Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews: A Lectionary Commentary/Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law: A Lectionary Commentary

Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2008 by Good, Deirdre

Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews: A Lectionary Commentary. By Ronald J. Allen and Clark M. Williamson. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004. xxiv 261 pp. $24.95 (cloth).

Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law: A Lectionary Commentary. By Ronald J. Allen and Clark M. Williamson. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. xxv 268 pp. $29.95 (cloth).

These two excellent books belong together. While many have undertaken to compile commentaries on the text, the authors decided that they too, having participated in Jewish-Christian conversations for some time now, would write an orderly account, for preachers and expositors of the text, of the Jewish nature of the gospels and comment on the ways the gospels reflect "tension and even animosity between gospel writers and other Jewish groups" (Preaching the Gospels, p. xiii). The second book "highlights how knowledge of first century Judaism illumines the Epistles in the lectionary for preaching" (p. xv).

On the principle that the gospels are part of a first-century Jewish discussion about what it means to be faithfully Jewish, the authors aim to contextualize the continuities of the gospel readings in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary with the theology, values, and practices of Judaism so as to help preachers move congregations "to a greater sense of kinship and shared mission with Judaism" (Preaching the Gospels, p. xiii). This approach seeks to avoid both the way Christianity has, in much of its history, held Judaism and its adherents in contempt, and the way interpretations of the gospel portion of the lectionary understands it to supersede readings from Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament.

In these volumes, use of the terms "Christian" or "Christian believers" is explained as anachronistic. Jesus is a first-century Jew. He went to synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). He speaks in parables that had a mashal, a story, and a nimshal, an interpretation and application (in the parable of the sower), He wore the tassels reminding him to love and keep the commandments when Mark 6:56 describes the woman with the flow of blood grasping the border of his garment. And when he sat down to teach, he was engaging in common Jewish rabbinic practice (Matt. 23:2). We also learn (in the commentary on the Mary and Martha text from Luke 10) that first-century Judaism was far more pluralistic in its teaching about women than we might believe; and that there were other first-century Jews who, like Jesus, prayed to God as "Abba" (in the commentary on the Lord's Prayer).

When polarizing language occurs in the New Testament, as it does, for example, in Matthew 23, the commentary points out that the language of diatribe on Jesus' lips reflects a heated intra-Jewish discussion. Numerous groups practiced this kind of name-calling. The authors measure it against Jesus' earlier command to love even the enemy (Matt. 5:44) and find it wanting. We need to preach the gospel, not the language of vilification. Jesus criticizes love of titles. Similarly, rabbinic teaching echoes condemnation of study motivated by the desire to be called a wise man, or rabbi, or elder, or to have a seat at the academy. Study out of love, and the honor will come of itself (y. Shevu'ot 4:2, 35b).

John's gospel presents a particularly problematic caricature of Jews and Pharisees associated with darkness and blindness to show the Johannine community in a better light. This the authors of the commentary describe as "historically irresponsible and unjust" (Preaching the Gospels, p. 33). They assert that this contradicts the notion that God's love is for all. They remind preachers that the lectionary context for these Johannine readings is Lenten repentance, in which congregants can repent of continuing to accept the caricature of the Pharisees and of perpetuating the exclusive claim that God loves only those who confess Jesus as Messiah.

In Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law, Allen and Williamson remind readers that Paul is a Pharisee, and that Paul himself does not criticize Pharisees. Disparaging references to Pharisees are more likely to reflect an internal debate about the interpretation and application of Judaism. In their preface the authors state, "Far from attacking Judaism, the letter writers typically want Gentile converts to become more Jewish in their attitudes and behaviors. The ancient authors did not envision Christianity as a new religion to supersede Judaism" (Preaching the Letters, p. xv). Moreover, "the problem with the anti-Jewish reading of Paul is not only that it distorts and misinterprets Paul, it also distorts and misinterprets Judaism" (Preaching the Letters, p. xx). Paul did not set out to start a new religion independent from or superseding Judaism. For Paul the church was not a separate institution that broke away from Judaism but a mission of the God of Israel to prepare Gentiles for the impending apocalypse. Thus, his letters were written not to fellow Jews about Judaism, but rather about Judaism's relationship to and understanding of the Gentiles. The event of Christ Jesus does not introduce a new element into the story of Israel. On the contrary, the story of Israel gives the church a theological framework by which to interpret the significance of Christ's self-emptying and exaltation in the hymn of Philippians 2, which then can be seen as a representation of love and faithfulness of the God of Israel to the Gentile world.