Why I No Longer Think of Myself as “Christian”
The old woman gave a wink. “I have heard
Brother Nathan was less than hospitable.” She addressed Dr. Baruch. “You did
not tell him you are a Catholic.”
The doctor replied without bitterness. “I am
not a Catholic. Not any longer. I am … since the war … since Auschwitz … a
Jew first. That separates me from what the Church has become. This
Franciscan would have been turning Jews over to the Nazis in Czechoslovakia
if he was asked … for the sake of neutrality.”
… The nun continued, “Brother Nathan is a
Syrian. His hatred of all Jews is long-standing. Ingrained, I fear.”
Baruch said brusquely, “As a Christian he
wears the name of the greatest Jew who ever lived, and yet still in his
small mind Jews are Christ-killers. He walks Via Dolorosa each Friday
carrying the cross, but he does not know what the cross means. I tremble
that a man such as this calls himself a Christian.”
Mother Superior said sadly, “But surely the
smallness of his soul cannot make you deny your faith.”
Baruch looked her in the eye. “I deny those in
the Church who deny the Jewishness of the Messiah. They have made Jesus a
Gentile. One of themselves. For centuries Jews have known almost nothing
about Jesus … Yeshua … and, because of hatred from men like Brother Nathan,
have wanted to know even less.”
Mother Superior sat down wearily on the bench.
“Not all have forgotten that we Gentiles are merely branches grafted into
the root and trunk of Judaism.”
Baruch sat beside her, his hands open as
though he held a book on his lap. “The Gentile Church has forgotten its
roots. It is written … The way, the truth, and the life grew out of the
covenant G-d made with Abraham. Those Gentiles who are grafted
on do not replace the original branches. From the seed of Abraham all the
nations of the world will be blessed. The blessing was, is, the
Messiah, Yeshua, descendant of David. Shepherd and sacrificial lamb. King.
Redeemer. Healer of the sick. Lover of the unloved. Bread of Life. He who
calms the seas. He who goes into the battle to slay our giants. I know my
Savior well, Mother, but I will never again call myself by the name
Christian. Too much evil has been done in that name. I am a Jew who
follows The Way.”
— from Jerusalem Vigil,
the first book in the Zion Legacy
series
by Bodie and Brock Thoene www.thoenebooks.com
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