By: Thomas K. Hyland, Jr.

© December 15, 1998

Yes, I worship a Jew! There, I’ve said it again! For the record, let us establish some basic facts.

First, I was Baptized in 1940 at St. Mary’s Star of The Sea Church, in Baltimore, Maryland as a Roman Catholic. Note the use of the formal descriptive adjective in the title, Roman, it shall be significant later herein. Secondly, as a Catholic (which simply means, Universal) I am therefore a Christian (follower of the teachings of Christ), which we were taught as children, is the "Only True Faith!" However, lest we be remiss, let us acknowledge the Fact that, the original Christians from the First Century were in fact J E W S !!! To me this is quite important! Why, will be self-evident in a few moments.

Just as many of you readers have experienced; I grew up, attended Grammar and High Schools, fulfilled my military obligation, met a wonderful woman, got married, had two fine, upstanding devoted children, saw them both through a College education, and, am now still happily married to the same mother of my children, after thirty-two years of life’s normal trials and tribulations.

"Just what does that brief autobiography have to do with Religion," you may ask. Everything!

We all have some form of History, some duty or obligation as Parents, to at least attempt to bring up our children with some Roots or foundation, in some form of Religion or Worship. As the song goes, in "Fiddler on the Roof" Tradition! ... Tradition! Knowing something about from whence we came is, in my humble opinion, paramount to the strength and inner core of the Foundation of this thing we all call "Family."

In this, my thirteenth year of the Honor of singing in the Choir of The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, I feel compelled to express some feelings which have permeated my inner being for several long years now. At each rehearsal, at each Mass, at each Celebration of each and every Sacred Rite held within this Majestic Structure of God, I observe with my God-given sight, the beauty of God’s sunlight, pouring through and piercing the magnificent stained-glass windows. Windows that depict our Forefathers, our Saints, our Patriarchs, our Roots, our History, our Faith.

As I listen with my God-given hearing to: the Epistles, the Graduals, the Gospels, the Versicles, the Homilies, the Anthems, the Psalms, the never-ending repeated stories of the Wonders and Miracles of: our Savior, our Lord, our Shepherd, our Lamb of God, our Messiah ... Jesus, The Christ ... one solitary fact continues: to gel, to solidify, to coagulate ... He Was, Is Now, and Ever Will Be ... a JEW!
I worship a Jew! All Christians worship a Jew! Yet, why are we mere mortals always at odds with each other? Why are we so hard-headed and stubborn as to continually try to be the First, the Best, the Only, the True? Is it ego-centricity, or stupidity?

We worship His Father, the Lord-God: of Adam, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Melchizedek, and all the other Jewish Patriarchs, and yet, we tend to bury the fact, to avoid acknowledgment, to "play Ostrich" to this most Powerful phenomena. Why? Is this not the One and the Same, the Jahweh,

Author’s Note: These meager thoughts as well as those that follow, were promulgated as a result of my watching the airing of: Part I of "From Jesus To Christ" on Channel 22, PBS at 9:00 p.m. on Monday, December 14, 1998. This broadcast was an outstanding piece, well done, and well documented with expert Archeological Findings and Testimonies. Interested readers may contact PBS at: in order to obtain information, or to purchase Video or Audio Tapes.

Because of the Quality of PBS’s hard work, Dedication, and overall Top-notch Presentations, I should like to offer what I shall now term "Reverse Tithing." To wit: Should any Publisher, Programmer, or any other Organization whatsoever, deem this article of mine to be worthy of publication, in any form whatsoever, he/she/it has my permission to do so, with but one Proviso. That is: any monetary proceeds thereof, including future Royalties, shall be dispersed as follows: 45 Percent to PBS, as my humble Donation to further its work, 45 Percent to The Choir of The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, in Baltimore, in gratitude for my opportunity to Serve both our Lord, and our Parishioners, with the further stipulation that: a fund shall be Established and named as "The Robert F. Twynham Choir Appreciation Fund", with control of said fund being at the following absolute discretion: 60 Percent to the then Current Music/Choir Director, and the remaining 40 Percent to an Open, Majority Vote of any and all then Current Choir Members. The intent herein is simply to somehow pay a Lasting Tribute to our Maestro, Mr. Twynham, for his Thirty-Plus Years of Dedication, Loyalty, and Service, not only to: The Cathedral, the Choir, the Parishioners, the Music Lovers of Baltimore, but also to the World -at-Large. Thank you, Robert! Finally, this leaves the 10 Percent "ReverseTithing" to me, for my efforts and expenses. I can only pray that these efforts are not for naught. He that I worship shall determine this.

