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Preserving the integrity of Judaism in Advent preaching
John T. Pawlikowski
With its extensive reliance on readings from the Hebrew Prophets, the Advent season remains rife for homilies which undercut the ongoing validity of the Jewish covenantal tradition envisioned in the NOTES. To the average congregant these readings appear to proclaim that the Jesus whose coming we celebrate at Christmas represents the complete fulfilment of the message of hope and promise that is their central motif. Only spiritual blindness then and now on the part of the Jewish community has prevented Israel's recognition of this messianic fulfilment. In this perspective, Jesus' birth is viewed as the inauguration of the "days to come" spoken of by Isaiah and Jeremiah in several Advent readings.
Many sections of the prophetic readings during the Advent season tend to leave the impression that Israel at the time of Jesus' birth felt itself guilt-ridden for past covenantal failure and was almost overcome by a spirit of mourning. An eagerness for liberation was certainly widespread. Baruch calls upon Jerusalem "to take off your robe of Mourning and misery", while Isaiah speaks about the imminent expiation of Jerusalem's gain. II rig such words w it hour further explanation, the average Catholic worshipper, conditioned for so long by stereotypes of Judaism's spiritual emptiness and notions of Jewish suffering as punishment, may easily conclude that Jesus’ coming marked the liberation of people from the religious bankruptcy and sinfulness of Judaism. And statements from Isaiah complaining how the house of David wearies God himself and about the people "who walked in darkness" can create all overriding sense of Jewish guilt among the Christian worshippers hearing the word proclaimed. The impression can easily arise from such Advent passages, (and many homilists, unfortunately, have directly encouraged it), that Judaism had been rendered 'incapable of any spiritual regeneration short of the emergence of the messiah who, in the liturgy of the season, is clearly identified with Jesus.
The manner in which the church has selected and arranged the Advent readings can easily result in the belief that the prophets clearly foresaw the details of Jesus' birth and that their words were primarily directed to a description of this event and its period. Micah, for example, speaks of the ruler of Israel coming from Bethlehem-Ephrathah. And one finds numerous refer. ences in the designated prophetic texts to King David from whose line :resin is said to descend and several possible allusions to a virgin giving birth to a son. The underlying message being conveyed seems to be this: anyone who understands the Hebrew Scriptures ought to recognize in Jesus the advent of die longed-for Jewish messiah.
Advent preachers are confronted with a genuine problem in dealing with these texts. The implied exegesis of these prophetic texts as they have been arranged by the framers of the church's liturgy stands in tension with what many biblical theologians and writers on Christology, as well as the recent Catholic documents outlined by Dr. Eugene Fisher in his contribution to this issue of SIDIC, L11-1: saying about the continuing validity of the Jewish covenantal tradition after the Christ Event, and about the need for the church to regard the Jewish People as partners in the process of human salvation. The recent Vatican NOTES seem to endorse such a theological model. And D. John L. McKenzie is one biblical scholar who has spoken to this question in decisive fashion. He says that Jesus reinterpreted Jewish messiahship: "the total reality of Jesus Messiah is found nowhere in the Old Testament". (A Theology of the Old Testament, 31-32). Hence, by implication, it cannot be argued that Jews failed to perceive their own messianic aspirations in the ministry and person of Jesus because of some imagined spiritual blindness.
The misguided interpretations of the prophets as directly foretelling Christ's birth is part of a wider Christian misappropriation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Unfortunately the new NOTES fall into this mindset in some sections despite their real advances in other parts. The one point of special significance, however, is the virtual silence about these "fulfilment" sections of the NOTES on the part of John Paul H. as he clearly endorsed the more constructive parts in his remarks to the official celebration of NOSTRA AETATE in Rome in October 1985. We in the church have tended to look upon the Hebrew Scriptures as merely foil or prelude for the teachings of the New Testament. We have generally failed to appreciate their spiritual richness in their own right. But this is not the spirit conveyed by NOSTRA AETATE which Pope John Paul II caned to our attention M his address to the Jewish community at Mainz, West Germany. The Vatican Council in Nostra Aerate insisted that
"the effort must be made to understand better everything in the Old Testament that has its own, permanent value . . since this value is not wiped out by the later interpretations of the New Testament."
There are definite possibilities for preaching during Advent in ways that will lessen the anti-Judaic potential of many of the texts. First of all, emphasis should be given to the fact tint the prophets were speaking first and foremost to their own contemporaries. Neither foretelling the future nor announcing Jesus' birth was their particular intent. Speaking in the name of God, the root meaning of the term "prophet", and with divine authority, they felt called to remind the people of their obligations under the covenant with God. They were disturbed by the estrangement that has overtaken the relationship between the covenantal partners because of human unfaithfulness. They hoped to overcome this alienation by reminding the people of the dirt consequeces they faced if they chose to ignore their warnings, but they also promised a new outpouring of divine help if the people would abandon their sinful ways.
