Liturgy News

In Australia and in many other countries there has been an alarming rise in antisemitic behaviour over the last couple of years – nasty slogans and bullying, arson, vandalism and violence. Who are the perpetrators of this antisemitism in our midst? Anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian stances can easily morph into antisemitism, but they are not of themselves discriminatory. Presumably some of this antisemitic rhetoric and action comes from people with a Christian background. For those who celebrate Christian liturgy, this is truly unbelievable.

Jesus was a Jew. We’ve heard this often before, haven’t we? The Virgin Mary and the apostles were Jewish. We see Jesus and his disciples going to the synagogue. Jesus reads the scriptures and teaches there; he heals the sick there. From his earliest days he is found in the Temple in Jerusalem and this becomes the site of many of the incidents in the gospels. The Synoptic gospels present the Last Supper as a Passover meal and, although John has the death of Jesus coincide with the slaughter of the Passover lamb, the Lord’s Supper still has a Passover context.

At first, Christian believers continue to go to both synagogue and Temple for prayer and worship. The landscape changes in the century or more after Jesus’ death. The Romans’ destruction of the Temple in 70 AD was a major disruption. As we see in the gospels, there were different groups within Judaism (Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots…) and soon there were different groups within Christianity too. While some Christians held to their Jewish traditions, the message of Christ is radically opened up to the Gentile population. In the second century, the Jewish and Christian traditions move further apart. Keeping the Sabbath at first coexists with but then gives way to the Sunday observance.

Without the Temple, from the time of the exile (6th century BC) and again after 70 AD, the synagogue became a significant part of Jewish life. This name means ‘gathering place, assembly, congregation, meeting’. It was a place where one could study the scriptures and offer prayer, and these come to be seen as the heart of worship rather than Temple sacrifice. This experience shapes the liturgical life of the early Church.

Christian liturgy has continued to incorporate readings from the Hebrew Scriptures and, indeed, preserves the synagogue pattern of reading and preaching. The psalms remain a key element in Christian prayer, not only in the Liturgy of the Word, but even more so in the Church’s daily prayer. The Christian forms of eucharistic thanksgiving are indebted to the Jewish domestic berakah prayers; to this we add the key idea of anamnesis, that is, the remembrance of God’s saving deeds which become a present reality and which we enter through thanksgiving, praise and supplication. The Jewish tradition of family meals – the weekly Shabbat and the annual Seder – form the context for the Christian Eucharist, at first celebrated during a communal meal in people’s homes. All in all, we Christians stand squarely in the tradition of the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets.

Vatican Council II, just twenty years after the Holocaust, called the Church “God’s farm or field” in which the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the patriarchs and in which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been achieved and will continue to be achieved (LG 6). Paul notes that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable (Rom 11:30).

So the Council affirmed: Since Christians and Jews have such a common spiritual heritage, this sacred council wishes to encourage and further mutual understanding and appreciation. This can be achieved, especially, by way of biblical and theological enquiry and through friendly discussions (NA 4). This document, Nostra Aetate, marks a significant change of direction for the Catholic Church in denouncing any kind of hatred or prejudice against the Jews. As we approach the sixtieth anniversary of its promulgation on 28 October, it is important that we embrace visible gestures of fraternal respect.

Of course, for centuries, the Christian Church was responsible for shocking antisemitism. Jewish people were stereotyped in extremely negative ways, they were severely restricted in community life and were often imprisoned or expelled. This arose from misguided ideas that Jewish people were responsible for the death of Christ and that the people of God of the first covenant were superseded or negated by the Christian Church. All of this is a terrible burden of guilt and shame that we continue to bear and for which we continue to repent.

Recasting the Good Friday prayer for the Jewish people is an example of how we have moved in our attitudes. We once prayed for the “perfidious Jews” that God who showed mercy even to these faithless people in their blindness would now bring them out of darkness. Today our Good Friday prayer acknowledges that they were the first to hear the word of God and that they are the people God first made his own. We ask that together we will grow in love of God and faithfulness to God’s covenant.

My point is that our liturgy in both its texts and structures has very significant Jewish origins and that those who participate in the liturgy ought rejoice in and respect this common ancestry. This has been one of the most important insights of the liturgical movement during the 20th century.

Yes, there was also much that was new and unique in Christian worship. Yes, there are Hellenistic influences which appear soon enough, though these were perhaps not as strong as we thought in the 19th century – patterns of initiation, for example, the symbol of light/dawn, the idea of secrecy which was taken over from the mystery religions or, in due course, the adoption of the Greek (and later Latin) vernacular as the liturgical language.

Yes, it is also true that we cannot reconstruct a clear account of Jewish worship in the first century and it is impossible to be specific in terms of actual textual borrowing. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that when we celebrate the Christian liturgy, we are expressing in our rites a profound solidarity and fellowship with our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is utterly incompatible that we celebrate the liturgy and simultaneously harbour antisemitic sentiments.