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Promises and Warnings of God to the Jews
Torah's Covenants are eternal"The Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for Hedoes not repent of the gifts He makes, nor of the calls He issues.""Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am notcome to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).«ل َم ّك َُ ل ْب َ ض َق ُن ْَ ت ُئ ْج ِ ا َ .ءَاي َ ِن ْَ و ِأَ س َ ُا  ض َق ُن ْَ ت ُئ ْج ِ ن ّأَ  ظ ُ َ َ. Later (Matthew 5:8), Jesus announces that the messiah rejected by Israelwill be accepted by the pagans.Repeated in the parable of the "vineyard and the husbandmen" (Matthew21:33-45): Those who did not know how to bring to fruition the advantagesreceived from God would lose their privileged position, which would passover to the pagans. The advent of Jesus signifies for the Jews the end of "closeness." Jesus’ attack against the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders at thetime of the trial, condemnation and crucifixion (Matthew 23:25-39) wasextremely harsh: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For yemake clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are fullof extortion and excess. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous untomen, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."Thus Jesus’ cry of anger and cursing (Matthew 23:37-39): "O Jerusalem,Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sentunto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as ahen gathereth her chicks under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.""Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, andconsulted that they might take Jesus by surprise, and kill him (Matthew26:3)."
 
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, "washed his hands" of Christ's fate. "Iam innocent of the blood of this just person," he cried to the Jews, "see ye toit." And the people replied in unison: "His blood be on us, and on our children(Matthew 27:24-26)." The story concludes with the final insultfrom the Jews: they refuse to believe the announcement of Jesus’resurrection and spread the word that the body of Christ has been stolen andhidden by his followers. Matthew comments: "This saying is commonlyreported among the Jews until this day."The Gospel of Mark follows the same pattern, with special emphasis onChrist's battle against the "legalism" of the Jewish leaders at the time. InLuke, the theory of "replacement" becomes more clear-cut. In the Gospelaccording to John - believed to have been written around 100 C.E., about40 years after the first three Gospels - the distance between Judaism and thewords of Jesus is even greater. "I am the son of the Father - ye are from beneath; I am from above; ye are of this world; I am not of this world," hesaid to the unbelieving Jews, adding: "I bear record of myself, yet my recordis true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go - I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." (John8:13-24)..ر َ خ َ  َهُ  ِ ِ ْح ِ ف ِ  َهُ ذ ِ  د ُيح ِ َ ْ  ُب ْَ .ط  َ د ٌح َأَ ُر َ َ  ْ َ ُَ The unbridgeable gapThe gap was by now unbridgeable. Jesus purports to be the messenger of God, his father, and the Jews reply that they already have a god and have noneed of another. The clash is inevitable and is even more pronounced inActs, where the universalism of the new religion open to the paganscontradicts Judaism's traditional particularism. The apostles appealed to the"uncircumcised," inviting them not to respect the laws of kashrut, preachingthat the Holy Spirit can come to anyone who has "the will and spirit toattend."Paul found partial consolation in affirming that the "fall" of the Jews, whowere "incapable" of recognizing God in Christ, was to the benefit of the
 
 pagans, who were now given the opportunity to inherit the salvation thatwas once the Jews' exclusive province. The new Church was "inserted" in place of that which had existed since the time of Moses."the God of the New and Old Testaments is one and the same," that Jesus"was born of a Jewish mother," that the early Church consisted entirely of Jews, that not all Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus, and that theyare not eternally "cursed.""The Church cannot forget that she received the revelation of the OldTestament through the people with whom God, in his inexpressible mercy,deigned to establish the ancient covenant. The Church recalls, too, that fromthe Jewish people sprang the apostles, the Church's foundation stones and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples who proclaimed Christ to theworld."The text (Nostra Aetate, October 28, 1965) admits that the Jews did notrecognize Jesus, but confirms that "the Jews still remain most dear to God because of their fathers, for he does not repent of the gifts he makes, nor of the calls he issues." An end was thus put to the ancient accusation of deicide- murdering God.The "crime" of deicide was now limited to the few who were directlyinvolved in the trial and sentencing of Jesus 2,000 years ago, not the entiregeneration alive at the time, and certainly not their descendants.Christians must accept the fact that elements of "the Old Testament retaintheir own perpetual value," highlighting again that one had not canceled theother, "while both Old and New illumine and explain each other .Christianity and Judaism are linked together at the very level of their identity.Understanding the Jews, helps us to understand ourselves.Old Testament is harmoniously integrated into the church, being "relevantnot only for the Jews, but also touching personally upon all of us." It is atotal embrace.
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