Those darn Jews

Yesterday was Good Friday in the christian church, the time when christians commemorate Jesus' execution. Having a somewhat progressive bent, I've come to find good friday a trial of my patience, not because I see no value in the rememberance, but because I can hardly stand the incessant harping on what the day is supposed to mean. A particular version of christianity is so prevalent that most mainline protestants (my people) would literally blink in bewilderment if you suggested that such views are one interpretation, and not The Way It Is.

I was planning on skipping Good Friday services this year, but sadly, I agreed to do the bidding prayers, so I had to go. I didn't preview them before going, (I know, bad Andre), so I got some little surprises. The bidding prayer is a sort of dialogue between the presiding minister and an assistant (me). I would give a little introduction, then the minister would give a sort of followup, then the congregation would say "amen", and then we would all think for a bit. Repeat.

One of my favorite little lines that I ended up reading was to pray for the jewish people, who are great and all, but we really hope they'd come around and accept christ.

Darned Jews, going around being god's chosen people but not accepting god's chosen Messiah. Oh, if only they'd get with the program, the jesus-equals-messiah program.

This is an aspect of christianity I find almost bizarre. Here it is, 2000 years later (give or take) and Christians are still really pissed about this. I mean, I don't know anyone from the time, nor do I know anyone who knew anyone. Yet it is extremely common in the christian realm to evaluate the value of a person's christianity, and too often, humanity, by the extent to which they believe one claim about one person who lived millenia ago is true.

This is not to suggest that one person who lived millenia ago can't be important. Obviously not. But deciding whether someone is "good" or "bad" because of a single factual judgement about said person is really strange. It's like having a group that believes a particular turtle is actually a fish, and you can only be in their group if you agree. Which is only two steps from viewing those who disagree as enemies. You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists, after all.

Which brings us back to those pesky jews. As a service to Judaism the world over, I bring a message to my christian brethren: You are actually jews yourself. Your leader was a jew, all his friends were jews. Every book you've read in your bible was written by jews, and not only that, but by people who, if you asked them, would tell you they were jews. Indeed, they'd find it quite puzzling you thought there was a difference.

Good Friday services really hammer home the atonement concept that Paul gave us, namely that jesus died "for your sins." Leaving aside the theological questions, I find it interesting that we can't just let something be what it is. We have to find a meaning, an explanation. Jesus was a guy who walked around saying we make ourselves unhappy being greedy and mean, and he offered a sort of imaginative alternative where you could be friends with the people you think you hate, but are actually just like you. He said people with power weren't really powerful, because they're just like you, and for that, he was executed. It was not an entirely surprising turn of events.

All in all, it makes me sad. I don't need a meaning to understand that. It makes me sad, because it still happens. People who say the sort of things jesus said get in trouble for it all the time. Some of them get killed. A lot are thought of as crazy. "Can't change the world," people will tell you. It's just really, really sad.

Of course, easter is coming, the great saving grace of the faith. It's in our nature to take something sad and convert it into something else, be it the atonement of mankind, or an event that, in our modern enlightenment, has no meaning whatsoever. But the claim of christianity is that you can get past all that crap, all the bullshit that people attach to pain, and cross over into something better. It's a beautiful message. I just wish christians would take their own good advice.