Why have Christians been killing Jews for nearly 1800 years? The
answer is in many of our homes, in a book that may be dusty and rarely
opened, or well thumbed. Churchgoers may hear it weekly. The cause
clearly lies in the gospels of the New Testament.
This knowledge and opinion is nothing new. Long ago in my
seminary years, we discussed how and why this unhistorical bent came to
dominate those writings, and the tragic results ever since. But you never
hear of this from pulpits, historians or those writing the news concerning
antisemitism today. It’s taboo. Investigating and questioning the gospels
goes against Christian doctrine and few dare face the inevitable wrath of
the many Christian fundamentalists.
These are the historical facts as we know them. The followers of
Jesus of Nazareth (all Jews, of course), mainly stayed in Jerusalem after
his death. Although he had refused the role of a conquering King, his way
being that of non-violence, they were certain he would come again, as
the Risen Messiah this time, to destroy the Romans and to usher in the
Kingdom of God in the new Israel. They finally joined the underground
movement of the Zealots in their revolt against Rome in 65 AD, assuming
that by proving their faithfulness, God would be with them and send a
messiah, a righteous king, whom they knew would be Jesus. They were
wrong, of course, and all perished when after holding their own for
nearly five years, Jerusalem finally fell to Rome in 70 A.D. From that time
on there are no known original followers of Jesus.
All that were left of the movement were the Greek-thinking
‘believers’ that Paul and others had gathered, knowing that they could
follow the Way and teachings of Jesus, within their own traditions and
cultures. In their Greek understandings, they had taken the local and
Jewish concept of Messiah and expanded it to become a cosmic and
divine Christ. Since the Jews had lost their war of independence, these
newcomers knew that God was no longer with Jews, but that indeed
they, the Gentile Believers, had replaced them as the new people of God.
The Jews simply didn’t matter anymore. And by that time, the new
believers weren’t welcomed within the Synagogues. They had made a
God out of Jesus, now their Christ and literal Son of God, and that made
no sense to Jews. For them, God was One. The new believers had torn
God apart. By the time the gospels were written, the separation was
complete.
The fall of Jerusalem had been a traumatic shock to all. They had all
assumed that Jesus would come again, and very soon, to clean house and
make everything perfect. When that didn’t happen, there was an urgent
need to ‘write it down’. Their assumed timeline had been wrong. They
were going to be in it for a longer haul. The Gospels are the results.
As it states clearly in the prologue of what we call the gospel of Luke,
the purpose of these writings was to lead the readers to lives of
faithfulness and truth. History was included, but it was secondary to
leading their lives as called and shown by the risen Christ. Future
faithfulness was far more important than mere historical facts. The past
hardly mattered, for the coming Christ would change and renew it all
anyway.
Everyone knew that Jesus of Nazareth had been killed by the
Romans for leading an uprising. The gospel writers also knew that the
Way of Jesus, their Christ, was one of love and non-violence, that they
were to not seek revenge on Rome, as might easily be assumed. They
knew that ‘the Jews’ had/did not recognize Jesus as divine. They knew
that in following Jesus, they were God’s new and chosen people. How
could they write all this in a way that would lead others in that time, to
faithfulness? That was a real challenge.
They didn’t attempt to tell and explain it, as we would, in essay
form, but chose to do it in story form, in Gospels. So, in their writings we
have many layers of truth: the basic truths of history, but also many more
layers of local and faith ‘truths’ that attempted to lead the people in 85
A.D., say, to act faithfully.
The way they chose to accomplish it, was to tell the story so as to
shift the well-known blame for Jesus’s death from Rome to ‘The Jews’.
That’s what they did. The very first story in Matthew sets the tone for the
whole collection of writings.
How would people back then have understood this story, one of
those ‘cute’ ones we love so much and hear at Christmas, the one about
the three Wise Men? It would include all of this:
“The Almighty God of Creation sends down his Son to be born on
earth, in the expected place, making it plain for all to see by showing it
even in the stars. Do any Jews take notice? No. Only some unnamed
Gentiles from far away see the obvious celestial signs and are faithful
enough to take the time to search. They first go, of course, to the King of
the Jews, to inquire and ask for permission. The King knows nothing about
it, nor do his learned advisors but they tell the Maji of an obscure
reference in their writings as to where a future messiah might be born.
The three are sent on their way with orders to report back. The gentiles
seek and find the Holy Child but are warned by God not to return to those
threatening Jews. Likewise, the parents are warned to escape to Egypt.
The evil Jewish king promptly does his best to find and kill the Holy Child.”
What would have been the lessons learned and enforced by those
Greek-thinking readers? Jews are ignorant, ungodly, untrustworthy and
have done their best from the very start to stop the Word of God as is
found in Christ. Only gentiles (them) recognize and believe in Christ, the
only Son of God. (Not so cute and cuddly a story after all.)
