SPECIAL INTEREST
Whom do you emulate?
BY RABBI JACK ZIMMERMAN
What? A standup comedian working for a ministry? Okay, here’s the story—now, I know
you didn’t ask, but trust me, you’ll like it: Prior to going into ministry, I worked for a TV talk show in New York. Part of my role was to warm up the audience before each taping, and whenever we had a nota- ble celebrity on the show, I would, if I were able, do an impersonation of them. Well, it so happened that on one occa-
sion, we had Bill Cosby on the show. And I’d practiced his voice for weeks, until the time finally came where I did it during the warm-up. What I didn’t know was that Mr. Cosby himself was backstage listening to my “act,” and afterward he said to me, “hey, you did me pretty good.” Nice to hear? Oh sure. At the same
time, let’s acknowledge the obvious—just because you try to impersonate or emulate someone, doesn’t therefore mean that you’re an accurate depiction of everything they are.
I raise this point, because as we enter into the holiday season, we find that holi- days that Christians celebrate, like Christ- mas, can end up becoming divisive issues when we’re trying to emulate Yeshua, and more importantly, introduce Him to oth- ers who need to know who He is. The problem arises when what we as people do
16 | Jewish Voice Today NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
and the traditions we engage in are per- ceived by others in a negative way and are directly indicative of who Yeshua is and what He taught. Let me give you a few examples to drive the point home: So you buy the plastic noble fir and tie it to the roof of the car, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand holding the tree (as if that will keep it from falling off), and when you get it home, you decorate it, arrange the tinsel, put on the balls and lights, and for good measure, crown it with a star or a miniature angel (whichever one the dog didn’t chew up last year). So your Jewish friend comes over. Or
maybe they’re not even Jewish. Maybe they’ve been taught that celebrating Christ- mas is akin to observing the pagan feast of Saturnalia from ages past, and, as if that weren’t enough, you have disobeyed the Scripture because in Jeremiah 10 it says not to have Christmas trees! “You’re a believer in Jesus and this is what He tells you to do? I guess He’s a pagan god after all!” they say. Now, if you want to get technical about it, Jeremiah 10 isn’t about a Christ- mas tree. (This was 600 years before Yesh- ua; how did Jeremiah know?) It’s about cutting down a tree and fashioning it into an idol, and then decorating the idol. But here’s the point—it’s usually at this junc- ture where many of us would take a defen-
sive stance. We’d defend the tree, we’d defend Yeshua, and we might even fire back by trying to find something “pagan” in what they do; tit for tat, as it were. And guess where that always gets us? Drum roll please….
Nowhere. And should we be surprised? I can tell
you that I can’t even think of one instance where anyone, even one person, has been argued or intimidated into the Kingdom of God. Do we really think that after we beat people down and “win” an argument (if indeed such were possible), that they would respond by saying, “My gosh, you’re absolutely right—thank you for berating me and showing me what a fool I was; if that’s the kind of God you serve, I want Him!”?
And that happens…in what universe?
Reminds me of a story told by a dear friend of our ministry—Coach Bill McCart- ney. In his book, Sold Out, he tells of an event he attended some years back where he was a main speaker. While having a meal in the restaurant of the hotel where he was staying, he took note of the restau- rant manager, who was intrigued by all these conventioneers who were staying at the hotel. Coach McCartney told the man that the attendees were men who were coming to the event so that they could be more like God. The manager was touched, and made a commitment to speak with Coach the following night to find out more about this Jesus. Well, the next evening, Coach McCart-
ney went back to the restaurant, and the manager came over to the table. Coach expected the manager to be ready with eagerness to hear more, but instead, the
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