Advent preaching also needs to stress that an adequate response to the prophetic critique was not totally delayed until the coming of Jesus. The rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple and the rapid growth of the Pharisaic movement during the several centuries immediately preceding Jesus clearly illustrate the seriousness with which Israel finally took the prophetic summons to repentance. The people understood that the painful experience of exile was a punishment for covenantal unfaithfulness. Following the directions laid out by the prophets, many Jewish leaders were determined to prevent a recurrence of this communal punishment at any time in the future.
The period in which Jesus was born and preached was marked by a resurgence in Jewish spirituality. It was a period of new growth. This Second Temple period, for both Judaism and the newly born Christian church, was a time when the prophetic promise of a new inrush of divine grace was being realized. It was thus not invalid for the evangelists to describe the coining of Jesus within the framework of judgment/ promise. Jesus most certainly represents in Christianeyes a fresh outpouring of divine help. In his ministry and his person the alienation between God and his people which so concerned the prophets was being overcome. But it would be just as legitimate to apply these words to the regeneration efforts underway in Judaism at the same time. While church and synagogue eventually found it necessary to go their separate ways, they both represented serious and constructive, though somewhat different responses, to the earlier summons of the prophets for renewed covenantal faithfulness. Contrary to popular belief in the church, the Christian community did not stand alone in responding positively to the message of Baruch, Jeremiah, Isaiah and the other prophetic voices.
Thirdly, preaching during the Advent season should highlight the incarnation. It is a unique Christian belief, even though it does have roots in the growing sense of divine-human intimacy that arose within the Pharisaic movement during the Second Temple period. Bur belief in the Incarnation in no way automatically undercuts the ongoing significance of Judaism.
The church views the divine intervention in Christ as decisive for human salvation. But, and this must be stressed in Advent homilies, this intervention did nor represent the coming of the messianic kingdom in the Jewish sense. This is the point made earlier on by John McKenzie. If Jesus is the messiah, it is in a transformed sense. Hence the Jewish People were not "blind" in refusing to recognize a connection between Jesus and the messianic kingdom. Increasingly Christian theology has placed strong emphasis on the "not yet" dimensions of the Christ Event. The messianic kingdom for both Jews and Christians still lies ahead. As we wait together, as we work together, the prophetic selections read during Advent can become a new summons to the church to reach our to the Jewish People and acknowledge them as partners in the building
of the final kingdom. Such cooperation is especially timely with respect to the imperative of justice. Pope John Paul II spoke directly to this theme during his West German visit:
"Jews and Christians, as children of Abraham, are called to he a blessing for the world (cf. Gn 12:2ff) by committing themse/ves together for peace and justice among all persons and peoples."
Since from the Christian perspective both Jews and Christians share in the covenantal relationship with God (cf. Rom 11:291, only through joint action will their respective expectations of the kingdom be finally and fully realized. This should be a central motif of Advent homilies. The Jewish People, whose great prophetic literature renews our faith commitment during this liturgical season, must be seen as partners and not as antagonists in the messianic dream the church celebrates during the Advent/Christmas season.
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Rev. Dr. John T. Pawlikowski, O.S.M. is Professor in Social Ethics at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago. Ho has been active for many years in Jewish-Christian dialogue, both as a writer and a lecturer.
LESSON OUTLINE AND NOTES FOR CATECHISTSTwo subjects are introduced specifically fur the catechist:
a) an outline by Sr. Niesz of a lesson on the Passover Meal to help young children to appreciate the Jewish background of the Last Supper of Jesus and of the Institution of the Eucharist;
b) Notes on the Deealogue illustrating the depth of meaning ill the Ten Words that Christian tradition has tended to see merely as a list of dos and don'ts.
Sr. M.H. Fournier makes a striking parallel with the Beatitudes — not contrast hut similarity.
A MIDRASH — THE GIVING OF THE TORAH TO ISRAELBefore God gave Israel the Torah, He approached every tribe and nation, and offered them the Torah, that hereafter they might have no excuse to say,
"Had the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to give us the Torah, we should have accepted it."
He went to the children of Esau and said, "Wilt ye accept the Torah?" They answered him, saying, "What is written therein?" He answered them, 'Thou shalt not kill."
Then they all said: "Wilt Thou perchance take from us the blessing with which our father Esau was blessed? For he was blessed with the words, -By thy sword shalt thou live: We do not want to accept the Torah."