That being said, let us now return to my attempt to merely: summarize, encapsulate, and paraphrase only a portion of PBS’s magnificent broadcast.

As a result of the efforts of The Apostles, and The Disciples, and quite pre-dominantly, Paul, this New Order of Jews For Jesus, this branch of Theology, in effect, a "spin-off" or variation of its Mother, Judaism, slowly began to spread. Many Gentiles were now being converted to Judaism,
and thus, subsequently to Christianity.

Which Gentiles? Primarily Greeks, western Turks, and citizens of many diverse backgrounds and nationalities, many of which were inhabitants of the major Roman routes which encircled the Mediterranean Sea, these, as well as members of Asia Minor and the Aegean Basin, were being converted by the "Good News." These new Gentile-Jews assimilated the dietary laws and other customs and traditions of the Jewish communes. The city of Ephesus was central to Paul’s teachings as a cosmopolitan center of the times. From this basis of the "new" type of Jews, Paul gradually received concordance with the leaders from Jerusalem, Peter and others, that Baptism, a Greek word for "dunking", was an acceptable conversion Rite, as a substitute for circumcision.
This concession did not occur overnight, and was not without much discussion, argument, and other tribulation.

The established, open Roman routes promoted the most exercised freedom of movement of: people, traders, markets and merchants, and inevitably, the Message of Messianic Jews, the new radical theology. These mono-theistic Christian-Jews were upwardly mobile, and moved about in a Nomadic fashion, worshiping mostly in homes, rather than established Jewish Synagogues.

The Kingdom of God was now at hand! First Thessalonians was Paul’s first Epistle, or letter, wherein he preached that peace and security were coming, via the Rule of God. However, Apocalyptic expectations were growing daily and fueling turmoil and Jewish resistance to Roman rule. Banditry and Zealotry were becoming more rampant in the surrounds and environs of Jerusalem. The political conflict between the Roman Emperor’s Kingdom and the Kingdom of God was now drawing to a head. It was now the early 60's A.D.

When Paul returned to Jerusalem with his collected contributions for the new Church, the result of his years of labor in spreading Christianity, he was arrested and taken to Rome, to stand trial before the Emperor, as a "rebel-rouser" or insurrectionist. We are told that both Peter and Paul died about the same time, in the year 64 A.D. Other early leaders of the "Jesus Movement" were also wiped out within a very short span of time thereafter.

James, the brother of Jesus (note: my Catholic upbringing never emphasized or even attempted to acknowledge that Jesus actually had any siblings), not to be confused with James, the Apostle, was also killed around the same time, as told to us by Josephus, Flavius (born Joseph Ben Mathias)
37 A.D.-100? A.D.; Jewish historian and military leader.

Accordingly, around the year 66 A.D. of the Common Era, the first open Jewish Revolt occurred in Jerusalem. The Jewish Resistance Movement exploded with a vengeance. Open conflict with Rome was highly evident as the rebels seized the Holy City. Surviving members of this new religious, yet also political power had seen and heard of the destruction of their beloved leaders, and enough was enough!

Thus, the fiery predictions of the Essenes were beginning to realize fruition, as foretold by the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many members of this revolution actually believed that it was the start of the Apocalypse, whereby the Kingdom of God was truly at hand. Several leaders of the revolt claimed to have Messianic power and identity. The die was cast!

The War Scroll was now being fulfilled, wherein, "They shall be a flaming torch in the scrolls to consume un-Godliness." The Essenes then marched out to fight the Romans, and were summarily annihilated. "Valiant warriors of the Angelic Host are among our numbered men, and the hero of war is with our congregation." To these early Christians, these "Jews for Jesus", both the ancient Scriptures and the then current Dead Sea Scrolls were concrete testimonies that the Apocalypse had indeed truly begun.

