‘The Crucified‘The Jew’ was thepower ofthe Wandering Jew, many it believed insearch ofredemption. theearth wanders eternally Such religionChristian where Wotan, estranged from Valhalla, was areworking andNorse ofancientGermanic pre- throughout history.wander eternally Insome respects this Land,was banishedfrom andtheHoly Jerusalem to and,taunted Jesuson hisway toCalvary aspunishment, that ofthe Wandering Jew. who toldofaJew This myth ofEurope, grewupamongst Christians myth A curious truth. falsehoodandChristian Jewish and St.Augustine wrotethattheirbanishmentreinforced Jesus, had they crucified Palestine because eternity for were statedthattheJews banishedfrom Chrysostom language throughoutSemitic thecenturies. St. John andexecutionthe trial ofJesushasbeenstapleanti- ago. The accusationwere thattheJews responsiblefor apardon almost2,000offer years tothemancrucified ofjustice and mightcorrect amiscarriage State Jewish livinginIsrael askingwhetherthenew of Christians 1948, were legalauthorities petitioned by anumber ofIsrael in theestablishmentofState after Soon Week, JesusChrist. buthome tothefaithofourLord inHoly we turn faithtowhich will of theChristian home, ourjourney bringing drama tothecentral notonly Judaism. we are Inthispenultimateweek ofLent toourjourney: therechosen isone thathasaparticularity Although there are many otherfaithswe couldhave deep engagement withBuddhism, IslamandSikhism. faiththrough ofthosewitha Christian theexperiences remembrance ofGod’s name. We have reflected upon places: we have explored fasting, detachmentandthe thus farhastakenustosome remarkable journey Our WEEK 5 United States ofAmerica.United States Used by permission. reserved. rights All 1995, oftheNational Education Division inthe ofChristian CounciloftheChurches ofChrist Bible verses from Standard the New Revised Version Bible: Edition, Anglicized 1989, copyright Consider thispassage from Matthew’s Gospel: ofJesus. thecrucifixion peoplefor Jewish andtheblameofentire andChristians between Jews Europe! ‘WanderingThe Jew’ theenmity encapsulates over all andsightingswere true claimed to beliterally (Matthew 27.15-26) (Matthew flogging Jesus,over hehandedhim tobecrucified.’ children!’ hereleased them; for Barabbas So andafter as awholeanswered, bloodbeon usandon‘His our this man’s blood; seetoityourselves.’ Then thepeople his handsbefore thecrowd, saying, aminnocentof ‘I wasbeginning,riot hetook some waterandwashed sawthathecoulddonothing,Pilate that a butrather themore,shouted all himbecrucified!’. ‘Let So when Then heasked,‘Why, evil hashedone?’ what Butthey the Messiah?’ ofthemsaid, All himbecrucified!’ ‘Let to them, called whatshouldIdowithJesuswhois ‘Then to release you?’ for Andsaid, they ‘Barabbas.’ said Pilate again saidtothem, ofthetwo doyou wantme ‘Which andtohave Barabbas Jesuskilled.ask for The governor andtheelderspersuaded thecrowds priests chief to a great ofadream dealbecause abouthim.’ Now the to dowiththatinnocentman, today for Ihave suffered judgment seat, sentword hiswife tohim, nothing ‘Have handed himover. hewassittingon the While had thatitwasoutofjealousythey he realized theMessiah?’ For orJesuswhoiscalled Jesus Barabbas said tothem, doyou wantmetorelease you, for ‘Whom JesusBarabbas.called had they gathered, after So Pilate wanted. prisoner, At had thattimethey anotorious release thecrowd, for aprisoner anyone whom they ‘Now thegovernor wasaccustomed atthefestival to Lent 2017 Lent

Image: Fra Angelico (Yorck Project) Week 5: ‘The Crucified Jew’ Lent 2017

It is clear from everything that we know about Roman blaming ‘the Jews’ for the plight of Christians in the forms of execution and Roman rule that Jesus was Middle East. Yet it is an ancient part of Christian executed by Roman edict. Yet the old accusation can spirituality to self-identify with Christ amidst our own still be found in our liturgies and hymns. No less than sufferings. The Christians of Gaza and the West Bank Sydney Carter’s much loved ‘Lord of the Dance’ states: are no different in this respect to those enslaved by the transatlantic slave trade who frequently identified ‘I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame: with the Israelites enslaved in Egypt or Babylon. The holy people said it was a shame. However, as we witness events in the Middle East, They whipped and they stripped what will save us from rolling back into the darkest and they hung me on high, of times? Perhaps a continual reaffirmation of some And they left me there on a cross to die’ of the theological principles established since the end of the Holocaust. ‘Nostra Aetate’, the declaration that In Jewish-Christian relations there is plenty of common emerged from the Second Vatican Council, affirmed ground to explore – reading together the Hebrew the unique relationship of the Jewish people to the Scriptures/Old Testament or discussions about festivals Church. The Reformed Swiss theologian Karl Barth and how the Christian festivals relate to Jewish ones. stated unequivocally that God’s election is extended But then there are the difficult and painful issues: some equally to the Jewish people and to the Church, and of the language of the New Testament is painful for as such declared anti-Semitism as a denial of God’s Jews because it is so closely associated with centuries of grace. And more recently Pope John Paul II stated that anti-Semitism. The Holocaust survivor and writer Elie God’s covenant with Israel has never been revoked. Wiesel (1928-2016) painfully observed ‘they love the Recognising this unique relationship between Judaism Jew on the cross: if he is not there, well they can oblige’. and Christianity may make the contemporary context in the Middle East more painful for us, but it should Good Friday is the holiest day in the Christian year. also mean that walking away from it is simply an act of Throughout the world Christians attempt to enter more faithlessness to the God of Abraham. deeply into the events surrounding the betrayal, arrest, trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet one of the stumbling blocks for me and for many others is the Questions for discussion language in the New Testament that refers negatively 1. Discuss your own reactions when you read the to ‘the Jews’. In a bygone age when the ‘blood libel’ was passion stories in the Gospels? openly preached from European pulpits, these words would have seemed unremarkable, and proof of the 2. How would you respond to the charge that the charges leveled against Jewish people, with terrible New Testament has sometimes encouraged consequences. Has this ‘blood libel’ been finally laid to anti-Semitism? rest after more than half a century of Jewish-Christian 3. Do you think that Christians have a special dialogue? relationship to the Jewish people?

Do the words of the New Testament such as ‘let his blood be on us and on our children’ make everyone in our churches wince? Prayer God of the eternal Covenant, ‘If I am honest I am troubled that we might be in danger We praise you for Jesus Christ, our Jewish brother, of rolling backwards down the hill. Some people tell me Whose suffering, death and resurrection save us that we have already started to roll back down the hill. from the darkness of this world. They point to what the churches are saying on Israel- As we approach this most holiest of weeks, Palestine that appear to blame Jews rather than Israelis May we be humble in our meditation and prayers, for the suffering or to the references made by Palestinian And penitent for our participation in all that is Christians that self-identify their own suffering with sinful in the world. that of Christ.’ Heal us by your grace, and set us free to be your people. But is this a rolling back down, or a moving up the hill We offer this prayer in the name of the one who in a new and different way? died because God so loved the world. Amen. There are dangers here – we can easily fall back into

Returning Home: Christian Faith in Encounter with Other Faiths 2