Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 483

I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie;
my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness
that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.

Like many influential people, Saint Paul left a skewed legacy in his wake. He could not understand why the Jewish establishment refused to accept the Good News of Jesus Christ. Despite his angry remarks recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, he loved and respected his own people. And he certainly knew the scandalous behavior of some Christians; we know that from his complaints about them. But his convictions about Jesus overwhelmed the chagrin he felt about certain "super apostles." Why couldn't the Jews overlook them too, as they heard about Jesus? Why couldn't his conviction, persuasion, and enthusiasm overwhelm their hesitation? 

After his death, by the second century, the Church became predominantly gentile; and Paul's unfortunate remarks found resonance among some Patristics as they hammered out the doctrines of the new religion. Their ugly remarks about Jews did not shape their teachings about the Incarnation and Trinity, and are usually overlooked in the study of doctrine. But scholars find them in some of their writings. They have been used by antisemitic Christian preachers even in the 21st century.  

 In the wake of the Shoah, the Church and many Christian denominations have recognized the antisemitism embedded in our tradition. Some of our imagery, songs, prayers, and writings have encouraged it. Since then, many objectionable paintings have been removed; and sculptures, destroyed. More importantly, some liturgical prayers have been rewritten, and our seminaries and their professors have changed their attitudes and language. Wikipedia has an extensive article concerning the Good Friday prayer for the Jewish people. The transition from "perfidious Jews" to "the people you first made your own" came slowly, and not without controversy. 

Saint Paul's "constant anguish" remains in the Church to this day, and may be a constitutive element of all Christian spirituality. It should unsettle us as we recognize the gift of our Jewish heritage. It may be, as Paul suggested, God's intention that we remain apart until the Judgement Day when He will sort out the sheep from the goats, the wicked from the just, in both societies. 

As he struggled with the question, Paul resorted to his own conviction that, "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." (Romans 11:2) And he concluded, 

Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may [now] receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. Romans 11:30-32

If that explanation sounds contrived and perhaps unsatisfying, the Apostle concludes with a paean of God's inscrutable wisdom and unsearchable ways. There is much we do not know and shall never know, but our faith assures us that we never sin by showing mercy. 

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given him anything

that he may be repaid?”

For from him and through him and for him are all things.

To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11: 33-36)