During my trip to the Borderlands this week I was reading about how Christians have really screwed up in our understanding of Judaism – with disastrous consequences.
Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People: A Reader, edited by Brooks Schramm and Kirsi I. Stjerna.
Has God Rejected His People? by Clark Williamson
This is stuff I’ve intuited for years – hatred of any kind is antithetical to the Gospel, obviously. And, not just in the “yeah, but” kind of way that clutches pearls and “of course” rejects hate and violence, but still assigns a spiritual blame on Jews for rejecting Jesus as Savior. “Jews shouldn’t be harmed, but you know, they did reject Jesus.” NO! Such yeah, but-ism has no place in a true and abiding Christian love for our Jewish neighbors.
Still, I’ve never intentionally studied the mechanics of Christian hatred toward the Jews. And it’s eye-opening and it’s awful. Obviously. Please buy these books and read them … especially the Williamson book, but they’re both incredibly important in outlining a terrible history of interpretation that has fed wretched evils for centuries upon centuries.
So much of the awfulness is rooted in misunderstanding and misrepresentation – intentional or not (truthfully, it’s a bit of both). Some of the earliest and most important Christian interpreters just plain get Judaism wrong. Those early errors set in motion expanded and cascading errors that, in time, provide a twisted rationale for Christian rulers to expel Jews from their territories and whip up mob violence against Jews. The Jews’ supposed crime? “Killing Christ,” a claim borne out of hateful error paired with callous disregard for humanity.
And so there’s a connection, however broad, between centuries-long Christian errors and lies about the Jews, and the current errors and lies about immigrants in our country (ok, it’s not a “broad” connection at all – they’re quite related). Errors, lies, awful distortions, and boneheaded claims flowing from the lips of powerful men who have no regard for either decency or restraint provide rhetorical fuel for a political arson that inflicts great harm on our neighbors and fellow bearers of God’s image … on people whom God commands us to love.
Truth sets us free, friends. Seek truth. Reject lies. Live with love.
The Lutheran Zephyr 