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Between God and His People
Dom Grammont, Abbot of Bec-Hellouin

Jewish-Christian dialogue, and its starting point in the dialogue between God and His People in Me plan of salvation.

It has been said that authentic dialogue should be a challenge. One must feel confronted to enter whole-heartedly into it; neither of the partners can remain outside the full range of dialogue. This is true primarily of our biblical perspective. In the Bible man is seen in dialogue with God —God calls him, confronts him, puts him to the test. And Abraham, who is at the origin of the Jewish people, through his cdl answers this invitation. Later, particularly in Moses, we witness its development: a people challenged by God, a nation formed by Him, finds itself in dialoguewith Him, in a mutual contestation which still endures.

The Bible gives the main stages of the amazing history of this people which, in its very essence and through its religions position, was to become both the symbol of humanity and the melting pot where even the matter of revelation is cast. So that the book, which, under the form of Scripture, was to record this revelation, this irruption of the living Word of God into the world, was to evolve from Israel's own history, which throws its dazzling prophetic light on to the most distant past as on to the most distant future. And ever since, all men have been related to this history. The whole of humanity is called into question by the characters in the book. Every single person as well as every nation can there see its own reflection as in a mirror. Here is found self-evelation, a reactive which will be a test, white at the same time effecting a consciousness of the revelation of God.

But it should be noted, in the Bible God and His people, God and the Jew, stand face to face and mutually accept this confrontation within the whole gamut of the power of the Alliance. The word is loosely used, yet it throws light on the whole book, of which the title could well be: « The Bible is the Alliance ». It must be admitted that this Alliance is hardly an ordinary one. It is paradoxical: a people and a God

— A God whose physionomy gradually becomes clearer, going beyond all the limits of consciousness which He invades without destroying; a unique God, the centre of personal communion, source of love which extends over the whole universe without ever becoming confused with it;
— a people with strong characteristics, whose culture was to filter the ancient wisdom of the Orient and give to the world a religious vision recorded in the Bible;
— a living God who reigns over all, the only absolute to whom alone adoration is due;
— a people troubled by the vicissitudes of history, yet never annihilated, whereas the powerful empires which looked as though they would wipe them out have long ceased to be; a people living today, which assimilates every kind of culture and vision, and asks the world: Who are you? Where do you corne from? Where are you going?

The whole history of this people of God is drawn by a current of unparalleled impetus: Messianism. For this people, as well as for the whole world, this messianic current puts an end to all sentimental categories of thought. h sparks off in the heart of the Jewish people and the nations where they live a series of outbursts, like the reactions of successive stages which go beyond the states of knowledge and civilization which man would like to establish and maintain.

It is absolutely essential that we Christian never forget that our origins are in this people, that we are linked w them by the very will of God because salvation, like the Saviour, cornes from the Jews. Jesus is a Jew. He is the Jew par excellence in whom all Israel is summed up and in whom it shines forth. He who said, « I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill », demonstrates in his own person the whole development of a history lived in time, assumed in depth at all levels of existence, and into which, through being grafted on to Him, we, ton, enter. His life, His blond, His flesh transfigured in the fulfillment of this history are given to us. Can we forget His origin, which, through Ha, becomes ours? A Jesus of the Christian message, which is no longer that of the Bible and the most perfect expression of the Alliance, would no longer be Jesus, the Saviour, the Messiah.

Can we then pass by a Jew, or Jews, without noticing, without speaking to them and feeling that, at least spiritually, we belong to the same family, w the same race? If there was a time (and perhaps it still exists) when the epithet « Jew » was an insult, this absurdity must now come to an end. We must reverse the situation and consider that to be a Jew, or to be called a Jew, is rather a compliment and a title of nobility, because it reminds us of our relationship and who is confronting us. While man, at the height of progress and civilization, closes in on himself and ends by destroying himself, the genuine Jew, the true Israelite, denounces this madness, this absurd illusion of self-sufficiency, and pushes open the door of the hereaf ter to welcome Him who comes.... Nothing suffices man completely, neither himself nor creation. Christs last words cast over the world the brilliant yet veiled reflection of God's love for mankind whom He desires should enter His kingdom. If Christianity is die fulfillment of what has preceded it, the Christian must realize where this fulfillment lies and gladly accept that no human wisdom can replace this essential dialogue with the eider brother of the family.

