Pinchas: Pierced for Peace

0:00Just a quick word about the conference before I get started. So, we had a really good turnout this year and of course for those of you that couldn't make it, I know that there's a lot of things to come up and I know it's pricey, too. And we definitely missed you there, but we represented you hopefully faithfully. And I just want to reiterate though, I I'm so blessed and and so privileged to be part of this community. Uh to see, you know, all of us together there at the conference. I know that um that Hashem has just made something really special here. And it's not every day you find something like what we have here. So special and and it doesn't this it it's not built in a day, you know. This is we're going on our 25th year this year. And it really shows it shows just the uh so so many amazing compliments in and glorifying God and in the way that the service was led of course by by Dr. Sev and all of us just coming together and and we had Greg Silverman alongside of us as well, a very talented musician in the Messianic Jewish movement. So, he was a blessing as well. So, Rabbi Jude Carousel is now

1:05the president of the UMJC. He's out of Orlando. He's the rabbi there in Orlando. And what that did is that opened up a position for the treasurer and they asked yours truly to be the treasurer. So, but but on an interimm basis. So, I am going to be uh kind of putting on my finance hat again, you know, for the UMJC, but I think it'll be good. I'll be part of the board. And it's really very well connected to us because, as you know, we're obviously a UMJC congregation and it's good to know, you know, how the UMJC is driving forward and that we can speak into that as a congregation because they think very very very highly of all of you, of us, and and um to the glory of God. So really a great conference and some a little bit of turnover in positions, but I think we're in a good time and and big shout out and thanks to Rabbi Barney Casden who was the president for for at least I think two years or three years. Two two four years. That's right. Because he ran consecutive terms. But but I think he was ready to hang up his cleats. You know, he's like, I got to got to pass the baton here. And so I

2:08believe Rabbi Jude is going to do an amazing job. So let's pray. of Shabbash Shamay. We bless and sanctify your name in the heights of heaven and right here on earth. We thank you for this day, this great Shabbat that we press into you. We thank you for for the freedoms that we do have in our country to to worship you with minimal persecution, Lord, that this great time. I pray that you would speak to our hearts now. That you just enlighten us with your Torah. That your spirit would move freely in here and just just teach us, Lord, in whatever we need to know and bring great conviction. Soften our hearts as we move forward today in Yeshua's name. Well, Shabbat shalom everybody. >> Welcome. Welcome. And so I have a question for you today and that is how many of you track and manage your screen time on your phone? Raise your hand. Some of you don't want to raise your hand. That's okay. Some do some. Yeah. If I don't, then one of my kids is probably coming up behind me and doing it and being like, "Dad, see you spent this much time on your phone this week." Well, so smartphones have obviously transformed

3:24the way we live. And if you think about it that we as we move about it's we're connected to everybody. We're connected to a network to family and friends and and business. We're just connected all of the time. We do our our banking, our shopping. Well, some of you are saying I don't do that. But most of us do almost all of our work in communication today on these smartphones on these devices and in many ways now our entire life travel with us as we bring our smartphones. You know, let me ask you this question. So, let's say you were late for work for those of you that are still working. We're all doing some kind of work and and you you peel out of the driveway and you get about maybe a couple two or three minutes away and you realize you forgot your phone. How many of you would go back for your phone? Be like calling your boss. Yeah. Oh, come on. I think I have a higher. All right. Okay. Right. But that's the idea, right? So we we know that that we would probably be turned around. Smartphones are incredible tools. But just like any technology, they need boundaries. [snorts] I use mine every day, but they need

4:41boundaries. Every gift requires boundaries. The same device that connects us to the world can completely derail us. and distract us from everything that God has us to do. It knows where we are all the time. We're always one notification away from an interruption. Sometimes we can look at our day and say, "How much time did I waste on this stupid thing? I want to throw it away." It tempts us to scroll. But technology is not the enemy. It's really not. It's just that without boundaries, a smartphone and a device can become a gateway. And that brings us to our Torah portion today. As we think about this Torah portion, it's the one of the most enigmatic passages in the entire Torah. Not because we don't understand what happened, but because we do. The opening story of Parasa Pinkus confronts us with a sobering reality that the enemy comes to distract us from the heart of covenant relationship to derail us.