The Jewish historian, Josephus, now a prisoner of war, defected to the Roman side, and personally witnessed the sack of Jerusalem. He is shown to us, actually walking around the outer walls, and pleading with the inhabitants to "give up" in order to avoid a long siege and its accompanying suffering and agony. The Holy City was under siege for two long years, and disease, murder, and starvation ran rampant. This loss of life in such an established city had to be catastrophic in scope. Jerusalem’s fate was about to be sealed, as the amassed Roman armies prepared to break down the walls, in August, of the year 70 A.D.

In his account of the ensuing decimation, entitled "The War of The Jews", Josephus described the massacre, maiming, and mayhem, as the Roman soldiers entered every home, from every street and alley, slaughtering Jerusalem’s citizens, and then burning their dwelling places. He tells us that corpses clogged the passageways and the whole city was "drowned in blood." Further, "... and the blood of all manner of corpses formed pools in the Courts of God."

Almost two thousand years later, Archeological findings of spears, arrowheads, and other stark evidence of hand-to-hand combat have been uncovered in the ruins, which unquestionably document this destruction of the City of God, in the early First Century. Josephus further tells us that "... and the dawn broke in flames upon Jerusalem." In fact, one of the Archeological discoveries, known as the "Burnt House" clearly shows us a home with all the furniture and furnishings still in place, and decimated with the ashes of fiery destruction.

"The Romans set the Temple on fire, all that was left was the platform wall that once supported the symbol of the center of the Nation of Israel." As the sacred symbols of Judaism were carried off by the Roman troops, the Temple and the Sacred City of Identity and Piety was suddenly and summarily nothing more than a burial ground, a veritable and impotent monument to what once was splendor. Alas, poor Jerusalem ... Alas, poor daughters of Zion ... thy Crowning Jewel is no more!

In summary, it is critical to note that, up to this point, the failure of the First Revolt, the Christians themselves were still an integral part of Judaism. The aftermath of this revolt was, in essence, the beginning of the Great Schism between Judaism and Christian theologies, even though they were once so deeply, yet shortly inter-twined. Now, and only now, each of the two religions begins to re-think its: doctrines, laws, customs, similarities, and differences. All of these being considered in light of the impact of the First Revolt.

One can easily envision the surviving refugees of this Holocaust remembering and cherishing with chagrin their prior age-old teachings and laments, found in the Psalms which told of the First Destruction of the Temple of God in the time of the Babylonian Exile:

"By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion."

In closing, if one cared to research some current statistics, in this, our "Modern" world, one might be impressed or even surprised by a simple fact. Now, Two Thousand Years later, out of a number of "Recognized" established religions (approximately 9, using 1/10th of a Million as the Smallest), the one which is the Youngest is also the Largest (about 1.9 Billion Members), and it is almost Twice the size of the closest other religion. Also, by comparing its size as a ratio of the Total, 3.4 Billion, it represents 55.88 Percent of all "Believers" on the face of the Earth.

Not bad, for an itinerant Jewish Carpenter, Huh? Does this mean that we Christians are right? Not hardly! Does it mean we are more knowledgeable, or more caring, or more loving than the rest? Emphatically, NO! It just seems to me that it is "high time" for all of us Christians to: recognize our roots, be more receptive, friendly, and understanding towards our Jewish Brethren, and even More So to all of the Other Religions, for as the "youngsters" so to speak, we still have a great deal to learn. If we are to share this Paradise we call Earth, and live in Peace and Harmony, always helping one another, then we, of all, should follow the Master’s example, and express our Love of All Mankind.

In the final analysis, I think of the First letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "There are but three things that last: Faith, Hope, and Love. But the Greatest of these is Love." Then, there are the humble words of a Beautiful hymn, "If there is to be Peace on Earth, let it begin with me." I worship The Jewish God, I worship His Son, Jesus, therefore, I proudly Worship a Jew."