"Is your blood redder?"

Is there still value in understanding Jewish Religious rulings like ""Is your blood redder?"

Often those coming from a Church background view the ancient Rabbis as old men, who rejected the Messiah, and thus have no value for believers?

To say this view is disrespectful, if not downright prideful, is a gross understatement. Jewish Law, when viewed correctly and with understanding, has tremendous value for today. This value is not only for Jews, but for all followers of the G-D of Israel.

How so you ask? We will be looking at some of these legal rulings based on Torah to see how consistent they are with the Masters teachings, and how we can learn from them.

"Is your blood redder?" is our topic of discussion for this week.

What does "Is your blood redder?" address: valuing oneself over others. An example: you are running late, and jump in front of other cars waiting to go onto the interstate. What we have done in the above case is to say that we are more valuable than the people in the cars we jumped in front of.

Another example is from the Holocaust: A father had a teenager son who was rounded up along with 1399 other teenagers to be murdered by the Nazi's. The father went to the rabbi in the concentration camp and told him he had diamonds hidden with which he could bribe a guard to free the boy. The only problem was that another boy would be then arrested to make-up for the missing one.

What would you tell the man? Save your son? But that would result in another being killed in his place. The rabbi did not answer. By that the man determined the truth, to save his son, at the cost of another, would be wrong.

These examples point out the value of the Jewish concept "Is your blood redder?" Valuing one over another is not our right. This plays heavily in the thought process of whether it is right for the many to sacrifice the few.

From a Messianic prospective, this has some worthwhile parallels and points to consider.

Yeshua said, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." He also said to be great one must be a servant. Is this the same ruling as "Is your blood redder?" Does "Is your blood redder?" not help us understand Yeshua's saying about laying our life down for a friend? I believe it does.

It is interesting to note, Caiaphas said, "It is better for one man to die (speaking of Yeshua), than the whole nation." When he spoke, it was himself and the other Roman appointed priests he was worried about. In his comment, we see the exact opposite of the point of "Is your blood redder?" In effect, Caiaphas was saying his blood was worth move than the Messiah's.

Next time we are tempted to think better of ourselves than others, ask ourself this question "Is my blood redder?" I think we all know the answer!

Shalom - Rabbi Gavri'el