6:12The enemy attacks intimacy and our covenant relationship with God is all about intimacy because intimacy is where covenant lives. That's the space. That's the place. Marriage, mowage, you say it. Mage, familial life, family, your devotion time. All of that is what the enemy comes to distract. When Bilam failed to curse Israel through divination and sorcery, he devised another strategy. He said that if I can't defeat Israel from the outside, I'm going to go in on the inside. and he weaponized the women of Moab and Midian, seducing Israel's leaders into a fusion of sexual immorality and idolatry. Devastating. The enemy succeeds. The covenant is broken. Hashem angers burns hot and a plague begins. And then while the congregation stands at the very entrance of the Oel Moed, right then and there, a Simeonite prince comes in defiantly escorts his midnight midionite princess into the inner chamber of his tent in outward open rebellion before God. Now imagine you're one of the leaders of Israel. You're standing there right there. You're on the threshold of entering the promised land and you see

7:58that what would you do in that moment? Is this a time to act or a time to wait? A time for courageous intervention or a time for restraint? A time for zeal or a time for indifference. Context changes everything. Now our smartphones are not balor. Of course they're not. But they can be a gateway into the same types of sins if we don't have secure boundaries that we don't stand on moral principles and we don't guard our hearts before Hashem. So, as we think about the Torah portion, we can see very clearly here today that the enemy has never changed his strategy. He's still attacks covenant relationship right here now in the 21st century on the 250 if Independence Day. It's the same still [snorts] attacks at the heart. So the question is not did Pinospen Elazar act rightly but rather it's this how do God's people protect covenant relationship with Hashem when the enemy strikes at its very heart and foundation relentlessly that's the question Aaron his grandson Pinkas Ben Elazar he sees the abomination There is no hesitation, no delay. Instead of restraint, he springs into holy action. He grabs his spear. He

10:06follows them into the chamber. And the Torah says this, "But core at Shane, he pierced them both." There's the word for pierce. The car pierced. The plague stops. 24,000 have already fell dead. Now listen carefully to God's response to this. How does Hashem respond to Pinkis? He rewards him. Really? He rewards him.

10:54He turned back my wrath. There's the shuv right there. Turn back my wrath by what? Banano at kati. By being zealous with my zeal among them being as zealous as I am. God says this is holy passion. being a zealous, matching God's zeal. But the Torah doesn't merely say that Pinas was passionate. It says his zeal matched God's covenant zeal in that holy moment when he needed to act. And then comes this remarkable statement alene Israel. He made atonement. We're all familiar with that word. prepare for Israel with that act, the act itself of going in there and stopping the plague. Don't miss this sequence. Israel broke covenant. God's wrath fell down. Pinkas intervened. He made atonement. The plague stopped. covenant peace was restored. Do you see that framework fleshing out a little bit there? Therefore, God declares this. He need shalom. Shalom. Behold, I give him my covenant of peace. There it is. Pierced for peace. Right there. Now the wrestling begins. Can't just stop there and go, "Oh, I've got it. Move on to the next thing." No. And now we got to start grappling. What exactly is a covenant of peace

12:43anyway? What does this really even mean? Does that mean no more war? I don't think so. Could be part of it. Well, the answer is rather straightforward. He restored peace between God and Israel. He restored that bond of shalom. The covenant breach was repaired. God's judgment ceased. Shalom was restored in that very moment in time. And then God established the priesthood for Pinkas, Ben, Elazar, and his descendants going forward. A covenant of peace between them for all time. But Jewish interpretation rarely stops there. No. Rabbi Naftali Vi Yehuda Berlin, the 19th century sage he's known as Anitsive, asked another question. Not what did Pinkis accomplish, but rather what did this extraordinary act do to Pinkas himself? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever thought about putting yourself in Pinkas shoes in that moment? Maybe after that, having to relive the that moment for the rest of your life. Not like, yeah, covenant of peace, I'm good. No, this is real. This is real trauma he has to deal with. Now, Rabbi Shai Hell does a great job of summarizing the Nitsv's insight here. Even righteous

