This is the week Christians remember the last days in the life of Jesus, beginning with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, ending with his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The events of Jesus' last days are remembered at church services throughout the week. For committed Christians it can be a time of heightened devotion as Christians believe that the events of this week have so changed the world that sin and death will not have the final word. Rather love can triumph and new life can come from even the direst of situations. It is a week to be lived through in gratitude but also in the realisation that the story is not just about what happened to Jesus in the past but is, in some way, also our own story. We all know the realities of condemnation, rejection, apparent failure, suffering, death. In the midst of these it is sometimes difficult to have hope. Easter is a time for hope, a time to believe that all will be well in spite of the evidence to the contrary. Does not our world need hope at this present time?
But Holy Week has not been good news for everyone, especially in the past. Heightened devotion can easily turn into fanaticism and the telling of past stories can lead people to wrong conclusions about the present. For Jews Holy Week came to be a time of dread, when Jews were accused of the death of Jesus and punished for it. During Holy Week Jews were advised to stay off the streets and in some instances forbidden to appear in public from Holy Thursday onwards for fear of upsetting Christians. They were often subjected to a blood libel which suggested the blood of innocent Christian children was used in the preparation of the Passover bread. These libels and the persecution that followed lasted right through the Middle Ages up to the last century. In fact it was one such libel that led to the setting up of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council that celebrates its centenary this year.
Thank Goodness things have changed. Any accusations of deicide have been outlawed by the Catholic Church which now
recognises its fraternal relationship with Judaism and encourages Catholics and Christians to see Jews as our elder brothers and sisters in the faith. I'm not too sure how Jews feel about that. This year, as he has done every year for the last few years, Archbishop Mario Conti has written to the Jewish community at Passover. One member of the Jewish community commented that it was unusual to send greetings on this festival - better to send them at New Year, I was told. And yet given the history of this week in which both Passover and Easter are celebrated, given past histories, and given the meaning of the exodus story for both communities it would seem quite appropriate to send greetings now.
One of the things that's important at this time is for Christians to respect the integrity of the Jewish faith and not try to Christianise it. In some Churches there is a tradition of celebrating a seder meal - the ritual family meal celebrated by Jews on the first day of Passover. This is to help Christians understand the Jewish background of Jesus. A recent newsletter for the Council of Christians and Jews addressed some of the issues involved asking: Does the concept of a seder ‘for Christians’ have full integrity? Does this put Christians in touch with their ‘Jewish roots’, or involve something of a ‘colonial takeover’ of a Jewish practice which in at least some respects is probably centuries later than Jesus? Some scholars suggest that the last meal Jesus celebrated with his friends was more likely to be an ordinary Jewish family meal than a ritual Passover meal and that any suggestion it was is more theological than historical. All this needs to be kept in mind at this time of year when past histories might make some members of the Jewish community rather suspicious of Christians celebrating the seder. It's important to remember that modern day Judaism has developed its own integrity from biblical times as has Christianity.
But Holy Week has not been good news for everyone, especially in the past. Heightened devotion can easily turn into fanaticism and the telling of past stories can lead people to wrong conclusions about the present. For Jews Holy Week came to be a time of dread, when Jews were accused of the death of Jesus and punished for it. During Holy Week Jews were advised to stay off the streets and in some instances forbidden to appear in public from Holy Thursday onwards for fear of upsetting Christians. They were often subjected to a blood libel which suggested the blood of innocent Christian children was used in the preparation of the Passover bread. These libels and the persecution that followed lasted right through the Middle Ages up to the last century. In fact it was one such libel that led to the setting up of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council that celebrates its centenary this year.
Thank Goodness things have changed. Any accusations of deicide have been outlawed by the Catholic Church which now
recognises its fraternal relationship with Judaism and encourages Catholics and Christians to see Jews as our elder brothers and sisters in the faith. I'm not too sure how Jews feel about that. This year, as he has done every year for the last few years, Archbishop Mario Conti has written to the Jewish community at Passover. One member of the Jewish community commented that it was unusual to send greetings on this festival - better to send them at New Year, I was told. And yet given the history of this week in which both Passover and Easter are celebrated, given past histories, and given the meaning of the exodus story for both communities it would seem quite appropriate to send greetings now.
One of the things that's important at this time is for Christians to respect the integrity of the Jewish faith and not try to Christianise it. In some Churches there is a tradition of celebrating a seder meal - the ritual family meal celebrated by Jews on the first day of Passover. This is to help Christians understand the Jewish background of Jesus. A recent newsletter for the Council of Christians and Jews addressed some of the issues involved asking: Does the concept of a seder ‘for Christians’ have full integrity? Does this put Christians in touch with their ‘Jewish roots’, or involve something of a ‘colonial takeover’ of a Jewish practice which in at least some respects is probably centuries later than Jesus? Some scholars suggest that the last meal Jesus celebrated with his friends was more likely to be an ordinary Jewish family meal than a ritual Passover meal and that any suggestion it was is more theological than historical. All this needs to be kept in mind at this time of year when past histories might make some members of the Jewish community rather suspicious of Christians celebrating the seder. It's important to remember that modern day Judaism has developed its own integrity from biblical times as has Christianity.
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