Preaching Goes Viral

"Back to Normal"

Blame and Scapegoating

Flag: Resize your highlight, please

Unfortunately for the entire world, John didn't stop there. He didn't stop with just a fear. He had to add these three extra words. These, this preposition phrase that has been the justification for more than a few atrocities committed over the centuries. He didn't stop at them being stuck in their house out of fear. He added these three extra words out of fear, quote of the Jews. When we're scared, we say things we don't mean we're not always as thoughtful with our words as we could be. We look for people to blame. Those three words of course have been used to justify, not just mistreatment and maltreatment, but at least one attempted genocide. They are not good words. And if I had my druthers, I would take them out altogether. Not just because they're awful. And to be clear, they are, but because they do not communicate what John was actually trying to say, we seem to forget that John was writing to a audience who was mostly Jews, that he was writing about a people who were mostly Jews. He was writing about a savior who was Jewish to you hear Jesus himself was a Jew. In other words, he wasn't condemning an entire religion or an entire culture. He was condemning particular leaders in that moment, both in his day and in the day of Christ who were so threatened by Jesus, that they had him killed.

2022-12-16

h1427

Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady