New Testament BIBLE STORY #31

New Testament BIBLE STORY

#31

Especially written for children

Chapter Forty:

Jesus on Trial - part two

JESUS BEFORE PILATE

     And they took Jesus from the palace of Caiaphas the High

Priest to the palace (called "praetorium" in John's Gospel) that

Herod the Great built for himself, and which became the palace

that the governor of Judea resided in when on duty in the Holy

Land. The governor at this time in history, over the area, was

Pilate, who had risen in the ranks of the Roman Empire, and for

his faithful dedication to the world power of Rome, was appointed

governor of Judea by Tiberius in 26 A.D. The governor of Judea

usually resided in Caesarea, but Pilate moved his headquarters

and army to Jerusalem. He was there quite often, and especially

it was the custom for the governor of Judea to be at Jerusalem,

when the feasts of the Jews were being celebrated, to make sure

peace and order was preserved.

     It was very early in the morning of the 14th day of the

first month, which corresponds to our March/April. They brought

Jesus before Pilate. The Jews themselves would not enter the

palace of a Gentile, or anyone they considered a Roman Gentile,

especially just hours before they would partake of the Passover

which they held, by traditions from the Pharisees, on the 15th of

the first month, which was actually the first day of the seven

day feast of Unleavened Bread. For them to have entered this

palace would have been a religious "defilement" and would have

kept them from the Passover they were to observe in about twelve

hours.

     It was Pilate who first came out to them, probably not

pleased at all that Jews had got him up so early in the morning,

concerning what he would have thought as "their religious

problems."

     "You have brought this man before me, for what reason? 

What is he accused of? Pilate said to the Jews.

     They answered, "If this man was not an evil doer, we would

not have brought him to you."

     "Why don't you take him yourself and judge him by your laws

of Moses?" returned Pilate in a straight crisp tone of voice.

     The Jews replied, "It is not lawful under Roman law for us

to put a man to death."

     The Jews made various accusation against Jesus, and Pilate

somewhat listened to them. Jesus did not try to defend Himself

against their accusing vicious remarks. After a while Pilate told

the Jews to be quiet, and turning to Jesus said, "Do you not hear

how many things they testify against you? Are you not going to

defend yourself and answer them?"

     But Jesus made no attempt to answer the Jewish Sanhedrin

members. And Pilate was greatly impressed, and was amazed at

Jesus' cool composure, under the onslaught of Jewish accusations.

     The Jews then said to Pilate, "We found this man perverting

our nation, and forbidding us to give taxes to Caesar, and saying

that he himself is a king." Now Pilate pricked up his ears and

stood tall, when this was said about the man they had brought

before him. Pilate would now want to speak in a private manner 

to the man called Jesus. He entered the palace and called to have

Jesus come before him, and then asked this question to Christ,

"Are you indeed the King of the Jews? Do you claim to be a KING?"

     Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did

others, like those Jews outside, say this about me, and put this

idea in your mind? 

     Pilate replied, "Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief

priests have handed you over to me as a criminal; what have you

done?"

     Jesus replied, "My Kingdom is not of this age and time, you

have nothing to fear. If my Kingdom was of this age and time,

then would my servants fight, that I would not be handed over 

to the Jews so they could have me put to death. My Kingdom and

Kingship is not of this world and age."

     "So you are a King then?" Pilate said to Jesus.

     "You have said it, that I am a King," Jesus said, "For this

reason I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to

bear witness to the TRUTH. Every one who is of the truth hears my

voice," 

     Pilate looked at Jesus in wonderment, and said, "Well, what

indeed is truth?"

     The governor Pilate, spent some years in the British Isles

under the schooling of the famous Druids, who were quite well

respected by Rome. The Druids were well known for asking the

question "What is truth?" They would spend much time in debating

that question. So when Jesus said He had come to bear witness to

the truth, it was very natural for Pilate to have replied with

"What is truth?"

     We know from Jesus' own words as He prayed to the Father

earlier that night, that truth is the WORD of God. Jesus had

said, "Your word is truth" (John 17: 17).

     Pilate was very impressed and somewhat awe struck by this

man called Jesus. He walked back outside to the chief priests and

the other Jews, and said, "I find no fault in this man!"

     That is NOT what the Jews wanted to hear. Those were the

last words they wanted Pilate to say. And so they were more

urgent and pressing in their words to Pilate, saying such things

as, "This Jesus, stirs up the people, teaching throughout all of

Judea, from Galilee even to this city."

     When Pilate heard the word "Galilee" he asked if Jesus was

from Galilee. And on hearing that He belonged to the jurisdiction

of Herod, he immediately saw a way out from the problem before

him, a way out so he thought. He would send Jesus over to Herod,

who just happened to be in Jerusalem at this time (Mat.27: 2,

11-14; Mark 15: 1-5; Luke 23: 1-5; John 18: 28-38).

JESUS BEFORE HEROD

     Herod was delighted to meet Jesus, for he had heard about

Him for a long time, and was hoping to see some kind of miracle

performed by Jesus. Herod questioned Him at some length, but

Jesus made no answer, which then upset Herod, for the chief

priests and scribes and others from the Sanhedrin stood by,

vehemently accusing Him. Herod was displeased with the whole

scene, but especially with Jesus, after waiting for so long

a time to meet Him. 

     Herod and his soldiers finally treated Jesus with contempt

and mocking laughter, then, putting on Him some very expensive

apparel (mocking Him as a King) they sent Him back to Pilate.

     Herod and Pilate that day became very good friends, whereas

before that day they were at enmity and had disdain for each

other (Luke 23: 6-12).

JUDAS HANGS HIMSELF

     Judas saw all that was going on, first with Pilate, then

with Herod, and now back with Pilate. Deep remorse and sorrow

filled his heart. Satan had by this time left him. He brought

back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the

elders, saying to them, "I have sinned in betraying innocent

blood." Things just did not go the way Judas expected. Jesus was

not defending Himself or using His mighty power to crush His

enemies. 

     The chief priests and elders said to Judas, when he returned

the money and declared Jesus to be innocent, "What do we care

about what you say. See if you can do anything about it now! It's

too late!"

     And so throwing down the pieces of silver Judas departed

from the Temple, and straight away went and committed suicide 

by hanging himself.

     The chief priests and elders now had the thirty pieces of

silver. What would they do with them was the big question. 

One of them said, "It is not within our law to put this money into 

the Temple treasury, since it is now 'blood money'." They sat with

each other to figure what to do. They decided to use the money to

buy a no good piece of land called "the potters field" in which

strangers were buried, people who no one knew where they were

from, or who were their relatives. Somewhat like what we today

call "homeless" or "street" people. That piece of land then

became known as "The field of blood." All this was done that the

words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah might be fulfilled, saying,

"And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on

whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they

gave them for the potter's filed, as the Lord directed me."

     Jeremiah never wrote down those words. They are not

contained in the Old Testament book called Jeremiah. They are

words that Jeremiah must have said at one time, and others took

note of them and one way or another had preserved them and

handed them down from generation to generation (Mat.27: 3-10).

BACK BEFORE PILATE

     Jesus is now back before Pilate at the palace built by Herod

the Great. Jesus is inside being questioned again by Pilate. The

Jews are outside, not going in lest they be "religiously" defiled

(entering the palace of a Gentile) and would not be able to

observe the Passover which they kept on the 15th day of this

first month.

     Pilate goes out to the Jews, and says to them, "You brought

me this man as one who was perverting the people; and after

examining him, I find this man not guilty of any of your charges

against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to me. There

is nothing done by this man that is worthy of death. There is no

crime done by this Jesus. I will chastise him some, and then

release him."

     The Jewish leaders, now supported by many people who had

become disgruntled and impatient with Jesus (because He had not

brought them together and used His mighty power to overthrow the

Roman armies), immediately, upon hearing Pilate's words, began to

shout and cry out at the top of their voices, that they wanted

Jesus condemned to death.

     Pilate was shocked at their reaction, was speechless for a

moment, then an idea flashed into his mind, that he hoped would

spare the innocent Jesus. It was the custom at Passover time that

the governor release a prisoner, one of their own choosing. In

prison at this time was a notorious fellow by the name of

Barabbas. He had killed people in an insurrection or uprising

against Rome. He was also a robber of some fame.

     "Whom do you want me to release for you? Shall it be

Barabbas or shall it be Jesus who is called the Christ?" Pilate

called out to the Jews.

     Now he knew very well that they had delivered Jesus up to

himself because they were envious of Him. Then, besides that,

while he had been sitting on the judgment seat, questioning

Jesus, his wife had sent word to him, saying, "Have nothing to do

with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today

in a dream."

     The chief priests and elders had already persuaded the

people to demand that Jesus be destroyed and Barabbas released.

