|
14 November 2009
Reverend Mark
Glenn In a recent debate
with some fellow “Christians” involving the usual
business about how it is our sacred duty and privilege
to support and protect the Jews by forking over every
collective drop of our life, liberty and pursuit of
happiness, the assertion was made that Christians have
no business entertaining any ideas contrary to the
Jews. Let us ponder then the
writings of one man considered to be one of the
greatest minds of the Christian Church, St. John
Chrysostom and what he had to say about the very same
Chosenites who today are working feverishly to douse
the world in violence, bloodshed and suffering. “The Jews are more
savage than any highwaymen and do greater harm to
those who have fallen among them. They do not simply
strip off their victim’s clothes nor inflict wounds on
his body as did those robbers on the road to Jericho.
Rather, the Jews mortally hurt their victim’s soul,
inflicting ten thousand wounds, and leave it lying in
a pit of ungodliness… Do you not hear
what God said to Jeremiah about the Jews? ‘Do not
intercede for these people, because even if Moses and
Samuel shall stand before my face I will not listen to
them.’ That is how far some sins go beyond forgiveness
and how incapable of defense they are… Tell me this. When
you stand indicted before God’s tribunal, what reason
will you give for considering the Jews’ witchcraft
more worthy than what Christ has said? If the devil is
a murderer, as Our Lord said over and over, it is
clear that the demons who serve him are murderers,
too. What need is there for me to say this? Are you
not afraid of God? Then, at least stand in some awe
and fear of the Jews. Do you not realize how
they laugh at you, scoff at you, jeer at you, dishonor
you, and reproach you? Even if they do not do it
openly, do you not understand that they are doing this
deep down in their hearts?” Tell me this. Do
you stray outside the flock and have you no fear of
the lion that prowls about outside the fold? “For your
enemy, like a lion, goes about seeking whom he may
seize.” Here you see a shepherd’s wisdom. He does not
let the lion in among the sheep for fear the lion may
terrify the flock. Nor does he drive the lion away
from outside the fold. Why? So that he may gather all
the sheep together inside the fold, because they are
afraid of the wild beast outside. Do you have no
reverence and respect for your father? Then fear your
foe. If you separate yourself from the flock, your
enemy will surely catch you. Do you think the
Jews are wiser than the Fathers who came from
everywhere in the world? The Jews are the
most miserable and wretched of all men, and therefore
we must make secure the flock of Christ. As long as no
wild beast disturbs the flock, shepherds, as they
stretch out under an oak or pine tree and play their
flutes, let their sheep go off to graze with full
freedom. But when the shepherds feel that the wolves
will raid, they are quick to throw down the flute and
pick up their slingshots; they cast aside the pipe of
reeds and arm themselves with clubs and stones. They
take their stand in front of the flock, raise a loud
and piercing shout, and oftentimes the sound of their
shout drives the wolf away before he strikes. I too in
the past frolicked about in explicating the
Scriptures, as if I were sporting in some meadow; I
took no part in polemics because there was no one
causing me concern. But today the Jews, who are more
dangerous than any wolves, are bent on surrounding my
sheep; so I must spar with them and fight with them so
that no sheep of mine may fall victim to those wolves. The difference
between the Jews and us is not a small one, is it? Is
the dispute between us over ordinary, everyday
matters? Why are you mixing what cannot be mixed? They
crucified the Christ whom you adore as God. Do you see
how great the difference is? How is it, then, that you
keep running to those who slew Christ when you say
that you worship him whom they crucified? You do not
think that I am the one who brings up the law on which
these charges are based, nor that I make up the form
which the accusation takes? Does not Scripture treat
the Jews in this way? Isaiah called the
Jews dogs and Jeremiah called them mare-mad horses.
This was not because they suddenly changed natures
with those beasts but because they pursued the lustful
habits of those animals…The martyrs–having poured out
their own blood for him whom the Jews had slain–have a
special hatred for the Jews since the Jews crucified
Him for whom they have a special love. It was the Jews
who said: “His blood be on us and on our children”, so
the martyrs would be glad to hear this discourse. Meanwhile, I ask
you to rescue your brothers, to set them free from
their error and bring them back to the truth. What I
said was not for your sakes but for the sake of those
who are sick. I want them to free themselves from
their wicked association with the Jews. I want them to
show themselves sincere and genuine Christians.
I want them to shun the evil gatherings of the
Jews and their synagogues, both in the city and in the
suburbs, because these are robbers’ dens and dwellings
of demons… So, then, do not
neglect the salvation of those lost brothers. Be
meddlesome, be busybodies, but bring the sick ones to
Christ. In this way, we shall receive a far greater
reward for our good deeds both in the present life and
in the life to come. And we shall receive it by the
grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom and with whom be glory to the Father
together with the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, now
and forever, world without end. Amen. |