As twenty-first century Christians, we perhaps at times forget that Christianity evolved from the ancient religion of Judaism. The very first Christians were Jews. Jesus himself was a Jew. The Old Testament as we know it, was in fact the Hebrew Bible. These first Christians continued to meet in the synagogues each week with their fellow Jews, where they listened to the Hebrew Scriptures being read. It was only towards the end of the first century of the Common Era (CE) that Jewish Christians began to be denied entry to the synagogues as tensions increased between them and the traditional followers of Judaism regarding the claim that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and Son of God.
When Christians, both Jewish and Gentile, first began to meet in ‘home churches’, there were no “Christian Scriptures” to read. We need to remember that the earliest Christian writings were the letters of Paul, which appeared between 20 to 30 years after the death of Jesus, depending on when each individual letter was written. The first gospel, which was the Gospel of Mark, wasn’t written until somewhere around 65-70CE, some 35 to 40 years following the death of Jesus. The gospels of Matthew and Luke were probably written 20 to 25 years after Mark, and the Gospel of John, the last of the gospels, was more than likely written somewhere during the tenth decade CE.
So before any “Christian Scriptures” were available to them, the first Christians would have listened to oral accounts of stories regarding Jesus and his ministry, as well as to readings of the Hebrew Scriptures and how Jesus was the fulfilment of these Scriptures.
I noted in last week’s blog, that at the time the Gospel of John was written, relationships between Jewish Christians and the Jews who practiced Judaism had become so strained that many Jewish Christians were being expelled from the synagogues. I also mentioned that the author suggests Jesus has replaced the nation of Israel as the means by which people come to God. We see that again in the gospel reading for Sunday 5 May (the Sixth Sunday of Easter) which is John 15:9–17.
We know from the Old Testament that the nation of Israel were God’s ‘chosen people,’ see the following verse from the Book of Deuteronomy: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” (Deuteronomy 7:6 NRSV) Now read the words that the author of John’s Gospel attributes to Jesus: “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” (John 15:16 NRSV)
Once again, the author is suggesting that Jesus is God. Just as God chose the people of Israel in the Old Testament to be His people, now Jesus has chosen his disciples and has appointed them to spread the good news of the kingdom of God. And whereas it was the National of Israel that was to be “a light to the nations” that would draw people to relationship with God, that role has now been assumed by Jesus.
The Lord be with you.