They knew that Pilate might resort to this tactic, so they were

prepared for it.  Pilate once more shouted out to them, "Which of

the two do you want me to release to you." He himself was hoping

they would say it was Jesus they wanted to have released.

     But the crowd shouted back, "Release to us Barabbas!"

     Pilate then said to them, "Well, what shall I then do with

Jesus who is called the Christ?"

     All with one voice loudly proclaimed, "Let him be

crucified!"

     Pilate could not believe what he had heard, "Why crucify

him, what evil has he done? I have found nothing in him worthy of

death,"  he replied to the crowd.

     The crowd ignored his question and shout even more loudly,

"Let him be crucified!"

     

     When Pilate saw that he was gathering no ground, but rather

that a riot could well break out, he took a water bowl and washed

his hands before them all, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of

this man; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered,

"His blood be on us and on our children." (Mat.27: 15-26; Mark

15: 6-15; Luke 23: 13-25; John 18: 38-40).

     And so it was that Barabbas was released to the Jews, while

Jesus was handed over to them, to be crucified. And Jesus' blood

was indeed upon them and their children. That generation with

their children, did not repent as a whole from the sin they

committed, and their attitude led them into huge troubles with

the Roman authorities over the next 40 years. It finally

culminated in the Roman general Titus bringing his armies against

Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and destroying most of the city, and the

people therein.

CONCLUSION OF JESUS' TRIAL

     Pilate told his soldiers to take Jesus into the palace. He

then called for all the whole battalion of soldiers  to come and

be present while Jesus would be "scourged." The scourging that

Roman soldiers did was often VERY brutal, so brutal at times that

many people did not live passed being scourged. They used a whip

that had little bones attached to the long thong strips of the whip. 

These little sharp bones would tear the skin apart on the

back and around the sides of the person being scourged. It was

most brutal a whipping, was the Roman scourging, and there was 

no limit as to how many whip lashes could be inflicted.

     Jesus was of magnificent bodily health and strength, and He

did live through the scourging, but much skin and blood was lost

from His back and sides. The soldiers were not finished with Him

yet. They stripped Him of what clothes He had and put on Him a

purple cloak and then a crown of plaited thorns was placed on His

head. They put a reed in His right hand. Then they began to

salute Him, some kneeling before Him in mockery, and saying,

"Hail, King of the Jews!"

     Some took turns beating on His head with a reed. The sharp

needles of the crown of thorns were now being hammered into

Jesus' scull. The pain...well you can imagine if you ever have

had a thorn needle stuck in your hand.

     The soldiers also spat upon Jesus and hit Him with their

fists as they continued to mock Him for quite some time. 

     Pilate took Jesus back out to the railing mob of Jews

outside the palace. "Look, I am bring Him out to you so you 

can know that I find no fault or crime in this man." 

     Jesus stood there wearing the crown of thorns smashed into

His head and the purple cloak. Pilate again said, "Here is the

man." When the chief priests and the elders and those of the

Sanhedrin, saw Jesus, they cried out with frenzied voices,

"Crucify him, crucify him!"

     Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him;

for I cannot find any fault or crime in this man."

     The religious leaders shouted back, "We have a law, and by

that law he should die, because he has made himself the Son of

God."

     When Pilate heard those words he was even more afraid. He

hurried Jesus back into the palace again and said to Him, "Where

are you from?" But Jesus did not answer. Pilate therefore said,

"So you will not speak to me. Do you not know that I have power

to release you, and power to crucify you?" Jesus then answered,

"You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you

from my Father above; therefore he who delivered me to you has

the greater sin."

     

     Pilate was by now very upset and certainly afraid, and sort

even the more to release this Jesus, but the Jews cried out, "If

you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend; every one who

makes himself a King sets himself against Caesar." 

     The Jews were now resorting to every "political" angle they

could think of, to insure Jesus would be crucified.

     When Pilate heard these last words from the Jews, he brought

Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place in the

palace called the "Pavement."  All was in full view of the mass

of Jews and the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin.  It was the

"preparation" day as the Pharisees Jews called it, the day they

prepared for the keeping of their Passover on the 15th day.  It

was still the 14th day of the first month and it was about the

3rd hour (as it should be, not the 6th hour as the KJV gives in

the Gospel of John, which was an error, as the original Greek

manuscripts say "it was the third hour"), which was as we count

time, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.

     Pilate said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" They answered,

"Away with him, away with him, crucify him!"

