Congregation Shema Yisrael

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. -Isaiah 55:6

We just celebrated the two days of Rosh Hashanah or the New Year, and now face the most awesome of days in our Holy calendar: Yom Kippur. However the ten day period between these two events is especially significant: The Days of Teshuvah. Actually, the ten days aren’t in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but include those Days of Awe. But what are we to do during these ten days, which started last Friday at sundown and culminates a week from today?

The Hebrew word Teshuvah is most often translated as “repentance”, which is a word very familiar to both Jews and Gentiles, both believers in Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), and traditional, rabbinic Jews. Yet Teshuvah doesn’t quite mean “repentance” in the classical sense. According to chabad.org:

A more literal meaning of the word, however, is “return.” Repentance is a concept understood by Western society. Teshuvah, “return,” is a uniquely Jewish term. The difference between the two is more than semantic. Teshuvah reflects a radically different approach in our relationship with G-d. Repentance implies a reversal of one’s conduct – a recognition of past shortcomings, and a firm resolution to change in the future. It is the awareness of our imperfections that impels us to reorient.

“Return” emphasizes the fundamental spiritual potential that we each possess. Every one of us possesses a soul which is an actual part of G-d. This infinite G-dly spark represents the core of our beings, who we really are.

Every one of us possesses a soul which is an actual part of G-d. Believers in Yeshua, and citing Acts 2, might be tempted to believe only Messianic believers (Christians) possess the soul described on the Chabad article, but in fact, all human beings have the same connection to God because of this:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. -Genesis 1:26-27

Although the concept of being “created in God’s image” has been hotly debated, in traditional Jewish thought, being created in the image of God refers to that special, divine spark that each of us, as humans, possesses within us. It’s the Divine spark that causes us to seek God. The animals don’t possess this “image”; only people. It’s what makes humanity unique among all of God’s creations. It’s what guides the lost sheep of the human race to return to a God we’ve never known before. Yes, not everyone comes back to God, but the call is still there within us all. We can either choose to listen to the spark within us, or completely waste the true potential of the life God has given us.

Even among the worshippers of the One, True God, there are those who have separated from Him after having accepted the Spirit. Some people separate completely, and fall away from God, denying Him, and returning to a secular existence. Others among us, once fervent in the faith, become lukewarm, neither hot or cold for God. Could that be the worst of the two conditions?

To the messenger of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. -Revelation 3:14-16

Being “spit out” by Messiah Yeshua is to be rejected and “outside” of him. Yet he continues with these words of hope:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” -Revelation 3:19-22

If we return to him, he will return to us, and give us “the right to sit with me on my throne…” What an incredible reward, but we must return to him, persevere, and keep the faith. No where did Yeshua paint a more vivid picture of a lost sheep returning home than in the following parable:

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” -Luke 15:11-32

Often, we see the primary motivating factor for us to repent and return to God as our weaknesses, our sorrow, and our utter shame over our sins. In fact, what is prompting us, believer and non-believer alike, is that spark of God within each of us. The “image” of the Almighty stirs restlessly inside our hearts, urging us to connect with our Creator. For those of us who have become lukewarm believers, the Spirit we accepted when we declared Yeshua as Lord and Master, rebukes and disciplines us as well, for we are his and he will not let us go, though sometimes we might feel abandoned.

Teshuvah is the return of the prodigal son to the house of his Father. Teshuvah is a re-initiating of our ability to be spiritually sensitive to God. Teshuvah is where we stop just treading water, and reach out to grasp the life preserver God continually extends to us.

While we can return to God at any time and in any hour, the Ten Days of Teshuvah, from the first day of Rosh Hashanah to the final day at Yom Kippur, is a special “season” on God’s calendar and on our calendar, when we are reminded that God is waiting for us to show up for our “appointment” with Him. He is always waiting for us to return, but the Days of Awe are when we are, or should be, particularly aware that God is “in his office” waiting for us to show up at his door. Actually, Yeshua says he’s knocking on our door. All we have to do to return to him, is to answer the knock, and open that door.

For many, it seems like such a difficult task, but sin is a much heavier weight to bear. Listen. Can you hear him knocking? Don’t hesitate. Don’t wait for the last day. Answer the door now, before it’s too late.

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. -Revelation 3:2-6

Jeff Nickles recently wrote a blog suggesting that, to find self-significance, we should all make our lives count for something. What can be more significant in our lives, then fulfilling the purpose for which each and every one of us was personally designed by God? Yet to find that significance within us, we must find it by returning to the One who made us. If we wait to return to God, we remain unfulfilled, wasting the limited amount of time God has provided us.

You can say to yourself that, even if you wait to return to God until after Yom Kippur, God still waits for you, and you’re right. Yet who is to know when that last day is, when the Master will come like a thief in the night? Human beings need these physical, tangible reminders of God and His grace to us. We need God’s appointments on our calendar, just like we need alarm clocks and post-it notes, to wake us up and to jog our memories. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the shofar is sounded as a wake up call, to get our attention, and to sound the alarm. Time is short. Repent. Return. Make Teshuvah. There’s a knock at the door. Answer it.