The British have a condescending saying: “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” They sneeringly look down on God’s chosen people. Yet God’s choice is not odd. The Jews chose God. And through them came our Savior. Some people deny that Jesus was Jewish; the idea that Jesus was a Jew is distasteful to them. Yet both the Old and New Testaments were written by Jews. We could not exist without Judaism. It’s impossible to “de-Judaize” Christianity; if we did, nothing would be left. Nearly all the first Christians were Jews. Bottom line: The most Jewish thing we can do is believe in Jesus. The Church is the new recipient of Old Testament promises--but not the only!
There are more anti-Semites in the world than there are Jews. Rabbi Evan Moffic states that “Anti-Semitism is history’s most enduring hatred, and a world not safe for Jews is not safe for anyone.” In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham that those who bless his people will be blessed, and those who curse them will be cursed. I wouldn’t want to be an enemy of Israel, without divine protection. Anti-Semitism carries with it a curse!
Our Jewish friends have been a widely-persecuted people…and Christians bear some of the responsibility. Jews for Jesus founder Moishe Rosen stated: “What Christ did never has been much of an issue to most Jewish people as what has been done in His name.” The biggest hurdle for Jews is not Jesus, but the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism.
There are many excuses for Anti-Semitism:
•Religious dissension, claiming “the Jews killed Jesus”
•Economic envy/resentment of Jews as “greedy” and successful
•Nationalistic suspicion that regards Jews as disloyal outsiders
•Racial prejudice, regarding Jews as ethnically inferior, subhuman
•Blaming Jews as the cause of society’s ills and human suffering
•Attacking Jews’ right to self-determination and self-defense
•Political bias--seeing Jews as a threat to civil order, coveting power
•Conspiracy theories viewing Jews as money, media and foreign policy manipulators
•Disdain over the Sabbath rest, seen as laziness/unworthiness
•Moral resentment for giving the world the burden of ethical demands, the Law
•Hatred of (perceived) Jewish elitism/superiority by their chosen status
•Fear of Jewish foreignness, non-conformity and separateness from the wider culture
I don’t think I need to explain why these “reasons” are reprehensible!
Jesus was widely popular in Israel, with the exception of some of the religious leaders. In Jerusalem a small group of them called for His crucifixion. They spoke to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, a notable anti-Semite. He hated Jews, and often offended them by his actions. He was a weak leader, but with absolute authority. He had considerable leeway in dealing with Jesus. Nonetheless he caved into pressure and knowingly executed an innocent man. He knew Jesus was no threat to Rome. And so the buck stops with him.
Pilate bears the bulk of responsibility--he could have released Jesus. Instead, he gave in. He then performed a Jewish ritual the crowd would understand. He washed his hands, as if to say “Don’t blame me if you regret this.” Some things you can’t simply “wash your hands” of. Like Lady Macbeth, Pilate could not wash the blood-guilt away. Others instigated Jesus’ execution, but the Governor killed Him. “In the end, Jesus did not have many executioners. He had one” (Wroe). According to tradition, Pilate became obsessed with compulsively washing his hands. According to history, his problematic rule ended in exile.
The earliest confession of faith, the Apostles Creed, recited by Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox Christians, declares that Jesus was “crucified under Pontius Pilate.” It says nothing of the Jews. We have more reason to be anti-Italian than anti-Semitic! But “no one thinks of holding Italians responsible for what their forebears did centuries ago” (Yancey).
So what do we do with verse 25? The crowd shouted: “Let his blood be on us and our children!” There are three ways to understand these words…
1. The first interpretation justifies anti-Semitism. These words have been used to argue that God’s curse is on His “former” people. This interpretation came up with “replacement theology,” the idea that God is done with Israel and the Church replaces Judaism as God’s chosen people. And so persecution of Jews is sanctioned.
2. I’ve interpreted this statement from the crowd differently. My view has been that the crowd did not have any right to speak for the nation, nor did they have the authority to call down a curse from the Almighty. God doesn’t take orders from anyone.
“Let his blood be on us and our children” sounds like collective guilt… however we can’t blame all Jews for the death of Christ. Most Jews saw Jesus as a prophet and healer, and they flocked to hear him. The crowd who stood before Pilate did not reflect the attitude of most Jews, and God is not obligated to abide by their oath.
In the previous chapter Peter swore an oath in his denial of Jesus. God ignored this as He ignored the words of the angry crowd. In a way, we should thank them. The crowd’s part in Jesus’ death brought about the means of their salvation, and our’s.
3. There’s a third way of understanding this statement. May the blood of Jesus indeed be upon the Jews--the atoning blood of the Jewish Messiah that removes guilt.
Paul, a Pharisee and Apostle, declared in Romans 1:16 that that the Gospel was “for the Jew first” and he says in 11:26 that “All Israel will be saved.” God’s grace extends to Israel as an “irrevocable” pledge. God has made unconditional promises to His first love and God is not inclined to forget those promises. God tells the prophet Jeremiah (31:36-37), “I am as likely to reject My people Israel as to do away with the laws of nature! Just as the heavens cannot be measured and the foundation of the earth cannot be explored, so I will not consider casting them away forever for their sins. I the Lord have spoken!”
Hidden in the angry words of the mob was the plan God had for good. Christ’s sacrifice removes hearts of stone and restores hearts of flesh (Ezek 36:26). Reconciled to God, they will worship as the redeemed Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Even if we do not agree with this view, we nonetheless have no justification to hate, blame or mistreat Jews!
The Protestant Reformer Martin Luther became anti-Semitic because German Jews didn’t respond to his preaching. Nonetheless, he admitted:
“We Christians are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws; they are blood-relatives, cousins and brothers of our Lord. Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood, the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are.”
C.S. Lewis noted: “The Jews are spiritually senior to us.”
Pope John Paul II stated:
“I speak of the Jews as our elder brothers in the faith…when the people of the Old Covenant will see themselves as part of the New is a question left to the Holy Spirit.”
An Airman said to his Jewish Chaplain, Rabbi Cohen:
“Chaplain, surely there must have been a reason why Jesus was born a Jew and spoke only to the Jews, and it couldn’t have been to give them enough rope to flagellate them until eternity. My God of love isn’t like that. His ministers can’t be like that…Maybe my religion has given me some sort of excuse to hate your people. But it has also provided me with the means to overcome such unjustifiable hatred.” (Herbert Tarr)
A Jewish doctor told his Christian patient: “You Christians think of us as the people who killed your Christ.”
The patient replied: “Oh, no. We think of you as the people who gave Him to us.”
I close with some good news: Jews in America are seeing that evangelical Christians are among their best friends and supporters. We are joined to Israel through Jesus. Israel’s God is our God; the Hebrew Scriptures are our Scriptures. We are together “People of the Book.” Gordon College professor Marvin Wilson writes: “There is no way the church may define itself without being connected to the people of Israel.” Followers of Jesus should be pro-Israel and should seek to undo the damage of centuries of Anti-Semitism.
“How odd of God to choose the Jews”…but not so odd as those who choose a Jewish God and hate the Jews.
Prayer: God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--heal the centuries of hatred toward Your chosen people, and may Christians be instruments of Your peace. May Jews know that we are indeed their friends and on their side. We are grateful to them for being the people through which Jesus came to die for us--the Just for the unjust. May we be known for our love. This we ask, in Your thrice-holy Name, Amen.