     Pilate replied, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief

priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

     Then Pilate had the purple cloak taken off Jesus and His own

clothes put back on, and handed Jesus over to the Jewish leaders

and the mob of people, for them to crucify Him. The prophecies of

how the Messiah would die were now quickly coming to pass

(Mat.27: 27-31; Mark 15: 16-20; John 19: 1-16).

                       .............................

Written January 2003

     

 

MARTIN LUTHER'S ATTACK ON THE JEWS #4

 LUTHER'S  ATTACK  ON  THE  JEWS  continued  #4

From  the  lectures  by  Professor  Phillip  Cary

CAPITALS  letters  are  mine - Keith Hunt

Luther  doesn't  go  so  far  as  recommending  burning  Jews,  but  it  is  violent,  it  is  very violet,  so  violent  that  it  didn't  take,  fortunately.  Very  few  Princes  took  Luther's  advise  or  adopted  his  proposals;  in  Strasbourg  for  instance,  the  Jewish  community  petitioned  the  magistrates  to  suppress  Luther's  book,  and  they  did.  Hurray  for  censorship,  every  now  and  then,  right?   Because  the  Jewish  community  said,  "Look,  this  is  going  to  invoke  riots  against  the  Jews,  and  the  Christian  Prince  has  an  obligation  to  suppress  violence,  tumult,  and  keep  the  peace;  if  Luther's  books  are  going  to  cause  riots,  then  you  suppress  Luther's  books."  Good  thing  too.  Yes  there  are  limits  to  freedom  of  speech;  in-sighting  a  riot  is  not  something  that  falls  under  freedom  of  speech.

Sooo.... it's  a  good  thing  that  Luther's  proposals  were  not  taken  up  at  the  time.  But  as  I've  said,  it  does  kinda  put  a  virus  in  German  culture  that  bears  very  bad  fruit  in  the  later.  Luther  is  not  innocent  in  what  happened  in  German  anti-semitism  in  later  history.

So  how  do  we  diagnose  this  problem?  What  shall  we  make  of  the  phenomenon  of  Luther  in  light  of  his  attack  on  the  Jews,  for  really  I  think  this  the  worst  thing  in  all  of  Luther's writing.  What  shall  we  say  about  it?

Let  me  go  back  to  that  need  of  "certainty"  -  that  I  think  is  the  need  that  goes  wrong  with  much  of  Luther's  writing.

Luther  is  insisting  not  that  the  Gospel  is  true,  or  that  God  is  certain  to  keep  his  promises,  but  Luther's  Christian  interpretation  of  the  Scripture  is  certain!  In  fact  the  largest  part  of  this  treatise  on  the  law,  is  taken  up  with  just  FOUR text of  Scripture.  Some  are  in  the  text  20  years  before,  where  he  argues:  Look  you  can't  just  see,  it's  obvious,  it's  clear,  it  can't  be  doubted,  it's  certain,  that  these  texts  show  that  it's  only  possible  of  the  Messianic  promises  of  the Old  Testament  to  be  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  These  Jews,  they  know  that,  they  can  see  from  their  own Bible,  that  only  Jesus  could  possibly  be  their  own  Messiah.  They  are  denying  it  against  their  own  conscience,  they  know  better.  They  can't  possibly  deny  Jesus  is  the  Messiah.

He's  actually  in  the  place  where  he  uses  this  metaphor  "It's  like  a  shrew,  a  noisy  nasty  woman  back-talking  against  her  husband,  even  when  she  knows  she's  wrong."

Now  here's  something  I  want  to  mention  that  happens  all  the  time  in  this  treatise;  Luther  continually  accuses  the  Jews  of  things  that  he  himself  is  doing.  We  all  know  that  this  is  like,  right?  Your  in  the  middle  of  a  fight,  and  someone  accuses  you of  something,  they're  actually  close  to  home,  but  you  still  argue  back  anyway.  Because  if  your  verbally  talented,  as  Luther  certainly  was,  you  know  how  to produce  an  argument  and  keep  on  attacking;  you  forget  about  what  true,  you  produce  argument.

That's  what  Luther  is  doing  throughout  this  treatise.

He's  just  inventing  one  slander  after  another;  he's  really  creative  at  producing  arguments  against  the  Jews.  He  just  makes  them  up as  he  goes  along.  Makes  up  one  after  another.  And  that's  what  he  accuses  the  Jews  of  doing  of  course.  They  just  make  up  arguments;  they  know  they  are  clearly  wrong  about  the  Bible,  they  just  sort  of  make  up  these  lies.  And  Luther  is  all  along  making  up  lies  against  the  Jews.

