New Basic Book for Jewish Roots Studies

Sitting at the Feet
of Rabbi Jesus

How the Jewishness of Jesus
Can Transform Your Faith

by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg
© Zondervan, 2009
Format: Hardcover, jacketed, 272 pages
ISBN: 0310284228,  ISBN-13: 9780310284222

Price $21.99  Introductory Offer -  $17.99
Order from the JP Bookstore

Dear JP readers,

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus has just appeared, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Please read this book, and then tell your friends about it. Spangler and Tverberg's book is the best entry-level introduction to the subject of "Jewish Roots" that has been written. By the way, Dr. Tverberg was co-editor (with Bruce Okkema) of my book, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus.

David Bivin 

Below is more information about the book, and an excerpt:

A rare chance to know Jesus as his first disciples knew him.

What would it be like to journey back to the first century and sit at the feet of Rabbi Jesus as one of his Jewish disciples? How would your understanding of the gospel have been shaped by the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the Jewish culture in which you lived?

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus takes you on a fascinating tour of the Jewish world of Jesus, offering inspirational insights that can transform your faith. Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg paint powerful scenes from Jesus’ ministry, immersing you in the prayers, feasts, history, culture, and customs that shaped Jesus and those who followed him.

You will hear the parables as they must have sounded to first-century Jews, powerful and surprising. You will join the conversations that were already going on among the rabbis of his day. You will watch with new understanding as the events of his life unfold. And you will emerge with new excitement about the roots of your own Christian faith.

By looking at the Jewishness of Jesus, Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg take you on a captivating journey into the heart of Judaism, one that is both balanced and insightful, helping you to better understand and appreciate your own faith.

Book excerpt:

Chapter 12

Jesus and the Torah

       As dawn spreads over the Sea of Galilee, the grey-blue silhouette of the surrounding mountain ridge grows distinct against the brightening sky. All is quiet except for the soft thumping of waves lapping against the wooden hulls of boats moored close to shore, and the squawk of birds flitting about in the rustling reeds along the rocky edge. Linen nets are laid out to dry on the beach, their delicate layers carefully disentangled from the night’s catch of fish. Just up the bank lies Capernaum, a quaint fishing village, rising to greet another day.
       This is the Cove of the Sower, a rounded inlet on the western edge of the lake. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that this was the setting for Jesus’ parable about the farmer casting seeds in different types of soil. It is also the setting for the world’s most famous sermon—the Sermon on the Mount. If you hike to the top of the hill above the cove, you will find the Church of the Beatitudes, marking the traditional site. As you stand, facing the Sea of Galilee, you realize what that hillside must have looked like two thousand years ago when Jesus was preaching—a great multi-colored quilt of people packed together and listening intently. You wonder what it would have been like to have been part of that crowd, to have heard that most extraordinary of rabbis.

        His preaching seems effortless, his words so clear, as though he is speaking directly to you.
       But how is it possible that Jesus could have been heard by thousands of people without a megaphone to amplify his voice? A few years ago, a biblical scholar by the name of B. Cobbey Crisler discovered the answer in the land itself. He found that the hillside near this rounded shoreline forms a natural amphitheater.  Because of the acoustical properties of the surrounding land, a person could stand at the bottom of the hill or sit in a boat just off shore, and be heard by someone far up the side of the hill. So good are the acoustics that the speaker could talk in a normal voice and be heard. Crisler estimates that eight to ten thousand people could have sat within listening distance of Jesus. ¹
          Knowing about the acoustics of the land solves one mystery about Jesus’ preaching. But others linger, especially questions about the sermon itself, which contains some of his most challenging words. 
        Imagine yourself as a first-century resident of Capernaum. You have heard Jesus speak and seen him heal people, but you have also heard a lot of criticism. Some have accused him of being soft on the Law, saying that his teaching is undermining the Torah and leading people astray. So, now, as you sit on the hillside with thousands of others, you listen carefully to what Jesus is telling the crowd:

       Instead of loosening things up, Jesus seems to be tightening the screw. Rather than merely repeating the stricture against adultery, for instance, he is telling you that a mere lustful glance makes one guilty of adultery. And he links anger to the sin of murder. Ouch!
       Modern Christians cherish the notion that Jesus came to free us from the unbearable burden of laws we cannot keep, but here Jesus seems to be saying the exact opposite. So is the good news really as good as we think it is? Realizing that Jesus set the bar higher and not lower is good news, once you understand what he was saying.
       Perhaps listening to this famous sermon once again, this time with the ears of a first-century Jew, will help us grasp the true brilliance of his message. Perhaps it will also help unravel some of the “knots” in Matthew 5-7, the passage that contains the Sermon on the Mount.

Catching Jesus’ Drift

        The first thing you notice is that Jesus wastes no time putting the crowd on the alert. He makes it clear that he has no intention of weakening the Torah, the Law that has shaped and guided the Jewish people for many centuries:

       As a first-century Jew, you pick up the rabbinic lingo immediately. When Jesus speaks about “the least stroke of a pen” (“one jot and tittle” in the King James version), you recognize that this is an idiom meaning “to the most microscopic detail.” 
       The yod is the smallest Hebrew letter, and it looks like a large apostrophe. Calligraphers embellish it with a tiny hook, or a “thorn” called a kots. Remarkably, this Hebrew idiom is still in use today. Former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mufaz declared that he would hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for fighting terror al kotso shel yod, “to the thorn of a yod.” ²
          Jesus was using this idiom to emphatically declare that not one word or letter would be removed from God’s Torah. Even the decorations on the letters would last forever. What an incredible statement from the One who has himself come to be known as the Alpha and Omega, or the A to Z!
        You recognize another Jewish idiom concerning “abolishing” and “fulfilling” the law. To “fulfill” a law could simply mean doing what it says. But when Jesus contrasts “fulfilling” with “abolishing” the law, you know he is employing a rabbinic idiom. In this case, to “fulfill the Law” means to properly interpret the Torah. In contrast, the phrase, “abolish the Law” means the opposite—to cancel or nullify the Torah by misinterpreting it. Both of these idioms arise from the assigned task of every rabbi—to interpret just how the Torah applies to daily life. When rabbis disagreed, they would accuse each other of “nullifying” the Torah. ³
       Imagine, for a moment, that a new pastor comes to town with shockingly innovative sermons. One week he preaches that underestimating your income on your taxes is fine, if it allows you to give more to the church. The next week he says that watching adult videos is perfectly OK, as long as you don’t have an affair. The pastor’s interpretation of the laws against lying and adultery undermine your ability to live by God’s Word. He has “abolished” God’s laws by misinterpreting them.
       Jesus leveled this charge against the Pharisees, accusing them of nullifying the law to honor one’s mother and father by saying that possessions declared corban (dedicated to God) could not be released to support one’s elderly parents (Mark 7:11). 
        But the religious leaders made the same accusation against him, saying that his teaching was undermining the Torah. Jesus responded in the Sermon on the Mount by saying that he was not misinterpreting the Law, but bringing it to its best understanding. Furthermore, he said, if any of his disciples twisted or misinterpreted its least command, they would be considered “least” in his kingdom. Jesus’ entire ministry as a rabbi was devoted to getting to the heart of God’s Torah through what he said and how he lived.
        Certainly Jesus fulfilled the law by obeying it perfectly. But as a rabbi, he also “fulfilled” it by clarifying its meaning and enlightening people about how God truly wanted them to live.