Unintentional Anti-Semitism in the Church
Kenneth R. Mullican, Jr.
I heard an all too familiar theme surface in an otherwise good sermon with regard to the recognition and acceptance of Jesus as Messiah: "The Jews just missed it!" Sadly, this affront by categorization also shows a total lack of recognition of the role of Jews in the early church and in their making the message of salvation through Yeshua (Jesus) available to non-Jews. It is as if Yeshua appears on the scene, is rejected by the Jews, but is welcomed with open arms by the non-Jews. This subtle, and I would hope, usually unintentional form of anti-Semitism is detrimental from several perspectives:
1) It deprives us of our rich heritage and biblical understanding that lie in the Jewish roots of our faith;
2) It can be hurtful to those members of the congregation of Jewish origin; and
3) It serves to foster feelings of anti-Semitism that lead to more blatant forms of expression.
How is it that otherwise good, morally upstanding men and women can fall into the trap of unintentional anti-Semitism? I think that there are several reasons for this phenomenon:
1) Our tendency to categorize a particular racial or cultural group as if it were absolutely homogeneous;
2) The almost total void within the church in our knowledge of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and the inherent contribution of Jews in the nurturing and spreading of the message of Yeshua; and
3) The failure to recognize that New Testament epistles while embodying universal truth are directed to congregations in a particular cultural and historical setting, usually either primarily of Jewish or of non-Jewish origin—considerations imperative for meaningful present-day application.
No, we really can't say that the Jews "missed it" anymore than we can say that the Americans have "missed it" or that the Canadians have "missed it", etc. The fact is that some Americans have accepted Yeshua and some haven't; some Canadians have accepted him and some haven't. By the same token, some Jews of Yeshua's day accepted him and some didn't. In fact, so many Jews in Palestine had accepted Yeshua as Messiah (and were still practicing Jews) that the ruling Jewish religious body feared they might become a predominant sect of Judaism and therefore thought it necessary, at the Council of Yavneh in 90 C.E., to amend the daily prayer to include an extra "blessing." This blessing was actually a curse on the sects of Judaism considered apostate by the surviving Pharisaic Judaism of the Council and some think that it was primarily directed toward the Jewish followers of Yeshua.
Indeed, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Jews for the message of Yeshua we hold so dear. Yeshua himself was Jewish, received a Jewish education, regularly attended synagogue services and at the customary age of 30 he began his public ministry. As was customary, he gathered a group of students who accompanied him from place to place learning from observing their master as much as by the words he spoke. With notable exception, his earthly ministry was entirely to Jewish people; by his own words, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 15:24)
All of Yeshua's disciples were Jewish; the people to whom Peter preached on the day of Pentecost were Jews from Palestine, as well as a number of countries from the Diaspora, who had come to Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of "Weeks" or "Pentecost". Of these, 3,000 accepted Yeshua as Messiah and were baptized that day; thus, headquartered in Jerusalem until the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., the first church was Jewish. In fact, they weren't even sure that non-Jews could accept Yeshua as savior. Peter went to great lengths to have witnesses accompany him to the house of Cornilius and to give testimony that non-Jews were indeed able to accept Jesus as Messiah as evidenced by their also receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit just the same as had the Jewish believers.
The first people to carry the good news of Yeshua to the non-Jewish world (as well as to Jews in the Diaspora) were Jewish. It was perhaps inevitable that as the distance from Palestine increased, the new followers of Yeshua were increasingly cut off from the Jewish roots of their faith. Scripture was viewed from other than a Hebraic perspective. There was the clamor of many voices: Gnostics with their message of salvation through mysterious knowledge for the initiated only; the various syncretists, attempting to incorporate Yeshua into existing religious systems; and the Judaizers, limiting salvation through Yeshua to those who first converted to Judaism. The demands of the Judaizers were addressed relatively early when Paul and Barnabus led a delegation to Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Council (composed of Jewish Apostles) saw fit to place no further burden of Law upon the non-Jew than was already incumbent upon the righteous non-Jew under the universal "Laws of Noah." What is usually overlooked here is that neither does the council decree that the Jew must cut himself off from his culture and religion in order to accept Yeshua as Savior and Lord. Just as the non-Jew has the freedom in Yeshua not to embrace Jewish culture and religious practices, so the Jew has the freedom in Yeshua to remain a Jew. It was only later, as church government came into the hands of the non-Jewish majority that the church decreed that being Jewish was not compatible with being a follower of Yeshua. As far as the feeling of the Jews on the matter, it was not uncommon for each sect of Judaism to feel that only its own members were "fulfilling (i.e., keeping) the Law; the other sects were "destroying" it, much as one present-day denomination, unfortunately, might feel about another Christian denomination. Before the destruction of the Temple, more than 20 Jewish sects thrived. After its destruction, the leadership of mainstream Judaism was composed primarily of Pharisees who set the tone for what has evolved into present-day Judaism.
The term "Jew", when used biblically, demands careful attention. When the New Testament speaks of Jews, what is meant? It is very important to note that often when the "Jews" are disputing with Jesus about some point of the Law, it would appear that Jesus sets himself apart from all Jewish Law. In reality, there was a wide spectrum of opinion regarding the correct interpretation of various points of Law, not only among the various sects of Judaism, but also between the residents of various geographical areas. Often "Jews" refers to Judeans, residents of Judah. A practice relating to a particular point of Law attacked by the Judeans, was often permitted by the Galileeans. Therefore, one must be careful to view the Jewish people of the first century, not simplistically as a purely homogeneous entity, but rather as a dynamic, heterogeneous mixture as one would expect to find within any given population.
What, then, can one do to avoid unintentional anti-Semitism? I suggest that acquainting oneself with the Jewish roots of Christianity and approaching Bible study from a Hebraic perspective will help achieve this goal with the following benefits:
1) We have found that viewing Yeshua within the context of the language and culture of his time on earth enables us to know him better, and that is a life-enriching experience.
2) We become more sensitive to the feelings of members of the congregation of Jewish origin and of Jews in general.
We can avoid derogatory blanket statements with regard to racial stock. We recognize that any group, whether large or small, is composed of individuals and that there are differences within the group. We recognize the progression from "the Jews rejected Jesus" to "the Jews killed Jesus" to "the Jews can't be trusted so they must be trying to hurt me financially or physically or some other way, therefore I must hurt them first." We tend to fear and suspect that which we do not understand. If Christianity had not been cut off from its Jewish roots and Christians had understood the ritual of the Feast of Passover, for example, there would have been no basis for the "blood libel" that swept Europe resulting in the death of millions of Jews down through the centuries. Christians would know of the Jewish abhorrence for drinking blood and the elaborate precautions to which they go to prevent the ingestion of any blood in anything they eat. Thus, the accusation that Jews steal Christian children and drink their blood at Passover is absurd.
In conclusion, I suggest that unintentional anti-Semitism continues to flourish today primarily because it has not been called to our attention. Most of those making such statements would, no doubt, be shocked to learn they had made anti-Semitic statements. By addressing the issue of unintentional anti-Semitism and creating an awareness of the problem, we believe it is possible to reduce the likelihood of anti-Semitism in its more blatant forms of expression.