Commonalities between Catholicism and Messianic Judaism

[Open Heart]

Messianic Judaism, specifically the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), has been in dialogue with the Catholic Church since the turn of the century.  Rome considers UMJC to be a Judaism, albeit one that is part of Ekklesia.  I would like to not some of the interesting similarities between our two groups.

ORDINATION: THE LAYING OF HANDS / SEMIKHA: THE LEANING OF HANDS and AUTHORITY BEYOND SCRIPTURE
There is the necessity of teaching authority.  The sacred texts do not interpret themselves, nor is revelation some static thing of the past, but rather is living and breathing.  For example, the sacred texts say to refrain from work on the Sabbath.  But what is work, exactly?  Scripture never defines it.  Is washing the dishes work?  What about watering your crops?  What if it's just one plant?  This is why Moses appointed the seventy elders.  They, along with the levites would rule on difficult matters of law.  This accumulated as Oral Torah, eventually written down as the Talmud.  For Catholics, there is Canon law and other authoritative texts.  But none of this would be possible without ordination.  Ordination bestows the authority to teach authoritatively.

APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION
Just as Catholics have an unbroken chain of laying on of hands, the chain of semikha going back through the Rabbis, through the Pharisees, through the Judges, to the elders appointed by Moses, is unbroken.

EMPHASIS ON GOOD WORKS (AS WELL AS GRACE THROUGH FAITH)
As James says, Faith without works is dead.  In Hebrew there is only ONE word for both Faith and Faithfulness: EMUNAH.  They are flip sides of the same coin.

ORIGINS AT PENTECOST
Both groups claim origin at Pentecost.  If you read the book of Acts, especially Acts 21 where it speaks of the thousands of Jewish believers who are zealous for Torah, it is a description of the Messianic Jews in the Early Church.  They are, however, a group within the group, Israel WITHIN Ekklesia.  Thus, the Catholic position and the MJ position are compatible with on another.  Interesting!

LITURGY
The truth is that Catholic liturgy is simply a continuation of Jewish liturgy, so no one should be surprised here. :)  One of the most striking similarities is that in the Mass you have  "Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus" and in Jewish worship we have "Kodesh, kodesh, kodesh," both meaning "Holy, holy, holy."

[winsome]

Someone said: "Catholicism is Judaism fulfilled"

In the Tabernacle that the Israelites built in the desert, God ordered them to place a bronze basin or laver. This was for the priests to wash their hands and feet before approaching the altar:
Ex 30:17-21
The LORD said to Moses,  "For ablutions you shall make a bronze laver with a bronze base. Place it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons shall use it in washing their hands and feet...... when they approach the altar in their ministry, to offer an oblation to the Lord, they must wash their hands and feet, lest they die."

The washing of course wasn't just to remove physical dirt but was symbolic of cleansing them spiritually.
It doesn't say how large the bronze basin was, but the one that they built for Solomon's Temple was huge. It was called the sea. It was 14 foot in diameter and contained about 30,000 gallons of water.

At Mass the priest uses a little basin and just dips his fingers in them saying "Lord, wash away my iniquities and cleanse me from my sin". But the idea is the same.

When we had a deacon (he's retired now), in our church at Sunday Mass the priest and the deacon walk round the altar incensing it at the beginning of Mass and before the consecration.
These two acts together, washing the hands and walking round the altar, call to mind Psalm 26:6
  I will wash my hands in innocence and walk round your altar, Lord