Jesus, Jews & Islam
This past Sunday was Easter, probably the most significant holy day/celebration for Christians. The Thursday before that was Passover, a significant holy day for Jews, though not as important to them as Easter is to Christians. About this time every year, I often find myself thinking about two things:
(1) I wish the Christian church would pay a little more attention to Passover. After all, that’s what the Last Supper was – the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover Supper. While Passover is technically about the Israelites (Jews) escaping slavery in Egypt, the Christian church ought to be able to do something with the related themes of freedom, freedom from slavery, freedom from tyranny. Granted, most Christians (certainly the American ones) know the “Ten Commandments” story. But rarely is the connection ever made overtly between the night that the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews when the Angel took all the firstborns, and Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. It bothers me sometimes that so many Christians ignore the fact that while Christ was on Earth as a mortal man, Jesus of Nazareth, he was Jewish; or that a lot of Christians don’t even know that the Last Supper was a Passover celebration. You would think that at least the modern Christian church would embrace or cherish Judaism a little more, for that was how Jesus lived (and doesn’t the Church often say he was setting an example for how to live?).
(2) Though I don’t hear it much anymore, there have been plenty of times in the past when I’ve heard or read about people blaming Jews for Jesus’ death, and saying they hate Jews because Jews are responsible Jesus’ death. Hello?!?? Sometimes I want to reach up and slap these people up-side their heads. Excuse me, but that was the whole point – Jesus of Nazareth had to die in order to be Resurrected. If He didn’t die, how could He sacrifice Himself for our sins? If Jesus of Nazareth had lived a normal life, and died of accident or natural causes when older, there wouldn’t be a Christian religion. He may not have even been remembered at all, though he may have made enough of an impression to still be in holy books (see (3) below). If you think about it, Christians ought to celebrate/thank those who were responsible for Jesus’ death, not castigate them, because for Christians they were acting in accordance to God’s will. And, oh by the way, it was the Romans who imprisoned and executed Jesus – but they don’t make a convenient scapegoat since they aren’t around anymore.
(3) And before you go tar-papering Islam and Muslims, take a good look at the Koran, their version of the Bible. If you haven’t read it, you’d be amazed at what it says about Jesus of Nazareth – large portions of the sections about Jesus would be familiar to any Christian and sound like the Bible. What many Christians don’t realize is that within the Koran, Jesus of Nazareth is revered – as a prophet, not the Son of God or the Messiah or the Christ, but still, revered.
Am I bashing Christians a bit today? Yeah; I think the official/formal Christian church, created by man, not God, is flawed, biased, predjudicial, close-minded, mean-spirited in some respects, inflammatory, power-mongering, etc., etc. Which is not to say that I don’t think the Christian church has some wonderful aspects (charity, for one), too, especially in the modern era.
(1) I wish the Christian church would pay a little more attention to Passover. After all, that’s what the Last Supper was – the traditional Jewish celebration of the Passover Supper. While Passover is technically about the Israelites (Jews) escaping slavery in Egypt, the Christian church ought to be able to do something with the related themes of freedom, freedom from slavery, freedom from tyranny. Granted, most Christians (certainly the American ones) know the “Ten Commandments” story. But rarely is the connection ever made overtly between the night that the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Jews when the Angel took all the firstborns, and Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. It bothers me sometimes that so many Christians ignore the fact that while Christ was on Earth as a mortal man, Jesus of Nazareth, he was Jewish; or that a lot of Christians don’t even know that the Last Supper was a Passover celebration. You would think that at least the modern Christian church would embrace or cherish Judaism a little more, for that was how Jesus lived (and doesn’t the Church often say he was setting an example for how to live?).
(2) Though I don’t hear it much anymore, there have been plenty of times in the past when I’ve heard or read about people blaming Jews for Jesus’ death, and saying they hate Jews because Jews are responsible Jesus’ death. Hello?!?? Sometimes I want to reach up and slap these people up-side their heads. Excuse me, but that was the whole point – Jesus of Nazareth had to die in order to be Resurrected. If He didn’t die, how could He sacrifice Himself for our sins? If Jesus of Nazareth had lived a normal life, and died of accident or natural causes when older, there wouldn’t be a Christian religion. He may not have even been remembered at all, though he may have made enough of an impression to still be in holy books (see (3) below). If you think about it, Christians ought to celebrate/thank those who were responsible for Jesus’ death, not castigate them, because for Christians they were acting in accordance to God’s will. And, oh by the way, it was the Romans who imprisoned and executed Jesus – but they don’t make a convenient scapegoat since they aren’t around anymore.
(3) And before you go tar-papering Islam and Muslims, take a good look at the Koran, their version of the Bible. If you haven’t read it, you’d be amazed at what it says about Jesus of Nazareth – large portions of the sections about Jesus would be familiar to any Christian and sound like the Bible. What many Christians don’t realize is that within the Koran, Jesus of Nazareth is revered – as a prophet, not the Son of God or the Messiah or the Christ, but still, revered.
Am I bashing Christians a bit today? Yeah; I think the official/formal Christian church, created by man, not God, is flawed, biased, predjudicial, close-minded, mean-spirited in some respects, inflammatory, power-mongering, etc., etc. Which is not to say that I don’t think the Christian church has some wonderful aspects (charity, for one), too, especially in the modern era.
posted by Zookeeper | 5:15 PM
3 Comments:
touche'! Especially the last paragraph... nicely done.
Let me begin by saying that I am completely unqualified to discuss this. THat never seems to stop me tho.
One thing which is nice about the Orthodox (they have their share of gaffes as well) is that they calculate the date of Easter such that it never falls before Passover because they recognize that the Last Supper was a Passover meal. The Orthodox being Eastern do not call Easter, Easter, but Pascha which means Passover. The notion is that Easter means that death will pass over us again as Jesus has "trampled death by death"
Supposedly, there is a lot that was co-opted from Passover celebrations that became Pascha or EAster celebrations. But then co-opting is a common thing the Christians did obviously. Some early churches celbrated Easter on Passover, but then it got moved to Sunday. Does this make Holy Thursday - passover?
I guess the fact that the ties to Passover are not very distinct makes your point. The early Christian church replaced and / or incorporated the previous holidays rather than leaving them standing. This may be changing though.
The Unitarians (not necessarily Christian, more BYOBeliefs) often have a Passover service. I have heard of other Christian churches doing this as well. (At grad school it was a Christian guy who had everyone over for Passover one year because his family/church had that as a tradition.) You would have to go and see if they were merely doing this as a way of living Christ's life or of embracing Passover's message though.
There is a lot to think about, but I am not even dressed for the day. MY final question/thought is that in the Seder someone goes to the door to look for Elijah. Isn't that what the Christian's believe Chirst was? That coming. I guess I should have paid more attention. I will lie and say they probably covered that part in Greek. : )
Kelly
Back from my shower - I ralized I should thank you.
Thanks for making me think this morning. Maybe you could issue me some Continuing Education Units or something...
: )
K
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home