In recent conversations I’ve had with friends who follow me on Social Media has been met with, “I definitely thought you were Jewish!” This statement actually doesn’t offend me, my Messiah is a Jewish man and ultimately, as a disciple of Jesus, I am being sanctified with Him as the example. BUT I am not Jewish. I am a Jesus loving gentile who the Lord pulled back to Him in a practical way.
A few years ago when our family was healing from some really tough hurt we were pulling wisdom from every mentor we had to rebuild our family walls. Practical things we could do in our home to make space for healing to take place. It was during this time I stumbled upon Family Teams instagram and saw the Pryors celebrate their Sabbath Meal in one of their story highlights. I encourage you to go watch it and get inspired by the beauty in it! Something about a weekly family meal hit Joey and I deep and we jumped in. Not having any guidance but their instagram story, we sat down and game planned our own meal.
I remember that first Sabbath meal, how awkward it was. We prayed blessings, lit a candle, had a fancy meal, and stumbled through talking about a characteristic of God. We actually invited some good friends of ours over for one of our first sabbath meals together, the confidence we had! ha! I laugh thinking about bringing them into the awkwardness now. They walked out of there with grace and encouragement that we were beginning something special in our home. They could not have been more right.
We kept it up throughout that season, then we moved. Joey’s schedule got insane. He was only ever off on Sundays, sometimes, and he hardly made it home for dinner. Needless to say, I didn’t pull from what the Lord had placed in me to continue on my own. So we agreed to pause Sabbath meals and do it when we could. Although we could have used those meals more than ever during that season, I can see the grace God had over our home.
It was during this time that we decided we wanted to celebrate Passover. I had been reading more on the feasts and felt it in my spirit it was something we could and should do. That conversation of planning Passover one late night on the couch with Joey is one of my most favorite memories of our marriage. There was so much unity and excitement to be had as we looked to John to guide us through honoring our Messiah in the Passover.
That year we had our first passover, the Barraza way, with Matzah, lamb, wine and juice, bible reading, and the washing of feet. If you know me, you know I bawled. From then on, we knew we’d be honoring passover every year as a family.
What we didn’t know was that God was about to walk us through the prophetic significance of our redemption that He had laid out in the biblical feasts. That every festival is tied to our Messiah in a BIG way. Every detail laid out is such a powerful way God reminds us to have eternal vision. We didn’t know we’d move a few months later, connecting us with good friends who honored all the biblical feasts in the traditional Jewish way. Teaching us so much that we didn’t know. We didn’t know we’d be picking Sabbath up again only this time to refuse to give it up. We didn’t know we’d be building our first Sukkah in our backyard that fall. But we did. And we stumbled through it all in the best way possible, with our eyes on our Father and Jesus in our heart.
It’s as if God knew we would need practical ways to keep our eyes on Him. Like He knew the world would try to distract us from where our eyes should be, so He gave His people the festivals. To remember Him throughout the year practically, to remember the author of their story, their rescuer. Then there, woven into those festivals, is our ultimate redemption story, our Messiah. It’s as if He knew.
If you’re like I was, you’re probably skeptical of Old Testament commandments or laws. They seem scary and we’ve been taught that they’ve been cancelled. If you’re also like me, you might be looking for ways to build your family in Jesus. Practical things to do in your home to make God the center of it. For us, the answer was in the bible, we just didn’t know it. While we know we don’t follow Torah for salvation, or even have to keep Torah, I think it fair to ask ourselves as believers this:
“If God gave the Torah like I know He did, if He created these festivals for His people, what lie am I believing that is making me fearful of them, making me believe they are something that is not from Him? Because through Jesus, I am His people. His Kingdom is my inheritance.”
It was ultimately the appointed times that opened a space for God to do some major healing in our home. It’s taken us from earthly vision to kingdom vision. It reminds us weekly in Sabbath and yearly in the festivals that we are to look to eternity. We are to keep our eyes on our inheritance that we have been offered through Jesus.
So if you are one of the many who has been wondering what in the world is going on in the Barraza household, we’re just doing what we can to honor and love our Father through our Messiah Jesus!
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