Limitless Followup: Sozo'd - so that

April 10, 2022

Today's message was given by Pastor Josh Starnes. A video of the message can be found here. And here's a link to this week's Conversation Starters provided by the church.

I'm going to start with a statement that Josh offered toward the end of his message: "Jesus came to overthrow sin and death." So did the Torah! While the Torah has many valuable themes, two of the key ones are avoiding sin and denouncing death. As for avoiding sin, all the principles and values taught in Torah narrative and laws are exactly that, avoiding sin. And just because Jesus "died for our sins" to make us forgiven, I don't think that absolves us from behaving good as the Torah specifically, and much of the Bible generally, prescribes. As for death, one of the key messages of the Torah is to turn people away from death cultures, as in Egypt, to being life preoccupied. I recognize this isn't exactly the "overcoming death" that Jesus did, but it's certainly related. Make the most of your life in this world. Many of the laws of the Torah, keeping kosher, for instance, are aimed at separating life from death. The two (life/death) are not to be confused, and the latter is not to be venerated (as the Egyptians venerated death).

The theme of Josh's message was to pass sozo on to others. Once sozo is in you, it should continue through you to others. I love the phrase "Sozo'd - so that;" so that you can share that Jesus-provided wholeness with others. This is exactly parallel to what the Israelites were to do. They were chosen not because they were big in number or even a particularly good or noteworthy people. They were chosen for a mission, to carry into the world the message of ethical monotheism, the message of the God of Creation. The Torah is, in essence, this message: who God is and what He wants of us.

Pastor Josh noted at the outset of his message that kids often ask "why?", particularly when faced with something they don't want to do. Our group is going to have a Passover Seder this week (Passover is Friday, it's also Good Friday for Christians). One of the key messages of the Seder is that children should ask questions, including "why?". That's how they learn. The first questions of children at the Seder have to do with "why?" - why is tonight different from any other night? The answers have to do with what we are remembering (celebrating, the Exodus), the value of freedom, and for that we should be grateful. The Seder also makes it clear that there are different kinds of kids with different ways of asking questions. Each of the "Four Sons" questions needs to be answered in light of who each son is: wise, wicked, simple, and one who doesn't know how to ask. Here's a question for our Seder participants to ponder: why is there no "good" son noted?

Josh mentioned that when sozo'd, you are now the physical representative of Jesus. The Israelites were likewise cautioned to behave in such a manner as to represent God appropriately to the other nations (the goyim). This notion of being a representative of God was not lost on the Torah. If you're trying to carry a message to the world, you better care what the other peoples think of your behavior. One of my favorite stories in the Torah is Moses talking God out of destroying the Israelites (yes, God was that upset with them) by asking God, "what would the goyim think?!" (Numbers 14:13-16). This is also why the Commandment to not carry the Lord's name in vain is the only unforgiveable sin (or at least one of very few). The Torah's view of the "worst" sins are those that denegrate God's reputation.

Bonus Fun Fact(s)

So you've been invited to a Jewish Passover Seder. Congrats, you'll love it. If you know very little about a Seder event, you may want to read up on a few etiquette issues. See these two articles: Seder Etiquette and Seder for Non-Jews.

One thing I didn't find covered in the Seder-etiquette articles I reviewed, though I do remember reading it somewhere... Don't wear jewelry or clothes symbolic of other religions to a Jewish-hosted Seder. For example, Christians, leave your cross jewelry at home. It's an etiquette thing, you're not denouncing your Christianity; your host probably knows full well you're a Christian. You're simply not needlessly being provocative toward your host. Of course, for our Seder with all Christians present, this need not apply.