14:13zeal can wound a soul. Even necessary judgment leaves its mark on the soul. So perhaps God's covenant of peace was also a gift of healing for him. so that he could continue to be that cohen to bear the burden for his people going forward. He was caught up in a very extraordinary moment. Extraordinary, not ordinary. This was extraordinary. And he was the man for the job at that moment because he arose in that moment and limited to that moment. The Torah never glorifies violence. We are on the threshold of the promised land, moving in. God was going to drive our enemies out, drive out evil before us. But the rabbis continue wrestling knowing that peace still remains the aim. The Mishna preserves the famous principle pogin bo zealots may strike him as they're thinking about the commentary. Those zealots they may come up and strike when somebody is acting out of covenant. Watch out for the zealots. However, the the Talmud immediately surrounds that and restricts it with a principle making it clear that Pinkas represents an extraordinary covenant crisis. Not every day, not everyday Jewish life, just in case

15:56some of you were getting a thought here. The rabbis do affirm Pinkas. They affirm him in that moment. But then one comes along to say is there more? I mean really really they refuse to make zeal the defining characteristics of God's people. And then comes a Polish 19th century rabbi has said his name is the Koskarebi and the Koskarebi says this. Why does the Torah immediately move from Pinkas to Yahushua to Joshua? Why? Immediately after the story, we see that the very next story right in line is Moshe standing before God. Hashem is saying, "You're going to go to the top of Pisca and you're going to look, but you're not going to enter." And what does Moshe say? What about my what about my line? No, he doesn't do that. Instead, he says, "Appoint a shepherd over your people." And God doesn't appoint Pinkas Ben Elazar. He appoints Yahosua, a shepherd. And not just any shepherd, but one. It's like this is a ruach b one on whom the spirit is in. He has the charisma, the spirit of God within him. And the Koska Rebe wonders if Torah's own progression is teaching us something. See, the rabbis are

17:47wrestling. They're grappling. This is not you're reading into it. No, everything in Torah has meaning. But God ordinarily shepherds people through shepherds. Sometimes some Naveim prophets that have shephering giftings, Shimu, people like that. And centuries later, he'd raise up our Haorra Yeryahu, Jeremiah, not with a spear, not with a sword, but with his word. The word of God would become the power to uproot, to tear down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build, and to plant. See, this is covenant language. You have to do all of this. You have to uproot before you can plant. This is covenant language. Calling Israel back to Chuva to return after breaking covenant once again. There's your connection to Bal Pure. And that brings us to now the Besser. As we think about the the apostolic writings today in our Torah portion connected to Mark 15, Yeshua now stands before Pontius Pilate, the prefect of Yehuda, Judah. And as he stands there, I want you to listen carefully because now everything stands on this single question right here. Are you the king of the Jews? Now, this is not a theological question,

19:32although it sounds like one, but it isn't. Rather, think about from Rome's perspective. They had little interest in debates over blasphemy, religious conviction, and competing interpretation of who the Messiah was. That wasn't their place. Rather, Pilate is evaluating the ruling Coanium's accusation that Yeshua is claiming to be king of the Jews. According to Haim Cohen, former justice of the Supreme Court of Israel, under Roman law, such a claim would be viewed as an act of insurrection, a revolt, a high treason against Caesar. That's the key from Rome's point of view. If he's claiming to be king, it could be treason. And Yeshua responds, "You say so." That's his response to whether he's the king of the Jews. Not a denial, not the kind of confession that Pilate is expecting, just enough to acknowledge the truth without presenting himself as a political revolutionary that Rome feared. But then Mark enables us to look behind the curtain. Pilate perceived that it was out of envy that the chief kohanim had handed him over. So in the Torah portion you have a holy cana a jealousy a zeal but in our bases

