thediscerninglife

The Passion account traditionally read on Good Friday is from the Gospel according to John. It presents clergy with a dilemma each year due to its problematic references to “the Jews.” The problem has three aspects: the background of this gospel, the manner in which certain references are translated, and the way in which this account was used to stir up anti-Jewish sentiment across many centuries.

The Gospel according to John is the latest of the four Gospels, dated to 90-110 AD.  It was written at a time when the tensions between Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah and those who did not reached a point of rupture.  As often happens when a previously cohesive community breaks into factions, the break was painful and bitter, sometimes dividing families. This gospel reflects the high emotions of the time.  However, it is also clear that the many references to “the Jews” do not refer to the Jewish people as a whole, but to the Jewish authorities in Judea, since there are many positive references in this gospel to Galileans, who are also ethnically Jewish.  In fact, the Greek word translated “the Jews” is itself ambiguous, as it can mean either Jews, or Judeans.

There are also several unfortunate translations that do not make important distinctions between the Temple elite – the Chief Priest and his deputies – and the Temple priesthood as a whole. The entire confrontation between the Chief Priest and Jesus in this passion account is a struggle between a learned, cultured, religious authority figure and a so-called prophet from a poorer, much less sophisticated backwater – Galilee – who somehow manages to outwit him.  It is most decidedly not a rejection and betrayal of Jesus into the hands of the Romans by the Jewish people as a whole, or even by most Judeans. The actions of the religious elite to eliminate a perceived threat to their authority can be seen throughout history, across many cultures and religions. It is certainly not specific to any religion or ethnicity.

Yet, this passion account has been used throughout the centuries to condemn “the Jews” as Christ-killers, fanning the flames of anti-Jewish violence even to our own day.  My own religious education as a child held “the Jews” responsible for the death of Jesus. The events at Charlottesville in 2017 bear witness to the lasting effect of this false interpretation of scripture.

As one who has the privilege of preaching, I take seriously the responsibility to do what I can to minimize any possible misunderstanding of the text. Accordingly, I have adjusted the translation of a very few words in the Good Friday Passion account based on guidance published in 2013 by the Episcopal Church Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music – supported by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry – and my knowledge of New Testament Greek.  The adjustments are so minor as to escape most people’s notice, but they are important.

The Jewish people are our ancestors in faith.  We accept the revelation of God in the Hebrew Scriptures to be as valid as in the Christian Scriptures and count God’s covenant with Abraham as the first of God’s saving acts.  Jesus was unmistakably a devout Jew; his differences with the Pharisees were part of a tradition of rabbinic argumentation.  It is vital that the texts used to justify anti-Jewish sentiment and violence be put in the proper context.  I consider it a moral obligation to do my tiny part in this important work.