If You Hate Jews, You Hate Jesus

Jesus unrolls the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue

On the Jewish Sabbath this week, a white nationalist terrorist murdered eleven worshippers within Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, in what is being called the deadliest attack on Jewish people in American history. Sadly, in a time when it seems that every week brings more bloodshed and terror in this country, we should not let the news cycle move on without a sober reflection of what this attack means for us as Christians.

Such is especially true as we look out a world surging with resurgent “blood-and-soil” ethno-nationalism, much of it anti-Semitic in nature. As Christians, we should have a clear message of rejection of every kind of bigotry and hatred, but we should especially note what anti-Semitism means for people who are followers of Jesus Christ. We should say clearly to anyone who would claim the name “Christian” the following truth: If you hate Jews, you hate Jesus.

Anti-Semitism is, by definition, a repudiation of Christianity as well as of Judaism. This ought to be obvious, but world history, even church history, shows us this is not the case. Christians reject anti-Semitism because we love Jesus. Read More

Last week I overheard a conversation in the hall of the building in which I take classes at the local university. A young man was telling a young woman that he was a member of the National Socialist Workers Party. In other words, he was telling her that he was a Nazi. What was unusual about this young man for a university student was that he was clean cut and wearing a jacket and bow tie. I don't think that the young woman grasped what he was saying. I believe that I have heard on a previous occasion the same young man tell a different student that he came from an evangelical Christian background and at one time planned to attend seminary and to become a pastor.