Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Hence I ask, did they stumble so as to fall? Of course not! But through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous.

Now if their transgression is enrichment for the world, and if their diminished number is enrichment for the Gentiles, how much more their full number.

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them.

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11: 11-15)

At one time the English considered driving all the Jews out of England. Like just about every other Christian nation, when the rulers needed someone to blame, they elected the Jews. But someone remembered Saint Paul’s prophecy that the Jews would be gathered into Christianity before the end time. If there were none in England, English Christians might miss the signal. So they were allowed to stay.

If I were a historian I might study the history of this mysterious passage and how it affected Jewish-Christian relations. As I understand there were similar incidents and convoluted controversies in medieval Germany, Portugal and France. The Spanish wondered if a Jewish population might be transported to a distant island where they could await the Lord's coming without interfering in the Christian world. The “Jewish Question” is very old and not one of Christianity's prettier stories.

I think Saint Paul was only speaking with his usual enthusiasm; perhaps blue skying when he penned that notion to the Romans. He didn’t suppose that scripture scholars would pore over his meaning for centuries to come, nor that it would define an eschatological niche for the Jewish people. Mostly he was pondering the mystery of why some people accept the Gospel and others do not.

Today, as we consider the role of Jews in Salvation History we must be grateful to them and for them. They received, nurtured and treasured the Word that was born of Mary in the person of Jesus.  

As we heard in today's first readin,g Ezekiel prophesied, Thus the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.

Through Jesus, Mary and the Twelve Apostles God has certainly proven his holiness. In that moment of time the Jewish nation blossomed with the fairest flowers the world has ever seen. We pray that by our Christian conduct – and especially by our reverence for Jewish people -- God will again prove his holiness to the nations.