The nation was stunned this past week after deadliest attack
on the Jewish people in U.S. history. Eleven people were killed in a synagogue in Pittsburgh.The murderer was a vile anti-Semite. We
might dismiss him as simply deranged—and he certainly was—but a CNN article
cites a source saying that anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. surged almost 60%
in 2017!
Although the church has a deplorable history of
anti-Semitism, in my opinion, an attack on Jews is also an attack on
Christians. Jesus was Jewish. All of the Apostles were Jewish. In fact, the
very earliest church was almost entirely Jewish. In Galatians 3 Paul says that
if we are in Christ, we are Abraham’s descendants and joint heirs of the
promises God gave to Abraham. In Romans 11, Paul likens non-Jewish Christians
to wild olive branches grafted into a Jewish olive tree through Christ.
Christians are spiritual Jews!
Although some Protestants argue that when Israel rejected
Jesus, God rejected Israel, that’s not what Paul says. In Romans 11 Paul asks,
“Did God reject his people?” In the context “his people” is clearly referring
to unbelieving Jews. Paul answers, “By no means!...God did not reject his
people….” I’m not sure how much clearer he could be! In fact, Paul’s love
for his fellow Jews is so great that in Romans 9, he says that he would actually
be willing to go to hell if that could somehow save his unbelieving Jewish
contemporaries!
We stand with all decent
people everywhere in condemning this slaughter and call for the strongest legal
means possible to put an end to our nation’s anti-Semitic surge. We also join
with Christians everywhere in praying for the survivors of this terrible
tragedy.
