Who do you say that I am?

Parsha Sh'mot (Exodus 1:1-6:1)

Haftorah: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23

Additional references to Luke 2:25-35, Mark 8:27-29

Rabbi David Levine

Yom Shabbat, Saturday, December 29, 2007

The way we see another person determines our attitudes and our behavior towards him. A new Pharaoh forgot Joseph's service to Egypt, and viewed the children of Israel as enemies. He hated them and enslaved them, and ordered a pogrom to kill their newborn sons. That's when Moses was born, and both his mother and Pharaoh's daughter saw that he was special to God so they protected him. These two women saw Moses through God's eyes. Decades later, God used Moses to rescue the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery.

Two thousand years ago another Jewish baby boy, Yeshua, was born, and he was brought to the Jerusalem temple for Pidyon HaBen, the redemption of the first born son. An elderly Jewish man saw this baby through God's eyes, and recognized he was the Messiah. Since that time, Jewish people have had many opinions about the identity of Messiah. Rabbi David Levine says the most important question each of us will ever answer is the one Yeshua asked, "Who do you say that I am?" This message will provoke you to consider carefully how you see other people, and help you see them through God's eyes.