The Hebrew Bible, what we call our Old Testament, is the story of God’s designation of Israel as His chosen people. Jesus was a Jew and is quoted in the Bible as saying: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill .” (Matthew 3:17) As a way of establishing his qualifications to declare his allegiance to “Christ Crucified,” the apostle Paul bragged about his background as “a member of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law, as Pharisee.” (Philippians 3:4-5) In the years after Jesus’ death, many Gentiles called “God-fearers” wanted to be associated with the Jews because of their stellar reputation.
In the 20th century, the Catholic Church found it necessary to declare that Jews were not “Christ-killers”? Today we see a need to display a sign saying: “We Stand with Our Jewish Neighbors” on the front lawn of the Franklin Federated Church. How did we get here? What happened to the Jewish Jesus’ instruction to love our neighbors?
The answer is complicated, starting with different groups of Jesus’ early followers, each insisting their interpretation was the only right one. Two Jewish revolts against Rome changed favorable treatment of the Jews to ostracism, exile, and worse. During the next two centuries there was no cohesive message that could be called “Christian” and no uniform organizational structure of what came to be churches.
In the early 4th century, the Emperor Constantine decided to impose a state religion as a way of unifying his vast empire, and, ironically, the movement Jesus began in opposition to Roman imperialism was co-opted by the Roman Empire.
A common enemy is always a unifying factor, so Eusebius, Constantine’s “historian” (actually a storyteller from the Latin “historia” meaning story or tale) advocated a doctrine of “supersessionism” which asserted that God was so angry at the Jews for not accepting Jesus as the Messiah (Christ, Anointed One) that He withdrew his promise that the Jews would always be his people and transferred His blessing to Constantine’s organized Christian Church. For over fifteen centuries, the Jews were blamed for most of the ills of the world, making them fair game for discrimination, abuse, and persecution.
Unfortunately, this “us versus them” attitude still persists and can only be countered by repeating and modeling Jesus’ message of love. That is why in the 21st century, the FFC has expressed its vision as “A community of abundant welcome to all, growing together in Christ and serving with love.”
May we always strive to live up to this vision.
Lyn Pickhover