know he's a false prophet. And even more and more when he nullifies all the laws, but one. And he can do miracles from morning till dawn. It doesn't move us anywhere. Here it is. Now you know why Jews don't believe in Jesus. Now if you pretend he is God himself, then check up on your second commandment. Holy Ghost is a bad translation, which means a just, and Sage reached a high level of spirituality and perfection, and he has the ability to see with his soul truths and futures. All the books of Keda Vim are believed by all Jews to have been written under such spiritual inspiration, which is lesser than prophecy. There are still nowadays rabbis who have this ability. For some, it is a common knowledge as Rabbi David Ba, I'm sorry if I pronounce that wrong, and others are more hidden from the public. I believe the Nazarene was called Son of God. As meaning the Jew as it is written in the three and four, that all humans are created in the image of God and more love was given to the Jews who were called sons of God. With all due respect, Lord Lori Divine, I thank you for your comment and I appreciate your due respect and I reciprocate my respect for your beliefs. The comment from the Christian side is from a listener name, Bernard Kuma. Sorry for the Jews. They missed the Torah, Yeshua 53, that the Messiah would come out as. Hated. Rejected. Rejected, because he would not come as a militant, as expected. He would come humble, but wait a minute, he's coming back as the mighty king. They expected ya. Yeshua is very much Jewish. Thanks for listening today. And that's it for today. Thank you very much for being here with me on The Year I Read the Bible Podcast. We'll be back with another episode next week. If you enjoy this podcast, please do all the normal things to spread the word: like it, review it, share it with your friends. If you are interested in additional The Year I Read the Bible resources such as the book, the video channel, and the blog, I will certainly include the links in the show notes. And I'd love to hear about your own journey to read the Bible cover to cover. Have you done it or are you doing it right now? Please reach out to me and let me know how it's going. Until next time, it's Laurie Larsen with The Year I Read the Bible. Bye.