Aug 20, 2023 English

Within the Bible, we see the tension and progression between ‘universalism and particularism’.  We are grateful to hear about God’s universal will and plan to save all and, yet we need to deal with the specificity of his election of a people as well as the cultural particularity of the Son of God: Jesus of Nazareth.  Are these two aspects mutually contradictory?

A simple answer is no!  Jesus Christ is called the concrete universal. He is a concrete human person in particular time and space; yet he is the savior for across time and space. The readings today, namely, Isaiah, Romans, and Matthew, deal with this subject. Our challenge is a proper understanding of and relationship with the Jewish people.
•    Isaiah reveals the universal outreach of God’s plan: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
•    St. Paul talks about God’s irrevocable gift to the chosen people of Israel.
•    Matthew has Jesus conversing with a gentile woman; in the end Jesus praises the great faith of the woman, which can be compared to many other times when Jesus points out the little faith of his own disciples.

Our understanding of and relationship with the Jewish people is particularly challenging in theology and in current affairs, requiring patience, persistence, and creativity. Building a bridge is challenging but destroying it doesn’t take too much effort. Building relationships takes time and a lot of hard work, while severing relationships does not take much effort or time.  

In a Christian-Jewish dialogue in Nashville, in which I took part some years ago, a Jewish New Testament professor shared a poignant story. She had two young sons who were friendly with the neighbors’ kids who were Christians.  As they were playing one day, somehow conversation went to the topic of faith.  The Christian kids told their Jewish friends: “You guys are very nice, but it’s too bad that you are going to hell, since you are Jewish!”  The kids were probably repeating what they heard either from their parents or perhaps from their pastor.  Can you imagine what went through the minds of these Jewish kids and their mother in hearing this?  Such seemingly benign ignorance has contributed to the horrific treatment of Jewish people in Christian Europe.  

Christians and Jews have a complex and troubling history. Initially, the early Christians were Jewish, but they were expelled from their communities and synagogues. When Christians gained some social political clout, Jewish people were systematically belittled and persecuted. In predominantly Christian Europe, Jews were disdained and segregated. The culmination of this anti-Semitism was the Nazi Holocaust, which gave a jolt to the Christian conscience, although the Nazism was not of Christian roots, yet it was accepted by those people who were mainly Christian.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) was a watershed event that changed the negative history. Christians and Jews came a long way to reach an improved relationship. We still have a long way to go.  The challenge is ever before us: with our dialogue partners, can we become a blessing to the world and a blessing to each other? Once we recognize the presence of the Divine Breath of One God mysteriously at work in each other, we will have a renewed respect for people of other faiths, especially for our spiritual brothers and sisters of Judaism. With increasing sincerity and seriousness, we are all invited to respond to God’s personal call and gracious self-gift with our own self-gift, which leads to the dialogue of salvation.

Fr. Paul D. Lee