Before I began this blog (almost a year ago now) I looked at dozens of blogs by clergy-types. I have to say that I didn't like most of them. Many were self-centered to the point of narcissism. Some were just screeds against the (always left-wing) policies of the current government. (Not all the bloggers were living in the U.S.A. I read blogs from the U.K., Australia, Canada, Ireland, Nigeria and elsewhere.) And the worst thing about these blogs, in my estimate, is that most were just opportunities for the clergy to show off their (boring) sermons on a bigger stage.
This is why I started my "sermons in a bottle." No long sermons from me, no sir!
So reluctantly I contradict my instincts and offer this sermon, which I gave in St. Vitus Church (four times!) yesterday for the Third Sunday of Easter. I do so only because several parishioners offered me such kind words of praise, to the point of embarassment.
Third Sunday of Easter - B. "Everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."
Let me start with a trick question. Was Jesus Catholic? [pause] No hands please, I don't want anyone to be embarassed. [pause] OK, the answer is, No!
Jesus was Jewish. He was born of a Jewish woman, he was circumcised like most Jewish boys, he was raised by Jewish parents and lovingly taught the Sacred Scriptures by these same Jewish parents, he was known in his adulthood to his Jewish friends and Jewish enemies as an excellent teacher of the Jewish law, he died a Jew at the hands of Roman authorities on the cross, he rose from the dead and spoke to his Jewish friends, and he ascended to heaven as that same Jew.
I'd like to say a little about "the Jews," because over the weeks of Lent, during the Great Three Days of Easter, and now in the Easter season, we hear a lot about Jesus, the apostles, and the Jews. Not all of it is flattering. Some is downright angry. Specifically, in the first reading today, in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter speaks to the Jewish people (although it doesn't say "Jewish" people in the text just read, it is clear from a few verses before this passage) and calls them out for "puting to death the author of life." In the gospel of Luke, Jesus explains to the two disciples and other disciples after his walk to Emmaus that "everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."
After the ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven, his apostles and disciples, the men and women filled with the Holy Spirit did indeed, as today's gospel said, become witnesses of the Risen Lord. These friends and followers of Jesus, all Jews, told their joyful story to fellow Jews. There were two reactions. Some Jews were entranced by the preaching, accepted Jesus as the long-awaited messiah, and embraced "the way," as this group of apostles were first known. Some Jews rejected the preaching and rejected the messengers, too. See several places in the letters of St. Paul for this rejection.
Over the years the question among the Jewish leaders over whether the apostles and disciples of Jesus the Christ were actually Jews became more contentious. Finally, scholars tell us, about 85 A.D., over fifty years after the death and resurrection of Christ, Jewish leaders in Jerusalem threw out these Christians (as they had become known) and said they were no longer Jews. From a sociological standpoint it is here that you can say Judaism and Christianity became two distinct religions.
Within a few centuries Christians became more numerous than Jews, and more politically powerful, especially after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in A.D. 315. And a sad thing happened. As Christians became more powerful, they persecuted Jewish people. Such persecutions waxed and waned, but it is clear during the Crusades, the years of the Inquisition, and beyond that Christians persecuted Jews. In particular, Christians labeled all Jews as "Christ-killers," and used this as the excuse for hatred, harassment and persecution.
In the 20th century two events caused Christians, and in particular the Catholic Church, to reconsider this history of persecution. These were the persecutions of Catholics, others Christians and Jews, behind the Iron Curtain of Soviet communism, and especially, the horrific act of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany during World War II to attempt to wipe out the Jewish people. Six million Jews were slaughtered in the death camps of the Holocaust. But alongside of them were also murdered five million others, most of whom were Christians. In the years after World War II, Catholics looked Jews and Catholics being persecuted together, and at our history of anti-Semitism in the light of critical new biblical and historical studies, and came to new conclusions. These changes in official Church teaching regarding the Jews and the Jewish religion were stated by the bishops gathered in the Second Vatican Council, and remain official teaching to today. Let me make a few points about these changes.
***In the words of the late Pope John Paul II, Jews are "our beloved elder brothers and sisters." The Jewish people were the first to hear the Word of God over four thousand years ago, and they have been faithful to that Word down to today.
***The Second Vatican Council explicited taught that it is wrong to call Jews "Christ-killers." In response to the question, "Who killed Jesus?" the answer is the Roman authorities under Pontius Pilate in first century Jerusalem, egged on by some Jews in Jerusalem at the same time. You cannot accuse all Jews living in the Holy Land at that time of complicity in the death of Jesus, because historically that is not true. And you cannot say that all Jews down through history and into today killed Jesus, because that is not true.
***More positively, we Christians have to recognize that the Jewish people were the only ones to believe in the One True God (known by many names, "I AM," or "the Lord," or "Yahweh"). Just about every religion in the ancient world held belief in many gods. Only the Jews were mono-theistic. We Christians who follow from our Jews ancestors, and the Muslims who follow the teachings of Mohammed, are mono-theistic in this same way. We, these three great religions of the world, all pray to the One and same True God.
Now it is true, that through revelation we Christians have come to know God as a Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But as we will pronounce in the creed in just a few minutes, we at the same time say, "I believe in one God."
***The attitude of all Catholics to the Jewish faith and Jewish people must be one of respect. In fact, the Second Vatican Council went further and said that our attitude to peoples of all religions must be one of respect. God can and does speak in and through many languages of religion. We must look for the good in their faiths. We must look for opportunities to work together with Jewish people, and other religious people, to protect human rights, care for the poor and needy, and promote peace. Pope Benedict XVI has said that one religion inflicting hatred and violence against another is a sin and wrong. All peoples of religion are called to live in peace with one another.
***Catholics are forbidden to actively proseletize Jews. What does this mean? It means that the best way for a Jew to get to heaven, if you will, is to be a good and faithful Jew. We respect them as as they are. Now, if a person with a Jewish background is attracted to learn more about Jesus because of you or the witness of other Christians, we will be glad to work with them and teach them our faith. But we do not seek to change any Jew.
***In light of what I have said, all of us are called to learn more about the Jewish faith, its teachings, prayer, and history. I myself have learned so much, both in seminary and in priestly ministry, about the Jewish religion by studying the Scriptures. For example, the "Blessed are you" prayers I will say in the Offertory are almost exactly the same prayers Jesus said during the Passover meal of the Last Supper. So much of our Eucharistic liturgy and theology is rooted in the ways and thought-patterns of our Jewish ancestors. In every Mass, and in the Church's liturgy of the hours (morning and evening prayer) we pray the 150 psalms, and revere their prayer expressions. I respect the rabbis I have become acquainted with, and their congregations and social-service institutions.
It is important in this context to realize that what we call the Old Testament, which is also known as the Hebrew Scriptures, is as much the Word of God as the New Testament, the gospels and other Christian writings. A 4th century heresy tried to have the Christians reject the Old Testament. But through the Holy Spirit the Church came to see that this was wrong. We Christians must revere both the Old and the New Testaments.
On a practical level, you and I rub elbows with Jewish folk all the time. I remember fondly the Jewish doctor who ministered to my mother when she was dealing with cancer. You may know Jewish doctors, attorneys, businesspersons, or just someone who lives on your street. By our respect for Jewish persons, and their faith, and by our learning about their teachings and history, we have the possibility of deepening our own faith in Jesus the faithful Jew, our Risen Lord. By our peaceful ways may we come to witness to Christ all the better.
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