yimakh shemo ve zikhro, Reconsider Yeshua

Ye-sh-u is an acronym for one of the most significant curses placed upon a person, and is reserved in the strongest application for a false god. With great disdain this expression is used for Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, by many in Judaism today. A curse spoken with the image of spitting as it is spoken. The Hebrew expression says, “may his memory and name be blotted out.” I know it because it has been spoken in my presence, for my sake as a believer in Yeshua. 

Like so many passages in the Bible that prophecy about Yeshua, Jeremiah speaks prophetically of the crucifixion. The LORD made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb, led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. Jeremiah 11:18-20 (English Standard Version, ESV) And also Isaiah says, By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off, out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? Isaiah 53:8 (ESV). What His enemies meant for evil, God uses for good. 

The One who was made a curse for us has become the cursed One, why? Why so much effort to avoid the obvious? The truth is this human plot was God’s plan before the creation of the world. The human trait God used to accomplish His will was the opposition we all possess to God’s will and best desire for all of us. We are the enemies of God in our sin. Actually, we curse ourselves in our refusal to believe in God’s offer of salvation. When one refuses God’s offer of salvation, provided only in Yeshua's sacrifice on our behalf, we depend only on our own ability to provide for ourselves. I know this human effort is offered with the best intention and ‘for God.’ Yet we cannot bring anything to God in our own ability that would satisfy His standard of holiness. David reminds us that The fool hath said in his heart: ‘There is no God’; They have dealt corruptly, they have done abominably; There is none that doeth good. The LORD looked forth from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any man of understanding, that did seek after God. They are all corrupt, they together become impure; There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Psalm 14:1-3 (JPS Tanakh) Our sin curse makes us all the “fool,” deceiving ourselves that we could please God in our best efforts. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. (ESV), and Isaiah says, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. (ESV). 

The curse pronounced on Jeshua is for the purposes of God’s glory. The overwhelming strong pronouncement allows for only one power to overcome our hatred, God’s love. Only God’s powerful desire and ability to forgive us is stronger than our rebellion against Him. Just before going to the cross for the penalty demanded by God’s justice and holiness, Yeshua said, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 (ESV). Many who stood and watched the crucifixion scoffed, derided and scorned this great act of love provided by God. Yeshua died for the sins of the world, for everyone who would believe, but most of all He died to satisfy the wrath of God against our sin and hatred of Him. Yeshua overcame the world’s rebellion against God. His greatest pronouncement contradicts human imagination. On the cross, under the weight of all our sin, Yeshua cried, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Stretch your imagination enough to understand that kind of love. Only God could love that much! Then with a clear conscience, convince yourself that your efforts could match commitment to the Father like that. If you believe God will accept your best efforts in observance of the Law, you are only fooling yourself and blaspheming God. 

While in the presence of the Holy God, Isaiah spoke for all of us when he said, Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! Isaiah 6:5 (ESV). Unless we repent and accept God’s only way to Him we will all perish in our sin. If you have broken God’s law at any point you are irrevocably separated from God and lost. Not one act of good deed, or a lifetime of human effort, can restore that relationship. God left His restoration for us only in His provision, Yeshua’s sacrifice on the cross. He opens our eyes to our lostness through His Spirit’s power. The Apostle Paul spoke from this perspective saying, And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:1-10a (ESV) A relationship with God comes only at His expense. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with your heart. Jeremiah 29:12, 13 (ESV) He desires your heart, not your efforts. (Ephesian 2:8-10)

I implore you to consider why so much disdain is directed at an idea if it has no worth. Your strong refusal is evidence of its truth. Only rebellion can be the cause of this kind of hatred. God is bigger than your curse. Consider the truth found in God’s word. Call upon, come and pray asking for the truth. You will find peace, joy and inexpressible love. He will blot out your sins and remember them no more. You will embrace His Name. The Name that is above all names, Yeshua!