Monday
within the Octave of Easter
(Acts
2:24.22-23; Matthew 28:8-15)
In 1945 Easter was also celebrated on April 1. On that day Giuseppe Girotti, a young Italian
Dominican priest, was executed in Dachau.
His crime was aiding and abetting the Jewish people who were being
severely persecuted by the Nazis in northern Italy. Fr. Girotti, a Scripture scholar, felt a profound
solidarity with Jews through his study of the Old Testament. He considered them his “elder brothers” in
the faith. His story belies the
sentiments of Christians who have felt animosity toward Jews because of the
report found in today’s gospel.
Matthew’s gospel is severely critical of Jews probably
because of the time it was written. Most
exegetes date the gospel to after the fall of Jerusalem when Jews were redefining
their religious practices. They forcibly
excluded Christians from synagogue services.
The violence resulted in the portrayal of Jews as almost universally disdainful
of Christ. Only in Matthew’s gospel, for
example, do the Jews tell Pilate that both they and their children would be
responsible for Christ’s blood. Jewish
leaders bribing the Roman soldiers in today’s passage corresponds to this defamatory
narrative.
Certainly Fr. Girotti’s sense that Christians have much
to thank Jews for corresponds better with Jesus’ teaching, actions, and resurrection
from the dead. Everywhere, and especially
in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus exhorts his followers to forgive. He never curses anyone throughout his
ordeal. Indeed, he died and was raised so
that the sins of all might be forgiven.