It's  the  classical  case  of  the  psychological  case  known  as  "Projection"  -  Luther  takes  his  own  hatred  against  the  Jews  and  projects  it on  the  Jews.

He'll  say  for  instance  that,  the  Jews  have  hate  for  Christians  in  their  heart.  Let  me  read  this  to  you  -  but  a  little  context;  he's  talking  about  these  accusations  against  the  Jews,  and  he  knows  perfectly  well  there  is  no  good  evidence  in  favor  of  these  stories.   When  any  of  these  cases  are  brought  to  trial,  the  Jews  get  exonerated,  there's  just  no  good  evidence  on  the  point.  "Yet,"  Luther  says,  "I  know  their  heart."  He  continues,  "Indeed  if  the  Jews  had  the  power  to  do  to  us,  what  we're  able  to  do  to  them,  not  one  of  us  would  live  for  an  hour."  A  little  later  he  says,  "If  I  had  power  over  the  Jews,  as  our  Princes  and cities  have,  I  would  deal  severely  with  their  lying  mouth." 

He's  saying:  If  the  Jews  had  power  to  do  what  I  can  do  to  the  Jews,  look  what  they  would  do  to  me.  I  wish  I  had  that  power  to  do  it  to  them.

What  he  says  about  the  Jews  can  frequently  be  said  about  himself.  And  is  far  more  true  of  Luther  than  the  Jews.

"But  since  they  lack  the  power  to  do  this  publically  to  us,  they  remain  our  daily  blood-thirsty  murderer  foes,  in  their  heart."  

Who  is  a  murderer  and  blood-thirsty  foe  in  the  heart  -  in  this  treatise?  It's  Martin  Luther!

THIS  IS  FOUL,  DISHONEST  STUFF,  AND  THAT'S  PRECISELY  WHAT  HE'S  ACCUSING  THE  JEWS  OF.

THE  JEWS  ARE  NOT  FOUL  AND  DISHONEST  -  MARTIN  LUTHER  IS!

"Therefore,"  he  continues,  "I  firmly  believe  that  they,  the  Jews,  say  and  practice  far  worst  things  secretly  than  the  history  or  records  about  them  record."

So he's  got  all  these  stories  about  the  Jews,  that  he  knows  there  is  no  good  evidence  about  them.  He  endorses  them  anyways,  because  that's  what  the  Jews  really  want  to  do  in  their  hearts.

I  THINK  THIS  SAYS  MORE  ABOUT  LUTHER'S  HEART  THAT  THE  HEART  OF  THE  JEWS.  HE  IS  LYING  AGAINST  HIS  OWN  CONSCIENCE,  THAT'S  HOW  WE  COULD  DIAGNOSE  IT.  

He  knows  perfectly well,  or  he  ought  to  know,  he's  making  this  stuff  up.  That  he  has  no  good  evidence  for  it.  That  it's  NOT  certain,  THIS  STUFF  HE  SAYS  ABOUT  THE  JEWS,  FAR  FROM  CERTAIN!!

HE'S  WRITING  OUT  OF  ANGER!  HE  WRITING  LIKE  A  SHREW,  WHOSE  VERBALLY  TALENTED,  YOU  HUSBANDS,  I  DON'T  CARE  IF  I  ACTUALLY  DID  IT.  YOU  HUSBANDS  IT'S  YOUR  FAULT,  TRA...DAT...RA....AND  SO  ON.

HE'S  TALKING  BACK,  INVENTING  SLANDERS,  RIGHT  AND  LEFT,  WITH  THIS  VERBAL  ALENT  LUTHER  HAS.

AND  ALAS  WRITING  A  BOOK  THAT  IS  FAIRLY  MEMORABLE.

THERE  IS  NOTHING  GOOD  TO  BE  SAID  ABOUT  LUTHER'S  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  THE  JEWS!

....................

