For most of my 54 years, I have been told from the pulpits of Christian Churches all the reasons the Jews rejected Jesus.
A few years ago, I decided to seek the Jewish viewpoint, and I began reading Jewish authors.
I was really quite surprised by what the Jewish authors had to say about Jesus and the role of the Messiah. I was also intrigued by the particular issue of sacrifice for the atonement of sins. Christianity hangs upon the atonement of Christ. So, this is a critical issue.
One Jewish author asked a question that I have not been able to answer: The question paraphrased: If God is God, and He makes the rules, why did anyone have to die for our salvation?
The O.T. does reveal a point, when God seemed to no longer desire a sacrifice or blood atonement for sins.
Micah 6: 6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
**Proverbs 21: **2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. 3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
**Jeremiah 7: **22 **For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. **23But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
Even in the N.T. we find Jesus quoting Hosea 6:6:
Matthew 9: 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 **Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ **For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Hosea 6: 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
One of the most intriguing passages in the NT reveals Jesus agreeing that loving God and your neighbor is more important than “all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Mark 12: 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
This seems to be a very strange thing for Jesus to say, since he came as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
Also, throughout the NT, Jesus forgave sins. Not once did he tell those he forgave to go and make a sacrifice to complete the forgiveness.
In addition, John proclaimed Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 3: 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1: 4 **John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. **5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
I think the Jewish writer posed a very important question: If God is God, and He makes the rules, why did anyone have to die for our salvation?
I welcome comments from both the Jewish and Christian perspective.
To the OP: If this issue is too far from the topic of the Talmud and Jesus, I will start a new Thread. Just let me know.
Respectfully,
Anna