Yesterday in Overland Park, Kansas, a rabid anti-Semite,
white supremacist drove into the parking lot at the Jewish Community Center
with the intent to kill. And he succeeded.
He shot a grandfather and grandson (thinking they were Jews, but
actually Methodists), missed two others, and then drove to a nearby Jewish
retirement center and killed a woman.
The metro area of Kansas City and the wider Jewish and Christian
communities are bowed down with grief.
This story
line is both ancient and contemporary, and the horrific atrocities never are
put to rest. On the eve of Passover and
the beginning of Holy Week, this event requires better thinking about guns,
religious liberty, and the propensity of humanity to scapegoat “others” for the
ills of the world.
In earlier
times, Christians persecuted Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus, and they read
virulent parts of the New Testament as warrant for their action. The epithet “Christ killers” seemed to
justify the targeted marginalization and wounding exploitation of Jewish
communities.
Thankfully
in recent scholarship, the broad-brush accusation of “the Jews” has been
refined, although movies like Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” do not help. We have learned that a slender sector of
Jewish persons, temple authorities, colluding with Rome allowed the death of
Jesus, and that his confrontation with the reigning powers precipitated his
execution.
Yet the
burden of election, “being chosen,” clings to this historic people. Perhaps it is because of the unique identity
God bestows on the Jewish people that others express the mimetic desire to
displace and destroy them. Over the past
two summers studying with rabbis in Jerusalem, I have learned that God’s
project with Israel, calling them to a covenant relationship, was a test case
to demonstrate how God desires intimacy with all humanity. Sadly, this experiment was more failure than
success, in the words of my teachers.
In this
week Christians call holy, we confront once again the blood thirst that characterizes
sinful humanity. The “fall to violence,”
in the words of Marjorie Suchocki is the primal expression of rebellion against
God and the refusal to live in community with others.
A reading
for Monday of Holy Week describes the peaceful ways of God’s servant, whom
Christians claim to be the Messiah.
He will not cry or lift up his
voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a
dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
(Isaiah 42:2-3)
This faithful Jew shows us the way to live with others. I pray we will be renewed in this season as
we consider his pathway.
Molly T.
Marshall
Central
prepares women and men for seeking God, shaping church, and serving humanity.
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