THIS  SECTION  OF  THE  24  LECTURES  ON  MARTIN  LUTHER  BY  PROFESSOR  PHILLIP  CARY  IS  MIND-BLOWING;  MARTIN  LUTHER  WAS  FAR  FROM  BEING  A  TRUE  SERVANT  OF  GOD.  THE  ETERNAL  IN  HEAVEN  DID  NOT  CALL  MARTIN  LUTHER  TO  BE  HIS  SERVANT  TO  PROCLAIM  THE  WILL  AND  WAYS  OF  GOD,  TO  BRING  TRUE  LIGHT  FROM  THE  SCRIPTURES  AND  GUIDE  PEOPLE  TO  THAT  TRUE  LIGHT  OF  THE  LORD'S  WORD.

IT  WAS  MARTIN  LUTHER  WHO  SAID  ABOUT  THE  BOOK  OF  JAMES:  "AN  EPISTLE  OF  STRAW."

WHAT  DID  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION  BRING  ABOUT?  IT  BROUGHT  MANY  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  MOTHER.  ALL  PROTESTANT  DENOMINATION  CONTAIN  SOME  OF  THE  MOTHER'S  TEACHINGS  AND  PRACTICES;  SOME  MORE  AND  SOME  LESS,  BUT  CERTAINLY  SOME.

THE  TRUE  CHURCH  OF  GOD  THAT  JESUS  FOUNDED  WAS  ALWAYS  IN  EXISTENCE;  IT  WAS  THERE  BEFORE  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION,  IT  WAS  THERE  DURING  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION,  AND  IT  WAS  THERE  AND  IS  TODAY,  AFTER  THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION.

SOME  TIMES  THE  TRUE  CHURCH  WAS  HARDLY  NOTICEABLE,  SOMETIMES  QUITE  NOTICEABLE.  LEADING  UP  TO  THE  VERY  LAST  YEARS  OF  THIS  AGE,  IT  WILL  BE  QUITE  NOTICEABLE,  THROUGH  THE  INTERNET  ESPECIALLY;  PEOPLE  WILL  HAVE  PRETTY  WELL  FREE  ACCESSIBILITY  TO  WEBSITES  LIKE  THIS  ONE,  WHERE  THE  CLEAR  TRUTHS  OF  GOD'S  WORD  ARE  PROCLAIMED.

Keith Hunt

MARTIN LUTHER'S ATTACK ON THE JEWS #3

 LUTHER  AGAINST  THE  JEWS  continued  #3

From  the  lectures  by  Professor  Phillip  Cary

CAPITALS are mine for emphasis - Keith Hunt

Well,  his  crucial  change  is  parallel  to  his  crucial  change  with  the  Pope,  and  with  Swingly  and  lots  of  other  folk, when  he  decides  the  Jews  speak  for  the  Devil.  They're  not  just  wrong  about  some  things,  they're  not  just  believing  the  wrong  things  -  they  are  speaking  for  the  Devil.

This  raises  the  issue:  Well  if  speaking  for  the  Devil is  such  a  bad  thing  to  say  about  anyone,  maybe  Luther  shouldn't  say  that  about  the  Pope,  much  less  the  Jews.

What  happens  is  he  begins  to  see  the  Jews  not  as  enemies  to  be  loved,  but  as  ethological  enemies,  who  threaten  who  threaten  to  under-mine  faith  in  the  Gospel.  There's  that  love/faith  contrast;  as  far  as  a  person  is  your  neighbor,  you  love  them,  but  as  far  as  they  are  trying  to  undermine  the  Gospel,  and  take  away  Christian  faith,  they  are  enemies  that  simply  must  be  repudiated,  attacked,  you  fling  filth  at  them,  so  everyone  knows  to  stay away  from  them.

Here's  a  story  he  tells  in  1537  that  kind  of  illustrated  the  change  of  mind.

It  turns  out  that  one  of  the  great  Rabbis  of  the  time,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Rabbi  Josel  of  Rosheim,  come  to  the  town  asking  for  a  safe  conduct.  Now  only  the  Prince  can  give  a  safe  conduct,  but  Luther  can  kinda  talk  to  the  Prince  of  Saxony  and  say  -  Look,  could  you  give  this  safe  conduct  to  Rabbi  Josel  so  he  can  travel  on  the  high-way  safely.  And  Luther  TURNS  HIM  DOWN!  And  his  reasons  are  OMINOUS!

