3.7.21 National Cathedral Sermon by Amy-Jill Levine

“Christian teaching need not maligned Jewish tradition in order to make Jesus look good. I'm a Jew. I don't worship Jesus as lord and savior, but I have spent my life studying him and being inspired by him and learning from him."
We were thrilled to welcome Dr. Amy-Jill Levine as our preacher yesterday. Her sermon encouraged us to question our views of the lectionary and what role the New Testament plays in our understanding of Judaism.

[@carolannchidlaw3547]

Marvelous! Thoughtful, educated words for a thoughtless, less-educated generation. I am humbled and delighted.

[@joycetracy8263]

Thank you Dr. Levine. May we be blessed as we work to bring the gospel of 💘 LOVE to all living things.

[@hellegylling2514]

Oh my goodness, AJ! What an excellent speaker she is and I love how she is so well versed in both the New Testament and the Old Testament. She has changed my mind about so many things, including my view of the Old Testament and Judaism. Thank you so much!

[@jrutt2675]

Where do you get that it is a Jewish Bible? Abraham was not Jewish, neither was Issac or Jacob. The modern Christian Bible is a Jewish interpretation, but the Bible itself is not Jewish at all!

[@jaywilliams1172]

What a brilliant and insightful sermon! Thanks so much.

[@LaurenRoseEveningSong]

Dr. Levine, thank you for your clarity.

[@deedavisson5842]

Brilliant and hopeful, thank you.

[@thomasobrien2494]

Brilliant and comprehensive. A gift to all of us.

[@joannesanders6240]

An incredibly thoughtful and crucial sermon for our time. Amy-Jill Levine speaks such truth in love. Deeply grateful for her voice, scholarship and writing. Let's trust that others will follow her lead and the EDOW in regard to anti-semitic texts.

[@johnrumple8354]

These texts are not anti-Semitic. That perspective forces Scripture through the lens of contemporary culture. These texts are ani-Judaic, written by Christian Jews criticizing their own people's rejection of Jesus. They are not anti-Semitic in the way we use that term is used and understood in our day. Biblical texts have been used in ways that abuse others (and we need to listen to those who have been textually abused) - better biblical scholarship is needed here, not jettisoning our Scripture. Her premise these texts are anti-Semitic is inaccurate. The Resolution of the Diocese of Washington is based on poor Scriptural analysis.

[@karendinkins2469]

@@johnrumple8354 Her point was not that the scriptures are fundamentally anti-semitic, but that the Church should revisit the Lectionary, testing to be sure that Scripture pairings do not lend themselves to anti-Semitic interpretations. She didn’t choose the topic; she was invited by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington to speak about anti-Semitism in the Lectionary.

[@lila2028]

@@johnrumple8354 If you go to the Washington National Cathedral YouTuBe channel today, you will see all comments not in agreement with Dr.Levine's take on our lectionary as promulgating anti-semitism have been removed. At least from what I can access. This was a gospel warning us against human greed, not a warning against Jews. Jesus was a Jew. He attended Jewish temple.What was he supposed to do? Decry greed in the house of the lord at a Shinto shrine,or a Buddhist one?

[@adammcguk]

Amen to every word.

[@royjohnson8526]

This woman is Phenomenal.

[@sisterpamop]

Shedding light on scripture through a Jewish eye reveals a depth of wisdom that would otherwise have remained hidden to many Christians.

[@carlataylor7315]

Thank you, Dr. Levine! I watched this last Sunday when I could not attend my church (when it popped up after my church's video) and again this Sunday as it was so enlightening. I think it was an article of yours I had read in The Christian Century(?) that asked Christian pastors to imagine a little Jewish girl sitting down front during their sermons. Ever since, I have felt uncomfortable concerning some of the lectionary.

[@gabydolphin2583]

Whoa..very enlightening, deepening. Grateful.

[@rmarksftc]

I'm grateful for Dr. Levine's shout out to the EDOW resolution calling for changes to our Holy Week readings to eliminate their anti-semitism.

[@REVLRO]

Fabulous! Thank you Dr. Levine!

[@bradyyoung4236]

loved this so much! i’m not proud to admit this is the first i’ve heard of harmful lectionaries. does anyone have one they’d recommend?

[@JohnSmith-zq9mo]

What is the relevance of what the rabbis wrote about the eye-for-an-eye commandment? For one thing, their interpretation dates from several hundred years after Jesus, for another Rabbinic Judaism is the what one stream of Judaism developed into. How did the other stream likes the Sadduccees interpret it?

[@lila2028]

I grew up in Episcopalian, and am a devout Episcopalian, and attend this Church online because there is no Episcopalian Church in the town in which I now live. But every Sunday now when I attend church, I feel as though I am being castigated for racist, anti-Semitic beliefs and behavior. I am being made to feel as though there is something wrong with me. It has, overtime, turned into a service that castigates me instead of uplifts me. I want to continue to attend the Washington Cathedral online, but after last week's started looking around for another Church online to worship at. This makes me very sad.

