Jan 28, 2022 |
Sibling Rivalry
| The Rev. Philip DeVaul
Sibling Rivalry
Though sources differ on just when the split occurred, the Jews and the Samaritans came from the same family. Even the fact that there are different versions and understandings of the fracture sounds like family, doesn’t it? The Samaritans, like the Jews, were colonized and subjugated by the Romans, and just like their Jewish siblings, they were waiting for a messiah at the time of Jesus’ arrival. Knowing how close they were, how much they shared, how slight were their differences, their rivalry makes more sense to me – not less. Nobody can push your buttons like those to whom you are closest. The strength of their anger testifies to the depth of their connection.
The first Christians were Jews. I wrote about this last week, but it bears repeating, that the first Christians were in fact Jews that followed Jesus, who is Jewish.
And yet no group of people in the history of the world have been as destructive to Jews as Christians have. There’s no escaping this fact. Christians have othered and marginalized and oppressed and murdered Jews on a level that would horrify the Pharoah of Exodus – and we’ve done it in Jesus’ name.
