SERMON
10 March 2002

There is a controversial book in my library. It is a discussion of the Jewish people in fifty-two chapters. By the end of the third chapter the author has compared the Jews to a stubborn ox, a worthless wild vine, an insatiable prostitute, and a thief who is remorseful only when confronted by damning evidence.

Who wrote this book? You might assume some prominent Nazi as the author of the fifty-two searing chapters. Reichkanzler Hitler? Field Marshall Goering? Propaganda Minister Goebells? Even with these figures in mind, you might also suspect some other source, some other identity.

In fact, the book in question is the work of Jeremiah the Prophet. It is a masterpiece of Hebrew literature, a major part of the Old Testament. The work of Jeremiah is treasured and studied by Jews to this day.

I begin with this bit of Bible puzzlement for a reason. I want to look at Bible abuse and Bible distortion. I want to challenge and rebuke anti-Semitism and I want to be clear that anti-Semitism is not a good thing, not a New Testament urging, and never a proper Christian attitude or practice.

Jesus Himself is very clear in His valuing of His people. "Salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). Jesus is saying that the well-being of all people is linked to the faith and teaching of the Jews. St Paul is just as definite. Paul is very powerful as he expresses himself: " ...has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite...(Romans ll:l). Paul makes the value of the Church depend on the value of the Jewish reality: "...if the root is holy, so are the branches..." (Romans ll:17).

"Salvation is from the Jews." Notice who says this and where it is written down. This saying of Jesus is found in John's Gospel. John's Gospel is often accused of anti-Semitism because of certain phrases. I quote John 9:22: "His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews." Such a passage can easily be no more than descriptive or informative. I suggest that passages of this type tell us that John wrote his book in a place where Jews were known but not numerous. Jews had to be described or else clarity would be lost. It is not "anti" anyone to name them when they are legitimately part of a situation, a situation that might be otherwise indefinite to the reader.

John often does not use the term "Jews" when it might be expected. Thus, at other times, there are other terms. "Some of the people of Jerusalem said, is not this the man whom they are seeking to kill? And here he is speaking openly..." This is John 7:25—right in the middle of hot controversy where an anti-Semite would degrade Jews.

No, I suggest that John refers to Jews in the way that he does because he wrote in Ephesus, a great Greek and Roman center. Ephesus is where Paul himself worked peacefully and at length without recorded difficulty with Jews. Ephesus is the kind of place where a long, leisurely book could be read, savored, and yet require clarification when it came to the identity and attitude of Jews. In short, John is a travel guide to the world and ministry of Jesus, a travel guide that offers an appropriate apparatus for the convenience of its users.

So, leaving the world of the New Testament, we arrive at our own time and its questions. What is "anti-Semitism"? Literally, it is hostility to Semites; it is distaste for a race. Strangely, anti-Semitism is only anti-Jewish. It is not used in reference to Arabs, a people to be considered just as Semitic as Jews. I note this because anti-Semitism is an example of pseudo-science: it purports to deal in ethnic and racial matters but is selective and imaginative rather than data-based or objective.

Anti-Semitism is a foolishness that begins by assuming that there is a Jewish race, a biological reality with genes and blood types, an inheritance of attitudes and values transmitted physically and perpetually. Anti-Semitism goes on to insist that this race is physically ugly, morally debauched, and appropriately described as "Christ killers." I insist that this "race theory" is wrong and evil, a grim way of allawing a religion to be turned into something biological and inescapable.

For the Nazis, it was important to make anti-Semitism a matter of genetic inheritance and not an issue of religious discrimination. For the Nazis it was important to say, "We are far too enlightened to be dealing in questions of religion—we are cleansing the human race of an unclean infection of the blood." I insist that this false science is just this—an excuse for obscene atrocities.

But what about the "Christ killer" theme? If there is no "race," there can be no inherited racial responsibility. That is, there is no biological basis for this ugly term. Still, we can ask, "Who killed Jesus?" This question has, at least, three answers: the historical, the personal, and the cosmic.

Historically, Jesus died because he was sentenced to death by a Roman provincial authority, Pontius Pilate, fifth governor of Judaea. The governor used normal imperial procedures and legal standards. In the only records of the proceedings, Pilate is urged on by crowds of the ordinary people of Jerusalem mobilized as a mob by some of their religious leaders. Historically, then, Jesus died as a victim of authorized cruelty.

Personally, Jesus is killed again and again by our indifference, our failure to live in terms ofhis love. A Lutheran hymn of the 17th Century says this with incomparable beauty. "Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee. 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee: I crucified thee." The past of others is less important than the requirement that Christians attend to their present state of response to Jesus.

Finally, there is the cosmic fact. From the standpoint of Christian faith, Jesus was not killed. From the standpoint of Christian faith, Jesus was offered: He is the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is our humanity gathered up and offered as a sacrifice for our sins. The offering that Jesus makes is the offering that connects God's love to God's justice. This sacrifice is the meaning of all history and the supreme expression of God's love—"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

Let me offer some conclusions. It is an evil thing to accept any dimension of anti-Semitism. It is wrong to use any part of the Bible as the basis for anti-Semitism. The death of Jesus is far too important to be cheapened and trivialized as the basis for hate and bigotry.

Christianity does not require anti-Semitism. In fact, this pseudo-science can be accepted and acted upon by those with no religion at all. This is part of its mischief.

Christians can criticize and debate individual Jews—Jews themselves do this. A Christian can disagree with Israeli policies and leaders—Israelis themselves do this. However, a Christian must not forget that Jesus said "Salvation is from the Jews" and we must always do something better than resent those who are relatives in faith and part of God's eternal plan.

My point is this: Let's get on with loving and healing. Let's be too busy as Christians to have any time for anything other than celebrating the unceasing power and Presence of God revealed in His only-begotten Son. In short, let us have done with pseudo-science and have much to do with the central matters of our faith. Let us live in the spirit of what some consider our greatest hymn: "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." (Isaac Watts, 1707)

The Rev'd James E. Furman