And this is how the New Testament starts! At the end of the gospels,
readers are told that in the wee hours of the morning, right after Jesus
had publicly and symbolically dominated the city in an uprising, he is
taken captive, not by Romans, whom he had just defied, but by fellow
Jews. He is identified, taken to the home of the High Priest and
questioned. Next, he is presented to and questioned by the whole
Sanhedrin, the ruling body of over seventy Jewish elders from across the
land, whose rules forbid them, by the way, from meeting after dusk. Then
he is walked across to King Herod’s Palace where his Jewish captors wake
up the king, in hopes he would see things their way and condemn Jesus.
Finally, he is taken before the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, where
he is put on trial. All before breakfast? Riiiiight.
But don’t question. It’s the gospel truth.
The person of Pontius Pilate has to be completely reversed.
Historical writings assure us that Pilate was one of Rome’s foremost
‘hatchet men’, often sent to Roman provinces that were most unruly. He
was one mean SOB. Yet, in the gospels, he is portrayed as weak and
indecisive, cringing in fear of those unruly Jews who force him to
condemn a man even his wife knows is innocent. According to the
gospels, Pilate doesn’t seem to know who Jesus was, although, at the
same time, they agree that Jesus had publicly led the crowd right under
the walls of the Fortress Antonia, and the watchful eyes of the Romans,
while on his way to the adjacent Temple, which he closed down. Just the
day before! Both storylines are there, inter-twined, but contradictory.
So, the historical facts are not omitted or denied, just covered. The
gospels agree that his death was a rushed job. One even has Pilate quite
plausibly worrying about Jesus being rescued (a real possibility) and
sending orders to have him speared, if still alive. The usual and
proscribed legal Roman proceedings of several days were ignored,
condensed, we can assume, so as to kill this most dangerous rebel leader
before a rescue could be mounted. Yes, the historical line remains. It was
commonly known and couldn’t be altered.
But it could be added to. So, in the new telling, to get Rome off the
hook, every Roman official, from Pilate to the soldiers, know that Jesus is
innocent. On the opposite side, all possible levels of Jewish society
condemn him, from the commoners to the elite, literally forcing poor
Pilate to do their dirty work. This slant culminates with “And all the Jews
cried, ‘Crucify him. Crucify him. Let his blood be upon us and our children’s
children!”
Remember that this was a crushed and conquered nation. Roman
soldiers patrolled the streets. The coinage claimed that Caesar was God.
Their most holy place, the Temple, was run by a High Priest who was a
stooge of the Romans. The biggest question among the people was how
long it would be until they would be united by a messiah, a righteous king
who would lead them to freedom.
Yet, in the gospels, there is not one bad Roman, no mention of
oppression, fear, rape or misdeeds. On the other hand, there are very
few good Jews. Nearly all are said to be against Jesus, even if they had
urged him, time and again, to be their messiah. The word Jew is never
used in a positive way.
Would we give any serious time or thought to a storyline from, say,
1943, that had the bulk of French Partisans capturing and bringing the
leader of their own French Resistance before the head of the German
Gestapo? And, demanding that the poor, powerless German comandante
kill the troublemaker for obscure religious reasons? And the German
thinking the person before him is innocent, even though he had led a
revolt the day before? How crazy can you get? But since It’s in the Bible,
and we know we will offend others by questioning it, we allow silence to
rule. And hatred continues to fester, and reign.
So ‘the Jews’ became ‘Christ-killers’ and Christians got even as soon
as they gained enough power. And have continued to do so. This has
been disastrous for Jews, of course, but also for Christians. In the gospels,
they have been given ‘license’ to kill, ignoring Jesus’s tradition of non-
violence, allowing them to set aside this most basic of understandings.
The whole world has suffered. Auschwitz was the worst example of this
tragic literary choice, but only one among many. And it’s getting worse
again.
Now is the time to address this truth. Talking about it might help
stem the tide of anti-Semitism and might also help Christians to re-
discover and emphasize their roots. It’s hard to see the downside of
setting this TRUTH free, however challenging the path may be.
I’m not writing this to bring down any church or to cause believers
to throw away the Gospels. I am doing this precisely because I hold the
gospels so dear. I am trying to follow the Way of Jesus in my own life by
getting the most out of these writings. In the Jewish tradition, the way of
Jesus of Nazareth, to ask a meaningful question is to come closer to the
Holy. Study is the highest form of prayer. The question of ‘Why are Jews
persecuted?’ is one that God’s Spirit, however understood, calls us to ask
and answer. If we believe in the primary goal of LOVE, irrespective of how
we label our spirituality, the historical and traditional aspects of the
gospels that have led to death and fear, simply must be addressed. Who
could be against that, no matter the risk?
In churches or outside, it will take daring and love to face this reality,
especially in our present crisis. Every day postponed is time and life
abandoned to fear, hatred and ignorance. The source of the blight must
be named and addressed. Revealing truth and love can only benefit us
all.
Thank you so much for your time, energy, and support.