[@Historian212]

No one can be made to feel anything. You feel that way because there's something deeply amiss with the liturgy, and with what the church taught about the Jewish people for many centuries (and with what the RC church taught for centuries prior to that). I'm sure it's an uncomfortable feeling. But the answer is not to be found by running to another church that might make you feel better. Jesus was not about making people comfortable; he was about confronting wrongs and righting them; about speaking unflinchingly to the powerful in truth and fierce love. Don't hide from this; walk in Jesus' footsteps, instead.

[@KCBob]

Makes me sad too Lila. Dr AJ Levine approaches the scriptures as a teacher who thinks of Jesus as a great human rabbi instead of a divine one. Blessings to you as you search out a new venue of worship. Suggest you begin with Brian Zahnd's message 'Beauty will Saves the World'.

[@lila2028]

@@Historian212 "You feel that way because there's something deeply amiss with the liturgy" Not so at all. But because "Jesus was not about making people comfortable; he was about confronting wrongs and righting them". and that is exactly what Jesus did in the temple.", the passage that the guest lecturer wanted eliminated.

[@lila2028]

@@KCBob Beauty saves the world? I agree! That's why I've run a lingerie business for 36 years!

[@DEEJAYNH10]

When u can do this . I wonder how ppl still hold the idea of the Gospel , when ppl change passages so they wont be called anti-semitic , hiding the truth ,as you call it , with a tissue full of holes.

[@Melons-vg8dq]

Don't take everything so personally. A small cadre of Jews turned Jesus in to the Romans. It's history. No guilt by very distant association is implied.

[@lila2028]

Agreed!

[@Historian212]

It's so easy to wipe out 2000 years of persecution by saying, "Don't take everything so personally," isn't it? You're talking at an internationally recognized scholar and teacher, not some mook in a coffee shop. And fyi, the gospel accounts are not "history." Historians don't take for granted that anything happened as written without supporting documentation. The rest is referred to as "reportedly" and "according to this text," etc. Most historians think there was someone, perhaps named Jesus, upon whom the gospel accounts are based. But that's a matter of opinion (scholars debate it). There is no *proof.* The Bible is not a newspaper and shouldn't be read like one. So no, it's not history. Likewise, the statement that "No guilt by very distant association is implied" reflects your assumptions, or perhaps what you have been taught, not the intentions of the original author(s), who may very well have intended to implicate all Jewish people. The Gospel of John is generally dated by scholars to have been composed around a century after the events it describes. By that time, the Roman Empire had destroyed most of Jerusalem and killed thousands of Jews and others who lived in the area. The future of what would become Christianity and Judaism were up in the air, and disagreements among groups were extremely heated. Nasty. There's plenty of reason to believe that the writer(s) absolutely intended to slur the Jewish people, as slurs flew back and forth amongst them -- even between different Christian groups that argued with one another, and different surviving Jewish groups.

[@lila2028]

I wholeheartedly agree with you. There is an infamous Jewish prayer thanking God "that I was not born a woman." You do not find scholars demanding this be removed from their prayer book. In fact, were non-Jews to do this they would be accused of anti-Semitism.

[@lila2028]

The Gospel is not anti-semitic. Her interpretation of it was. I always took that passage to be about human greed masquerading in the name of God. A modern day example might be televangelists who line their pockets at the expense of vulnerable viewers. Are we to be ashamed a passage in the New Testament? Are we to change the Gospel?

[@msambly5310]

@Lila, She is talking about changing/updating the books and writings that the clergy and congregations follow - that help them to "understand" the Gospel writings. That it is those writings that need to be changed. Her example of Jesus and the Money lenders..."our" understanding of that story (think Jesus Christ Superstar) ...All kinds of vices are shown, it's a den of sin...and the Gospel doesn't say those activities happened.

[@nolanmcbride5653]

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine is a Jewish New Testament scholar. She never said the Gospel is anti-Semitic. She is not saying we should be ashamed of passages from the New Testament or change the Gospel. As I understood her sermon, she wasn’t even saying we shouldn’t read this Gospel passage in church. What she is saying needs changed is the way these passages are placed together in the lectionary which can (presumably unintentionally) reinforce a bias against Judaism, and Biblical commentaries that inaccurately interpret this scripture’s context. I don’t see why either of those should be problems for Christians

[@ruthgretzinger9413]

She didn't say the gospels were antisemitic. She said some verses could be misinterpreted and used by people to JUSTIFY antisemitism, and that some needed a "warning label" or an explanation.

[@truthgardener9983]

I wonder how Dr Levine would explain 1 Corth 15:1-4. May she come to faith in Jesus for that. Even Isaiah 53 talks about these matters.

[@theodore8178]

I'm pretty sure there is not a "national cathedral" in Washington DC. Whatever this is it is not a church let alone the seat of a bishop.

[@Historian212]

Then you would be mistaken. The Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral in the world. It is the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington in Washington, D.C. You can find it at cathedral.org.

[@bradyyoung4236]

loved this so much! i’m not proud to admit this is the first i’ve heard of harmful lectionaries. does anyone have one they’d recommend?