Today’s Scripture Reading (February 3, 2018): Romans 11
In 48 C.E., the early Christians church met
for a council in Jerusalem. The Apostles attended the meeting, along with Paul
and Barnabas, and likely some of the Pharisees who had converted to
Christianity after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The purpose of
the meeting was to discuss what should happen to the influx of Gentiles that
were entering the Christian faith. The Pharisees were arguing that to become a
Christian; first, you had to become a
Jew. Paul and Barnabas disagreed. The Law of Moses was for the Jews, but the
Gentiles should be allowed into the church without becoming obedient Jews.
There had to be a distinctly Gentile way of entering the faith.
Ultimately, Paul and Barnabas ruled the day
as the Apostles decided to accept their proposal.
Outside of a few regulations, and circumcision of males was not to be one of
them, the Gentiles could be accepted
without adopting all of the Jewish law. On this day in 48 C.E., Christianity essentially cut the apron strings
that had existed between it and Judaism and emerged as a fully independent
religion, something that it remains even in contemporary
society.
However, over the centuries since the
Jerusalem council, the argument has raged over what our connection with Judaism
and Israel should be. At times, Christians are the supporters of Israel, and at
other times they have waged war against Judaism (notably during the era of the
Crusades), sometimes even accusing them of executing the founder of
Christianity. But regardless of the overt status of our relationship with our
Jewish brothers and sisters, often we seem to feel that we are superior, even
if that feeling is not necessarily made public. After all, we are in possession
of the full revelation of God; Jesus Christ.
So it is interesting to hear Paul, the one
who successfully argued for Christian independence, almost argue the reverse to
the Roman church less than a decade following the Council at Jerusalem. He argues that we are simply part of a tree.
Yes, we are a branch that has been grafted into the tree, we are part of the
tree, and we have the full claim as the
adopted children of Abraham to all that Yahweh holds for his children. But
while we are a branch, the root is still Jewish. And without the root, there is
no life.
It is tempting to say that all we need is
Jesus and the Christian Testament, but the root of our faith is still found in the Jewish prophets. The
Jerusalem Council may have released us from most of the implications of the
Mosaic Law, but our life still flows out of the writings of the Tanakh – the
Hebrew Bible. We owe more to our Jewish friends than we sometimes admit. We
will never support Judaism but, according to Paul, Judaism has never stopped
supporting us and giving life to us, whether they realize that or not.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 12
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