Anti-Semitism has a long and inglorious history among Christians. Hitler and his cronies massacred millions of Jews for reasons having more to do with crackpot racial theories than religion, but difference in religion--and custom--have led many Christians throughout the centuries to persecute Jews. In the Western hemisphere we remember 1492 as the year that Columbus sailed to America, but it was also the year that the Christian king and queen of Spain expelled all the Jews from the country. Anti-Semitism predates Ferdinand and Isabella, however, for hate-filled pronouncements concerning Jews can be found in the words of Martin Luther, John Chrysostom, the author of the early second-century Epistle of Barnabas, and many others. Some scholars even see anti-Semitism in the Gospel of John and in the "Western" version of Acts that is preserved in several manuscripts. Some people might view Peter's second sermon recorded in Acts as laying the blame for Jesus' death at the feet of the Jews as a people. However, a closer reading shows that Peter is not blaming the Jewish people as a whole, or even their leaders, for Jesus' death (see v. 17). I've always thought that although it's true that Jews played a role in the death of Jesus, it's only because Jesus himself was a Jew who lived among other Jews. If he had been born in Africa, Africans would have been implicated in his death; if he had been born among the Germanic tribes, they would have been involved in his death. Furthermore, though some of the Jews rejected him, many--including Peter--followed him. The most striking portion of this passage is found in verses 14-15: "But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead." Peter indicts not only the Jews, but also all the Gentile of all time, all of us who have at one time or another rejected the Holy and Righteous One. We who are so wrapped up in our own lives don't even realize that we've killed the Author of Life. We do this whenever we seek our own good at the expense of others, when we ignore the plight of those in desperate need, and when we view ourselves those like us (religiously, ethnically, socio-economically, etc.) as superior to those different from us. We all need to heed Peter's words, "Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out."
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Newton's Third Law of Thermodynamics may be summarized as follows: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." The same often applies to human behavior as well, and this principle is exemplified in the Old Testament lex talionis, or law of retribution: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." The law of retribution is certainly superior to the attitude attributed to officer Malone in the movie The Untouchables: "If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue." This may be normal human behavior, but God sets a higher standard. Verse 4 says, "When you are disturbed, do not sin." The Greek translators rendered this clause "Be angry, but do not sin," a reading reflected in Eph 4:26 as well. The first word in Hebrew is literally "quake," the same word used of earth tremors, and the idea seems to be an anger that is so intense that the person trembles from rage. The psalmist advises followers of God, however, to suppress the normal impulse to lash out in anger. Instead, he encourages those who quiver with fury to "ponder it on your beds, and be silent." God calls us as individuals to reject our desire for revenge in the face of a wrong suffered. If we do so, we will be able to lie down and sleep in peace. The same applies to groups as well as to individuals. Twice this past week American soldiers in Iraq have fired on and killed Iraqi protestors. It is possible that the soldiers were in danger for their lives (though the Iraqis tell a somewhat different story), but the fact remains that between fifteen and twenty Iraqis are dead, dozens are wounded, and apparently no Americans were either killed or wounded. Soldiers are trained to fight and to protect themselves and others, but this very fact illustrates the need for peacekeepers rather than soldiers in tense situations like post-Saddam Iraq. Surely non-lethal options were available to the soldiers, but for whatever reason, they didn't take them. Predictably, the Iraqis themselves are reacting strongly against the Americans. The cycle of violence will never be broken when one side responds to the other's attacks with more of its own attacks. If proof of this statement is needed, just look at the Israelis and the Palestinians. Christians must learn how to forgive the wrongs of others, both real and perceived, and they must insist that their governments do the same. It is not guns and bombs that bring peace, "for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety."
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May 1 was the National Day of Prayer in the U.S., and this year's theme was "Righteousness Exalts a Nation" (Prov 14:34). What exactly is righteousness? Although few people would overtly agree with the idea that might makes right, it is obvious from the statements of many people in the wake of the U.S. victory in Iraq that that is exactly what they believe. They make fun of the French, the Germans, and U.S. anti-war protesters, citing the conquest of Baghdad as proof of the righteousness of the cause. Was the slaughter of the Native Americans by descendants of Europeans right just because it was so successful? Was Hitler's conquest of Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Poland proof that he was righteous? Did the barbarian invasion of Rome demonstrate the moral superiority of the Germans over the Romans? These examples, and many others that could be adduced, prove that power is not the same as righteousness. Nor is sincerity the same as righteousness. Many Israelis fervently believe in the sanctity of Eretz Israel, that is, the whole land, including that currently occupied by Palestinians, while many Palestinians just as fervently believe in the rightness of an independent state of Palestine; both can't be right. People who hold a huge variety of religious tenets are all sincere in their beliefs, but since many of these believes are mutually contradictory, they can't all be right. Nor is orthodox doctrine the same as righteousness. This is perhaps the most insidious pretender to a definition of righteousness, for religious zealots of all stripes have been responsible for many of the most horrific crimes against humanity down through the ages. No, the author of 1 John gives a simple definition of righteousness: "Everyone who does what is right is righteous." It's not a matter of correct doctrine (orthodoxy) but of correct practice (orthopraxy). While progressive Christians can certainly agree that righteousness exalts a nation, they will also want to read the second half of the verse in Proverbs, which says, "But sin is a reproach to any people." Look at the rest of the world. Are they praising America for our actions in the world--not just in the recent war in Iraq, but in regard to such matters as international treaties, concern for the poor and sick of the world, compassion for those in economic duress--or are they reproaching us. If the answer to this question is that most of the world is reproaching us, believing us to be arrogant, unjust, and unwise, perhaps we had better listen for an answer to the question, "Why do they hate us?" If we listen carefully (and not just to our own self-serving answers), we'll see that it has nothing to do with envying our freedoms. They don't dislike us for what we have, but for what we do. As individuals and as a nation, we need to understand what is right, they do it with all our heart.
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Though Christianity started out as a branch of Judaism, it was quickly recognized as being a fully distinct religion. One of the aspects of Christianity that most distinguished it from the Judaism (or, more properly, the Judaisms) of its day was its understanding of scripture. While continuing to read the same books that Jews read, Christians had a profoundly different perspective on many passages, particularly those that they believed referred prophetically to Jesus. They read their Bibles (i.e., the Old Testament) in light of their understanding of Jesus. In the reading from Luke, Jesus is said to have "opened their minds to understand the scriptures." Christians today are in great need of having their minds opened to understand both the scripture and the world around them. The motto of the Progressive Theology site is "Exegete the World!" Traditional readings of the Bible do not always deal relevantly with the situations in which Christians finds themselves in the third millennium. In addition, Christians need to learn to interpret events in the world in light of their understanding of Jesus. In Matthew's gospel, the phrase "the scripture was fulfilled" appears frequently. Members of the early church were able to find new meaning in many of the familiar Old Testament passages. In fact, the world "fulfilled" might better be translated "filled with new meaning" (cf. the translation of Clarence Jordan in the Cotton Patch version of the gospels). The Christian scripture, both Old and New Testaments, continues to be relevant in today's world, but we need to read it in light of our view of Jesus and in accordance with our understanding of history, science, literature, art, current events, and more. The resurrection of Jesus opened up new and exciting ways of reading scripture, and our continuing encounters with the resurrected Lord still challenge us to read the Bible creatively and prayerfully.
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