The Grafting of a Wild Branch

  I am a believer and disciple of the Lord Yeshua, the only begotten son and anointed of God. Though I have traced possible Jewish roots in my genealogy, I am a Gentile. This means that I am not a Jew. I was raised in a God-fearing home where we tried to follow the Ten Commandments. Our Sabbath was Sunday, but  in my early childhood we did not attend Church. My father and mother read us kids bible stories and sang simple songs about Jesus. Before special meals, we gave thanks to God and at bedtime we said a simple prayer.

     After moving to the small farm town of Creighton, Missouri, we did find a Church, a true family of believers that walked by faith in love and service to God and their fellows, a very hospitable group. My dad, mom, brother and I were baptized in the quarry, the closest swim hole open to the public with water clean enough for emersion. Everyday life was work, play, education, some entertainment—our local rodeo, ice cream socials, caroling in the winter, hayrides, and riding horses— and gatherings of both the Church Family and the community (most were Christians of only a few different protestant denominations) as a whole.  We worshiped God in gospel songs and listened to the Pastor preach his sermon, and then went to Sunday school. There was bible school during the summer. Every kid in town went to at least one of the four offered, many all.  How simple was my life and faith back then. My limited knowledge of Jews was what I read in the bible and in a book called Pia Goes to the Holy Land, also from the movie Fiddler on the Roof, but I knew that I loved them. They were God’s Chosen people. Chosen for what I did not understand.

     In my teens, we moved to Texas, living with my grammie. The church we attended had the same name, but was far different in spirit. I felt pretty out of place. Home life was uncomfortable, six people (my baby sister had joined the family) in a three room shack. My high school didn’t have much to offer after my junior year, so I graduated early and took off across the country to Utah (a great time, but a spiritual tangent) and California where I met my husband Tony, a Jew. My education about all things Jewish began.

     Tony, our daughter Sabra, and I moved to Texas, after which my son Jacob was born. My children and I attended Church because it was what I knew, and I believe in Jesus (nothing will change my faith in Him.) Hopefully, the kids would follow Him, but I wanted the them to learn of their Jewish roots. So, I studied books on Judaism and took a couple classes in Hebrew at the Jewish Community Center. It was there that I met some Jewish followers of Yeshua (Jesus’ Hebrew name) the Messiah and was invited to their Sabbath services. This led to further studies and a spiritual journey that has deepened my understanding and strengthened my love for the Lord. Who would think there would be any danger in these studies? There is. Legalistic observance of the Torah is seductive. I have witnessed the split of a few Messianic congregations over Torah observance.

     How can we observe the Torah—the Old Covenant, when we were given a new one? Did the New Covenant replace the old? If Gentiles are the wild olive branch that has been grafted in to the cultivated tree spoken of in the New Testament are we to follow Torah and believe in Messiah? Yeshua told us that he did not come to do away with the Torah (Law), but to fulfill it. He admonished us to obey His commandments, but according to whose interpretation? The Ultra Orthodox, the orthodox, the conservative Jews. Do we seek to follow our Lord, or to be Jewish? I have sought, through prayer, clarification from the Holy Spirit.

     In the wee hours of the morning, this question came to me: What does the cultivated tree represent— the Jewish people, the Torah, or Messiah?  (Read Romans 11:11-24) Here is what I perceived:

     The tree is the seed of Abraham, the promised Messiah, who was cultivated through the Torah to fulfill the Torah, and the wild branch is the offspring of Abraham by faith in the seed of Abraham. We are not grafted in to be “Jewish.” We are grafted in as offspring of Abraham to be children of faith in the promised Messiah, who came first to the Jews, but offered salvation to all who believe in His death on the cross to pay for sin, and also His resurrection from the dead to give new life, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and become children of God—even the Gentiles. The Torah was put to death on the cross. Yeshua’s commandments are fulfilled when we trust in Him, love God with all we are, and love one another as He loved us, even unto death.

     This is how my family and community lived in Creighton. It wasn’t overly complicated. We spent time with God, studied his word to keep us on track, spent time with family, church family, community, sharing, being helpful in whatever way that we could—especially to those in need. We enjoyed the wonders of God’s Creation and were thankful for our great blessings. Even in hard times, we had peace, joy and hope because there was love, the kind only God can bestow through the indwelling of His Spirit.