21:12you have the rule in coanium that where's their jealousy at where is it? Where is it? Is it zeal with or without knowledge? Where is it? Pilate senses the injustice. Yet Rome cannot simply ignore a claim. Pilate stands in the tension. Justice or political security? Which one is it going to be? And the crowd cries out, crucify him. Execute him. And he caves into the crowd. He chooses expediency. Now notice Yeshua earlier that week he had entered the temple. He had overtone overturned the tables and the money changers. He drove out all of the corrupted people and business activity that was inside of the Mishkan. And as he did that, he did it with holy zeal. There was holy passion in him when he drove all that out. But now at a time when he could raise up in holy passion, he exercises holy restraint at this very moment that he could be executed. Has Messiah changed? No, he hasn't changed. The moment has changed. And this is what we have to remember that the moment can pivot and why we have to be so attentive and plugged into the ruach, the spirit that God has endowed within us. And watch out for distraction.

23:15Pinkas was faithful by acting. Yeshua faithful by enduring. Our sages have taught us to pray this way for centuries. At the conclusion of the weekly Amida, we say this. Guard my tongue from evil. To those who curse me, let my soul be silent. Let my soul be like those of the dust. And then the prayer changes. Act for the sake of your name. Act for the sake of your right hand. Act for the sake of your holiness. act for the sake of your Torah. Who acts? God acts. Yeshua entrusts his outcome to the father in that very holy moment. That is precisely what he did before Pilate that day as he stood before him. And that is how the story reaches its climax. Earlier we heard but yet Coret Shane he he pierced them both as we told the story of Pinkas Pinkas pierced the perpetrator to bring peace. It's kind of a tongue twister, right? Yeshua was pierced to bring us peace. That is the irony. That is the tension. So as we contemplate this word today and we think about the power of our scriptures today, we realize that the Bible is unapologetic about holy tensions. Now some of you have come out of traditions where you want to land in a

25:07place and you kind of want to stay there. But the Bible doesn't really allow that. We have to wrestle. And this is what we are doing today as we are navigating the the waters and the currents of the rabbis as they debate. But that's not right. You see in Pinka's case, why didn't you have a court and appeal and a Sanhedrin and all that? Because he acted. He acted in holy passion. Had he not acted, yes, he would have all of those things. you'd have a court. And then we flip over to to Mark 15 and we see a time when we actually do have a Sanhedrin and we have corruption. We have the opposite problem. As we stand before God in the holy tension, we realize that our lives are the same. We're constantly living in a holy tension. If we pay attention to it, we see that We have seen that the enemy still strikes at the heart of covenant relationship because that's where intimacy lives in that place. Yeryahu Jeremiah says today I remember your devotion your I remember your devotion to me. So when it comes to our smartphones and our digital devices, as we are connected, the battle is not against the

26:44device, but that doesn't give us the right to not put boundaries and guard rails around it and be very careful, especially with our little ones. But all of us have to watch out. This is a battle of the heart, a battle for your soul. But the word of God is sharper than any spear or two-edged sword. Our task is surely not to pierce another person. God forbid. We don't pierce people. but rather it's to put to death our own yet our own evil inclination because God already condemn sin in the flesh and that's what enables us to connect to the source of life 247. So this week as you move forward, ask yourself this. What does covenant faithfulness require of me in this very moment? And don't just ask that question once, maybe daily. What does it require of me now? Holy passion or holy restraint? And may Hashem give you the hookma, the wisdom to know the difference and the courage to be faithful in the very moment that he has placed before us. Let's pray. Ain Shabbash, we bless and sanctify you. We thank you so much for your goodness, for your grace that abounds upon us today. We thank you for your

28:31favor. search our hearts, Lord, to bring any correction that needs to be made and and help us, oh God, as you promise to deliver us in times of distress. [snorts] I pray that we would all, from the least of us to the greatest of us, be fruitful for your kingdom. In Yeshua's name, everybody says, >> "Shabbat shalom.