Why is our Christian history so
connected to Israel’s history?
There are countless reasons why it is
important for us to understand and appreciate the great wisdom and beauty of
Jewish history and tradition. For one, Jesus was Jewish as were all his first disciples;
all were steeped in the Old Testament texts and the ancient customs therein, so
it’s darn near impossible to understand all that Jesus wishes to share with us
without some rudimentary knowledge of the history of the Israelites. To that
end, I’d like to highlight one aspect of the Jewish perspective that might be
of particular help to us at this moment in history.
In what we call the “Old Testament” (more
appropriately “The Hebrew Scriptures”- since there is no “Old” and “New” for our
Jewish brothers and sisters…simply THE testament) we read how the ancient
Israelites tenaciously pursued the truth that undergirds every aspect of our
lives; they searched and sought to see and understand what it is that we are
meant to know and learn through each particular time or event within our
history. But they approached this work not just with the physical eye but
through a unique lens; the lens of their covenant with God. And so they
listened with a different ear, one that was formed primarily by their strong
belief that they always had God with them as a companion. They never saw
themselves as alone. God is always in the picture; always the source of what is
being revealed.
Author John Shea tells a story that
highlights this point of view. He was attending a big national conference and
when they broke into small groups, each person was called upon to introduce
themselves. So he started out and said “Hi. My name is Jack Shea, I was born in
1946, I am a professor at Loyola University,” and so on and so forth. The next
person up was a Native American and he began by saying “My people are from this
region, our traditions are such and such, etc.” Only at the end did he make
mention of his own place within his tribe. Who this man was began with his
connectedness, his community. His primary identity was as a member of “a
people” before having an individual identity.
This is very true about the Jewish people
as well, who, right up to this day profess their covenant with God who
proclaims many times in the Hebrew scriptures “I will be your God, and you
shall be my people.” The story of the ancient Israelites (including Jesus) is of a people who were profoundly
conscious of their fellowship with God; beginning in the very first book of the
bible that recounts how Abram (later Abraham) heard God say to him “Go out from
your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I
will show you” and at the spry age of 75, Abram listened, packed up his
family and all he owned and moved out of the only land he had ever known.
What Jesus knew and what set the ancient
Israelites apart was that they knew in the deepest part of their being that God,
our creator, wished to communicate with them, acted in their lives and would
never leave them alone. Our Jewish friends work very hard to keep the stories
alive about how God has been present in the lives of their ancestors and
continues to care for His people today. According to Jesus, who prayed “That we
ALL may be one,” our ability as a human family to listen together for God and
recognize our inalienable oneness as “a people,” are integral parts of God’s
dream for our world.
Send your Crazy Catholic Question to Lisa
Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
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