Thursday, IV Lent
(John 5)
As Holy Week approaches, we Christians should review our attitudes toward Jews. All the gospels relate that Jewish people had a role in Jesus’ passion and death. The Romans actually executed Jesus, but each gospel points out that they did so at the instigation of the Jewish people. The gospels of Matthew and John are especially harsh in their consideration of Jewish responsibility. Matthew locates blame for the crucifixion not only on the Jews in Jerusalem on the first Good Friday but also on Jews of all time. The crowds respond to Pilate, “(Jesus’) blood be upon us and upon our children.” Throughout the Gospel according to John, as we see in the passage today, Jesus is in a bitter debate with not only the scribes and Pharisees and other Jewish leaders but more generically with “the Jews.”
However, we must be very careful about assigning guilt. It is universally recognized that the Gospels do not only tell the story of Jesus’ life and death but that they also reflect the conditions of apostolic times. During the latter half of the first century when the Gospels were being composed there was bitter opposition between Christians and Jews. For a while Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism. Christians worshipped with Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem until it was destroyed in 70 A.D. as well as in synagogues wherever there were Jews. With the destruction of the Temple Jewish leaders tried to put their house in order. They saw the need to expel from the synagogues the Christians who were worshipping Jesus as Messiah. As Jesus makes clear in the gospel today, Jews and Christians read the Scriptures differently.
Because they were almost literally thrown out on their ears, Christians responded with a rather harsh description of Jewish involvement for Jesus’ death in the gospels. The Vatican Council has helped us clarify what actually happened the fateful day on which Jesus was crucified. The members of the governing council were responsible for giving Jesus over to the Romans for execution. Some of these men no doubt sincerely believed that Jesus had violated the Mosaic blasphemy laws and deserved death. Others probably acted out of jealousy and hatred. In any case it is wrong for Christians to blame all Jews at the time for Jesus’ death and an outrage to call Jews today “Christ killers.” Jesus was a Jew, and many Jews became Christians. There are many reasons for us to love Jews, not the least of which is Jesus’ command to love our neighbor as our self.
