A Very Jewish Messiah

God’s purpose for Jews was/is to bring salvation to the world.

And he promised again and again that someday he would send a messiah, who would be born in the line of David, to bring God’s salvation.

And so, for centuries, the Jewish people waited for the messiah.

Even in the year we now call 1 A.D., the land of Israel was under the cruel occupation of a foreign power. It was the new superpower of the day – Rome. So it’s no wonder that those who were looking for a messiah figured that he would come with one purpose: to set them free from Roman tyranny.

Jesus was a very Jewish messiah.

Two of the four gospels go out of their way to point this out. Listen to the very first words of the New Testament:

This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham. Matthew 1:1 (NLT)

The very first words of the New Testament are written to establish Jesus’ Jewish heritage. Matthew even goes so far as to trace his ancestry through the entire Old Testament. Luke does the same.

What’s the first thing we read about Jesus after he was born?

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. Luke 2:21 (NIV)

First, he was circumcised. Although circumcision is very common now, it was rare in the ancient world. But for Jews, it was sacred. It was a sign of God’s covenant (his special relationship with the Jewish people, and every Jewish boy was circumcised when he was eight days old.

Next he was named. Traditionally, Jewish boys are not named until the day of their circumcision – and that’s the way it was with Jesus.

Let’s think for a few moments about the name, “Jesus.”

This may surprise some of you, but the name “Jesus” wasn’t Jesus’ name at all! Jesus is the English equivalent his real name, kind of like “Jorge” is the Spanish equivalent of “George.”

In the original Greek New Testament, the name is written “Yea-suse.” Kind of similar. But in Hebrew and Aramaic, the languages Jesus spoke, his name would have been pronounced, “Yeshua.” That’s right. Yeshua is the real name of Mary’s baby boy.

Does that sound familiar? It should. It’s actually a fairly common Jewish name. It’s also the name of another hero of the Bible, another Jew who was a savior of his people – the man who led the people out of the wilderness and into God’s promised land. Anybody got it? “Joshua!” Joshua and Yeshua and Jesus are all the same name.

And like most biblical names, this name has a meaning. It means, “He shall save.”

The first Joshua led the people out of the wilderness and into the promised land. Jesus, Yeshua, came to lead us out of the wilderness of sin, and into the land of God’s eternal promise – heaven.

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Have you ever wondered about that story when Jesus was twelve years old? His parents took him to Jerusalem. But, in the caravan on the way home they suddenly realized that Jesus wasn’t with them. After searching frantically, they finally returned to Jerusalem and found him, in the temple, listening to the teaching of the elders.