On the Jewish People and the Death of Jesus Christ

The death of Jesus Christ is a highly sensitive topic for the Jewish people. Let me be explicit and direct: The Jews as a people, either living at the time of Christ or now, do not bear responsibility for the death of Jesus.

Many Jews over the centuries have suffered persecution by so-called Christians who labeled them “Christ killers.” This has historically been more common in Western Europe than in traditionally Orthodox countries, but the Christian East has not been immune to this attitude, which all Christians should reject. The Church ultimately held Pontius Pilate responsible for the death of Christ, as indeed he was. We say in the Nicene Creed that Jesus was “crucified under Pontius Pilate.” No mention is made of any Jewish participation. Anti-Semitism, hatred toward Jews as a group, persecution of Jews, or indeed the hatred or persecution of any group of people is a sin that can never be excused, justified, or condoned.

While I recognize and respect Jewish sensitivity on this issue, the opposite is equally dishonest and inaccurate. We cannot pretend that no Jews were involved in the condemnation and death of Jesus. Merely explaining the historical involvement of a small number of Jews in the death of Jesus does not constitute either hatred or anti-Semitism. References in this book to various Jewish leaders and their involvement in the death of Christ are not intended and should not be interpreted as an indictment of all Jews, either then or now.

Jesus was not the first Christian. He was Jewish and participated fully in Jewish life. It goes without saying that all the first followers of Christ were devout Jews as well, including his mother, all the apostles, and tens of thousands of Jews who followed him and believed him to be the One whom the prophets had foretold. Thousands were baptized and joined the infant Church in Jerusalem after Pentecost. They did not join Christianity, since it did not exist as a separate religion for decades.1 The Church was a Jewish movement rooted in Jerusalem and called the Way (Acts 9:2). In other parts of the Roman Empire, thousands more Jews also accepted the preaching of the apostles because the gospel message was spread initially in the synagogues.

During the second century, around ad 150, a Christian presbyter named Marcion argued that the Church should reject everything Jewish, including the Jewish Scriptures. But it was Marcion and his ideas that the Church rejected. To this day we firmly embrace our rich Jewish heritage and cannot imagine our services without the writings of the prophets, the psalms, and Hebrew words such as amen and alleluia. We use countless psalms in our worship services, and we treasure the Old Testament books as Scripture. We preserve the Jewish roots of our faith in countless practices that Orthodox Christianity still observes in unbroken continuation from the early Church. Our liturgical connections to the Jewish rituals and services are strikingly obvious to any Orthodox Christian who has been to a synagogue service or to any Jew who visits an Orthodox church.

It was not easy to be a Jewish believer in Jesus during the first century, just as it is not easy today. We owe much to our Jewish ancestors in the faith who established the first churches in countless cities and towns in the Roman Empire. The Church of Greece has as its founder a Jewish Christian: St. Paul. The Church has never forgotten this, and Orthodox priests, bishops, and lay people saved many thousands of Jews from Hitler’s concentration camps during World War II—by hiding them, by refusing to identify them to the Germans, by producing false baptismal certificates for them, and by other measures.

Saint Paul wondered why more Jews did not accept Jesus as the Christ. He concluded that this was part of God’s plan for the salvation of the “Greeks,” the word the New Testament uses to refer to all non-Jews. Disbelief on the part of most of the Jews resulted in Gentiles joining the Church, which was foretold by the prophets. But Paul warned the Gentile Christians not to think of themselves as superior to Jewish Christians. He also warned the Jewish Christians not to despise the “Greek” Christians, who were like a wild olive tree that had been “grafted on” to the cultivated olive tree of Israel, meaning the Church (Rom. 9—11).

The challenges faced by first-century Jewish believers in Jesus still exist for Jewish Christians among us now. The apostles were labeled as blasphemers; today, Jews who convert to the Christian faith are not only considered blasphemers but are reviled as traitors to their own people. They often risk alienating their entire family when they confess faith in Christ. It was no different when the Church first began. For a Jew to accept Jesus as the Messiah demands a great deal of courage, sacrifice, and faith, far more than most of us will ever realize.

