Anti-Semitism and the Texts Easter 3B
The day I was ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church (TEC), I received a telegram from Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel that read, “May this day mark the beginning of a mission that will bring many many people closer to each other, closer to God, and closer to themselves. You will be very much in my thoughts today.” (12/16/1983) My Senior Thesis was on Wiesel and his witness to the world through his books and essays, and lack of response by our nation and others while six million died. Thanks to my supervisor on my thesis, Bernice Saltzman, I had been privileged to meet Wiesel, listen to him lecture in person, and had several personal conversations about the paper I wrote on the Holocaust and the dangers of Anti-Semitism. I have spent many of my 40+ years of active ministry involved in Christian-Jewish Dialogue, leading Holocaust Memorial Services, and being mentored by local rabbis I have known through the years. One reason I sought ordination was the hope to play a small role in ridding the world of anti-Semitism. Bringing people closer together, closer to God, and closer to themselves.
When I received that telegram, I never imagined that this week I would read a study of dozens of universities that says on-campus anti-Semitism is on the rise. The schools were graded for their efforts to curb anti-Semitism, and a dozen schools received failing grades, including: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of Chicago, Princeton, University of Virginia, Tufts, Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, SUNY Purchase, SUNY Rockland, and Swarthmore. Only two schools received an A: Brandeis and Elon. [i]
Against this backdrop, this week’s lesson from the Book of
the Acts of the Apostles deserves our special attention. Enter Peter. Peter,
who had recently denied even knowing Jesus three times the night Jesus was
arrested. Now, some time after the Jewish Festival of Pentecost, fifty days
after Passover, Peter is suddenly a powerful public witness to the power of
Jesus’s name. He and John were walking to the Temple to pray. They met a man
who had been lame since birth who was asking for alms. Peter says, “Silver
and Gold I have none. But what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And the man arose and went walking
and leaping and praising God as Peter and John continued to the Temple. A crowd
gathers at Solomon’s Portico. The man clutches to Peter and John. Peter addresses
the crowd.
“You, Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do
you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our
ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in
the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected
the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you
killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are
witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong,
whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this
perfect health in the presence of all of you.
“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.” [ii]
It is easy to hear this as Peter condemning the Israelites for choosing to have Pilate release the murderer Barabbas instead of Jesus. Before hearing it this way, we may as well admit that when making similar choices we too often choose the wrong person. We often have great hopes in those we choose to lead us, only to learn we have chosen poorly. It’s not that long ago that the German people chose Adolf Hitler who promised to make Germany great again to lead their country. It is easy to see how politicians and pastors might have appealed to a passage like Peter’s speech to justify scapegoating Jewish people living in diaspora since the year 70 CE for all the problems facing post-WWI Germany. The consequences were tragic.
When in fact, the author of Luke-Acts depicts Peter speaking a kind of biblical code, addressing the crowd not as Judeans, nor as Jews, both names often used pejoratively, but rather as their preferred collective title, “Israelites.” Peter is speaking as an Israelite to other Israelites, people who, as he immediately points out, share a common ancestry through the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob. Again, Peter speaks in code: for this description of God not only refers all the way back to Moses at the Burning Bush, who, when asking for God’s name, is told, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. “ [iii] But this is likely how Peter and John will begin their prayers when they get to the Temple: “Blessed be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob It’s called the Amidah. The Israelites listening will recognize this and know that Peter is one of them. The Amidah often continues, “Your lovingkindness sustains the living, your great mercies give life to the dead.” Seems right that Peter and John might pray the Amidah after their experience of the Risen Lord.
Further, Peter turns the disaster that was Good Friday into an opportunity for a new beginning. Because Jesus, as depicted in Luke 24:36-48, had been raised, and stood before Peter and John and all the others, not as a ghost, or an apparition, but as flesh and blood asking for a piece of fish. Ghosts don’t eat fish. God, in Christ Jesus, gave Peter, John and these Israelites not only a chance to be forgiven for their bad choices on Good Friday. He commissions them to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to “all the nations…You are witnesses of these things.” I extended the reading from Acts which, as provided to us in the lectionary, ends in mid-sentence. It’s the continuation that is the Good News: “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, that is, Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.” This is good news for us all.
Context is everything when reading these sacred texts. For just a few verses later, as the community prays together, the text reads, “For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” [iv] That is, these Israelites were not alone in making bad choices that lead to crucifixion. Many others made bad choices as well. The text means to remind us that we are all responsible for making bad choices; we are all in need of repentance; and can always begin again.. For resurrection means there is always a chance for starting over.
And we are all called, like those standing before Peter, to be witnesses of these things, and speak out against injustice, and seek ways to repair the damage done. For instance, as anti-Semitism is on the rise throughout these United States over the past eight years, and especially since the Hamas attack on Israel last October 7th, amidst an awkward silence and inaction on the part of many, the Finance Ministry of Germany has just agreed to send a one-time payment of $236 to each of Israel’s 113,000 holocaust survivors to help them cope with trauma of the attack – That’s $27 million dollars. It’s not the amount that is important, however, it’s the gesture that counts. A sign that Germany wants to repent and start over. A gesture that says we understand and we care.[v]
In a country where it seems the majority of institutions of higher education are afraid to speak out against anti-Semitism, it would seem a careful listening to Peter’s speech at the Portico of Solomon might be in order for us all. I know even the smallest gesture on our parts would mean the world to all the Israelites in diaspora in the US. Speaking out against the sin of anti-Semitism is one way of bearing witness “to these things.” And, who knows, we may even make better choices in future. Always we can begin again. Because Christ Jesus has been raised from the dead, every day has the potential to be a new day. And perhaps my dream of a world without anti-Semitism may still become a reality. May we all seek to draw closer to others, closer to God, and closer to our true selves. For we are all made in the image of the God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love for all. And all means all!
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