Lent Is coming, and so is Passover, etc.

This morning on the train I read regarding the Lenten fast:

We don't even get to feel self-righteous about his discipline. Orthodoxy is clear that salvation can't be bought; any good deed we do are just tools to bring us in to deeper yieldedness, repentance and gratitude.

I think this typifies the spirit of the fast. As one observing, we use the fast to become closer to God, we deny ourselves a physical pleasure as a sacrifice. Though we know that no sacrifice is complete, we cannot attain the perfection God desires, except by His Grace.

Passover is coming as well. In fact, it falls during Holy Week, which is the last week of the fast. I was struggling with this last night. My wife would like to celebrate Passover this year, for Asher. She wants to celebrate the Jewish holidays to give him a sense of Judaism. She, though Jewish, has not practiced and doesn't have a lot of ideas as to where to start. My struggle is that I am Christian, not Jewish. How can the Jewish holy days be valuable for me, when I am not Jewish? This morning I thought, Jesus was a Jew. He celebrated Passover, his last meal with His disciples was a Passover meal.

The Orthodox Church transformed the Last Supper into the Eucharist. I suppose an Orthodox person would say that Christ transformed it; we simply observe that ritual. I know that Israel, as a people, went before us Christians. They laid the framework for my faith. I believe that the God I bow to is the same God that spoke with Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Elijah, David, and all the other great people of Israelite history. I also believe that many Jews followed Jesus because they saw in him a fulfillment of prophecies about a coming Messiah.

I realize that I can help my wife celebrate Passover, but for me it is a remembrance of Christ and those before Him who listened to God and broke with their own personal Egypt in search of a promise, a promise that in my faith leads to Christ.

Is this syncretistic? I dunno, I don't think so. I don't believe Judaism and Christianity are that far apart. I understand that an Orthodox Priest would say that Judaism has no Grace, that the Spirit of God inhabits the Church. Even if that is true, which my Church claims, the beliefs are not so much at odds. It is true that Judaism now, does not recognize Jesus as Messiah, but the values of Judaism are similar to Christianity. They cherish one God, as I do. And as I said, Jesus was Jewish. Many 1st century Christians were Jewish. When people study the 1st century they name Christianity as a Jewish sect. The Christians of the time still worshipped in synagogues and until the destruction of the Temple they honored God there. Had it not been for the Diaspora, there may have been more Jewish Christians. As for Christianity, Orthodoxy seems to me to be the most Jewish of the denominations. There is even a menorah in the sanctuary. The Orthodox concept of sin is more Jewish than Catholic. The idea that what we know of God is what He has revealed to us is both Jewish and Orthodox. Really, the significant schism between the Orthodox and Jews is that the Orthodox believe that Jesus was revealed as God, a hypostasis of the Godhead to use the technical term. And as God, Jesus revealed the person of the Holy Spirit. With these two revelations the doctrine of the Trinity has been formed. It is important to know that no Orthodox believe there are three Gods, there is One, who exists in three persons. One can try to understand it all they want, but that was what was revealed. Humans are not intended to understand the Trinity, but to know it is there.