Jesus the Messiah came for the Jewish people first of all, and historically his ministry was directed exclusively toward Jews. He loved them, and they loved him. The tragic legacy of anti-Semitism, vile rhetoric, and harassment of Jews by some Christians is responsible for the sad reality that the name of our Savior, who loved his people and died for them, is now associated with hatred and persecution. Many Jews refuse even to pronounce the name of Jesus, nor do they want to hear it spoken. The Talmud refers to Jesus as “Yeshu,” an intentional corruption of his Jewish name (Yeshua),2 and describes Jesus in hell in the worst and most shameful conditions. This is the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism: that even the name of our Lord is rejected—not so much because of what he himself said or did, but because the Jewish people were persecuted in his name.

Some Jews were responsible for rejecting and crucifying Jesus, and they will be judged by God for their involvement. That is neither our business nor our concern. Likewise, Christians who have participated in shaming, condemning, or harassing Jews for the death of Jesus Christ will certainly be judged for their actions. We do not stand as judges of anyone, in the past or today. God alone knows the heart, and he alone is Judge. Christ came into this world as “the true light that enlightens” every human being (John 1:9). Bringing the light of Christ to all means bringing the love of Christ to all. Both are absolutely incompatible with hatred and anti-Semitism, bigotry, or prejudice of any kind.

But fear of anti-Semitism has compelled most Jews to attempt to distance themselves from the death of Jesus. They have approached the problem by marshaling a variety of defenses. Some point to the fact that Jesus forgave those who executed him, and Christians should follow suit. Others say that if Christians believe the crucifixion of Jesus brought salvation, they should thank the Jews. Some say that Jesus broke the Law, was a blasphemer and a deceiver, and got what he deserved. Many Jews simply deny any Jewish involvement, placing responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Romans alone, which is neither factually true nor intellectually honest. It is patently unfair and inaccurate to hold all Jews responsible for the death of Jesus, but we must also be honest and acknowledge that a small group of Jewish leaders was responsible for orchestrating his death.

Jeremy Cohen provides a balanced assessment of various arguments Jews have employed to defend themselves against anti-Semitic rhetoric concerning the crucifixion. He also notes that one argument never arises: no Jew claims that the events of Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion never occurred. “Jews of late antiquity, the Middle Ages and modern times, have rarely discredited the essential plotline of the Gospels’ passion narrative, even as they have rejected the Christian understanding and interpretation of that narrative,”3 Cohen writes. He observes that the Passion narrative has evoked “ambivalent responses” on the part of Jews throughout the ages and even remarks that some Jews today occasionally reclaim Jesus and parts of his message.

The facts concerning the death of Jesus are incontrovertible. The purpose of this book is not to fix blame but simply to examine the events and circumstances in their historical context and ponder the spiritual lessons of the crucifixion. Specific factors motivated the Jewish leaders of Christ’s time to take the actions they did. The story of Christ’s Passion is preserved in the Gospels not in order to condemn the Jews—those living then, now, or during any historical period. “Whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4), and “all scripture is profitable,” wrote St. Paul (2 Tim. 3:16). These stories are written for us, that we may use them to learn, to understand, to be inspired, and to improve ourselves spiritually.

The faith and sacrifice of Jewish believers, including but not limited to the apostles, established churches that became the means of salvation, first for Jewish believers and then for Gentiles as well. Everyone in the world at that time, other than the Jews, worshipped idols. This includes the ancestors of all of us who are not of Jewish descent.

Greeks around the world are proud of their Greek heritage, and rightly so. But in spite of their intelligence, education, and sophistication, the ancient Greeks worshipped idols, and their gods were corrupt, flawed, and extremely immoral—certainly not examples of holiness and virtue! The ancient Greeks gave us many wonderful things—science, mathematics, literature, history, art, theatre, and philosophy. But they did not give us the gospel or the truth about the One True God. Above all, they did not give us the Christ. As the Lord himself said, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Amin! Glory to God.

1 Eventually, around AD 85, the Jews who rejected Jesus excommunicated the Jewish- Christian believers, creating a clear separation between Judaism and Christianity.

2 Yeshu is an acronym for the words “May his name and memory be obliterated.”

3 Jeremy Cohen, “On Pesach and Pascha,” 348–49.

Copyright ©2020 by Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing

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