By reciprocal knowledge and mutual confrontation, by freeing our minds of preconceived ideas, and above all of our habituai mental patterns, Jewish-Christian dialogue could reveal unexpected horizons. On condition that each remain faithful to bis beliefs, we could then discover astonishing convergences, ways of thinking, of grasping the reality which surpasses words and images, as well as the strength of deep love for the world and dl that it teaches us. Among other things, contact with the Jews can teach us to understand Scriptire by living the every-day event which we find there. Above all, through mutual knowledge, could we not together discover the continuity in a plan, the permanence among profound changes, of a pledged fidelity unfailingly present to our destiny: the plan of God? God is faithful. He is fidelity itself as is illustrated in the history of His people. He is always there, as is His people, even though He may manifest Himself in different ways.

Dare I say that Israel, so diverse in its representation and expression, even in its mystery —for it is a mystery — points out a dimension, a depth in humanity which is frightening? Indeed, it reminds us that, like it or not, we are interdependent in a drama of cosmic dimensions which takes place in time and in eternity. We must recognize these immense forces which play upon us, and whose meaning is revealed in the mystery of the Alliance. This mystery is revealed in Christ — Christ as He is, as He was announced and prepared for, and who was given to men by the one God, to whom our adoration makes us more open.

Let us not substitute ourselves too easily for the Jews by thinking that they are unique in failing to recognize the Messiah and in rejecting Hum, and that every Jew is guilty of this sin. Only too often, we, too, have failed to recognize Him and have rejected Him. We do it in so many ways! Let us never say: they have done that, we do the opposite. This is too facile and extreme a dialectic which falsifies our outlook and mind. Also, let us be careful lest, through appalling vanity, the much decried blindfoldedsynagogue becomes our own caricature. Pride of possession and hardness of opposition ruin hope and prevent us from entering into dialogue with our Jewish brothers.

It is not as easy as might be thought to recognize Christ; and to have a really religions vision of the world is a truc conversion. Dialogue with Israel will certainly help us in this. The Church of Christ, the people of God who recognize themselves in Israel, have expressions in prayer which should enlighten us: « Abraham, father of our f aith... », or again, in the Canon of the Mass: « Abraham, our father... ».

We must allow the Word of God to work in us. As Edmond Fleg bas so well expressed it, Jews and Christians are, as it were, on either side of a great river:
And now, both are waiting,
You, that he should corne,
And you, that he should corne again.
But it is the same peace you are both asking for, And, whether he cornes for the first titre or the
[second. You are belli stretching forth your Lands.
In the sanie love, you are stretching them forth! What does it matter then?
From dais side or the other,
Grant that he may corne!
Grant that he may corne!
Ed. Fleg. Ecoule Israël L'Evangile d'Ahasvérus, p. 245

There is unity in the successive stages of salvation, like the Covenant which is renewed and definitely consummated in Christ. From the first poetic narratives of Genesis to the grand frescoes of St. John's Apocalypse, there is one unique design, a message which resounds: that of the divine word which animates every text, and which can reach those who really listen to it. It is not in vain that in the Apostles' Creed we say that He rose again on the third day « according to the Scriptures », or of the Holy Spirit that he « spoke by the Prophets ». All that is incarnate, like the psalms which « speak of Him », and in a history and a people which is not relegated to the past, but remains the trunk « on to which we are grafted ». No matter how beautiful the branch may be, it has not replaced the roots and the trunk.

Then, like a gentle but penetrating light, shines forth the Canticle of Mary — also a Jew, the Daughter of Sion — solemnly chanted every day at Vespers:
He has given help to Israel his servant,
Mindful of Hie mercy,
As He promised our fathers
To Abraham and his descendants forever.

We are caught up in a vast movement which does not begin with us now living, and which cannot be reduced to the limits of our perception; it begins with Creation, passes through the Noachitic alliance, the vocation of Abraham, the proclamations of Sinai to Moses, the thundering of the prophets and, finally, by Jesus who makes it resound throughout the world by means of the Church.

Dialogue with Jews will make us more keenly aware of the universal salvific will of God.