Sean Major-Campbell | The Jews are chosen

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to bring into focus various theological perspectives and even misunderstanding concerning the Jews being “chosen”. Many Christians even hold the view that a passive response to Israel’s dominance as top dog is consistent with the status of being chosen.

Jesus told a parable in the gospels which we may find helpful today. You may have a read of Luke 14:15-24. In this allegorical presentation, Jesus tells his hearers about someone who held a great banquet and invited many guests. Today we might call them VIPs. The host sent his servant out with the fancy invitations to his specially invited guests.

Anyway, people are important and busy. The special invitees to their credit were quick regarding their RSVPs. The excuses for not being available to attend were all quite plausible. The servant told his boss the banquet host that those invited had sent their apologies and so on. The master lost no time in commanding the servant to go back on the road again. In Luke 14:21, “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

An extremist position is to ignore the veiled references in the text. You see, the host of the banquet is God. Those invited first are the Jews. When the chosen refused to honour the invitation, God proceeded to extend the invitation to the Gentiles; indeed, to all the rejected!

The servant upon returning from the streets noted, “Sir,” the servant said, “what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.” These are never welcome words to the ears of the privileged. The religious right never approves of inclusive messages. The good news in Jesus Christ though is that “there is still room.”

The crippled, the blind and the lame were always an unwelcome inconvenience. The religious elite were also offended when Jesus did healings in the synagogue on the Sabbath. In Luke 14:23 there is a sense of urgency. “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”

TIMELY PARADIGM

The beautiful Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, does not seek to exclude. It is inclusive in terms of its affirmation of goodwill to all. Other nations are not judged on the basis of Jewish religious covenants which were reserved between God and the Hebrew people.

The Hebrew people were chosen to bear light to the nations. To be chosen was however, not based on ethnicity or skin colour or creed. To be chosen by God, was simply based on purpose. If, however, you fail to honour that purpose, God calls someone else!

Jesus’ parable of the great banquet is still a timely paradigm for a world in which justice and peace are like computer games for the rich and powerful. Tough talk in geopolitical presentations often do not match up with the violence and the daily loss of innocent lives in the Middle East. If a two-state solution is not the best approach, what else is? Where the balance of power weighs heavily, should the world expect a greater degree of accountability on the part of the strong?

When we look now at the Middle East, where do we see most the images of the poor, crippled, blind and lame? Our religious and political positions on the Middle East are moral indicators. Our interest in justice or the lack thereof is a moral indicator of character. The psalmist knew well that peace was not just a thought. Hence, “seek peace and pursue it.”

The mighty are afraid, the world over. They may be powerful now; but history and faith have taught us that the mighty are brought down from their thrones of power. In the song of Mary, recorded in Luke 1, the political and prophetic words state, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”

Any religious perspective and any human rights principle that lacks the active quest for justice, ought of necessity to be transformed if in service of all humanity.

So where in this parable of the great banquet might we place the players in the Middle East? And are you able to see Jesus running for his life? Running from the bombs. But everywhere to which he runs is vulnerable. Whenever he runs to a safe place, it is just in time for another set of bombings.

Luke 14:24 is sobering. “I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”

Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human dignity and human rights. Send feedback to seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com or columns@gleanerjm.com