AND  THIS  HIS  HIS  REFLECTION  IN  TABLE  TALK  A  FEW  YEARS  LATER:  "My  opinion  was  and  still  is,"  say  Luther,  "One  should  treat  the  Jews  in  kindly  fashion."  So  far  he's  talking  like  in  1523  -  "One  should  treat  the  Jews  in  kindly  fashion,  so  God  may  perhaps  look  graciously  upon  them  and  bring  them  to  their  own  Messiah,  that  is  Jesus.  But  NOT  SO  THAT  THROUGH  MY  OWN  GOOD  WILL  THEY  BE  INFLUENCED  AND  STRENGTHENED  IN  THEIR  ERROR,  AND  BECOME  STILL  MORE  TROUBLESOME."

So  that  the  opening  wedge  for  the  future.

On  the  one  hand  treat  them  kindly,  maybe  you  can  lead  them  to  Christ.  On  the  other  hand  don't  encourage  them,  they  might  end  up  becoming  worst,  undermining  Christian  faith.

In  fact  later  on,  he  hears  Jews  converting  Christians;  THAT  really  SETS  HIM  OFF  RIGHT  THERE,  taking  away  the  Christian  faith  from  Christians.

The  rumors  are  not  likely  true,  unless  perhaps  it's  possible  some  Jews  tried  to  convert  Jews  back  to  Judaism,  occasionally  when  Jews  are  converted  to  Christianity,  some  Jews  will  try  to  visit  them  to  bring  them  back  to  Judaism.  But  Jews  very  seldom  proselyte  among  Christians,  especially  in  the  16th  century  and  middle  ages,  where  they  can  get  persecuted  for  that.

Jews  don't  believe,  typically,  that  you  have  to  be  a  Jew  to  be  saved.  That's  not  Jewish  teaching.  You  don't  have  to  be  a  Jew  to  be  saved.  So  you  don't  have  to  convert  people  to  be  Jews,  in  order  to  save  them.  Don't  have  to  have  that  missionary  impulse  in  Judaism,  the  way  you  do  in  Christianity.  So  most  Jews  didn't  try  to  convert  people  to  Judaism,  and  it  was  not  safe  to  try  and  do  so.

So  Luther  started  hearing  those  rumors,  the  Jews  are  undermining  faith  in  the  Gospel,  which  of  course  they're  speaking  for  the  Devil,  in  Luther's  mind.

I  think  the  decisive  thing  is  he  gives  up  hope  for  their  conversion.  Just  like  he  gives  up  hope  like  Swingly  will  be  converted,   or  the  Pope  will  see  the  light.  And  when  you  give  up  hope  for  someone's  conversion,  in  this  Christian  context,  that  means  you  no  longer  try  to  persuade  them;  you  no  longer  just  try  to  argue  Scriptures  with  them.

There's  no  more  any  point  in  preaching  to  the  Jews.  Arguing  with  them  about  Scripture.  You  just  have  to  contain  them,  preventing  them  from  causing  any  more  harm,  so  something  ultimately  to  cleans  society  from  this  contamination.

We're  still  focussed  on  WORDS  -  the  Jews  are  saying  things,  that  undermines  faith  in  the  Word.  Therefore  they  are  contaminating  Christendom,  they're  turning  Christians  away  from  God;  and  we're  going  to  get  in  trouble  for  this.  To  tolerate  this  is  like  to  tolerate  a  disease  body-politic.  There  is  all  this  types of  of  uncleanness  and  disease  which  he  uses.

He  argues  that  to  tolerate  the  lies  of  the  Jews,  is  to  partake  in  those  lies,  and  so  share  in  the  guilt  of  blasphemy.  It's  not  just  freedom  of  conscience;  he's  willing  in  principle  to  affirm  freedom  of  conscience,  even  for  Jews.  BUT  the  problem  is  they  don't  just  have  a  conscience,  because  THEY  SPEAK,  THEY  TEACH,  AND  THEIR  TEACHING  IS  BLASPHEMY  -  WE  CAN'T  ALLOW  THIS!

Noe  freedom  of  conscience  doesn't  mean  much  without  freedom  of  speech.  But  Luther's  inner-outer  distinction  leaves  all  the  freedom  for  conscience,  and  leaves  the  realm  of  speech  rather  ambiguous.  

If  speech  is  public,  external,  then  it  falls  under  "law"  -  not   under  freedom  of  conscience.  And  blasphemy  in  particular,  can  not  be  tolerated  Not  just  because  it  needs  to  be  punished;  we  have  to  get  into  an  ancient  mind-set  here.  It's  not  that  you  are punishing  the  blasphemer  -  blasphemy  is  an  offence  to  God;  you  have  to  cleans  the  society  of  this.  Especially  regarding  blasphemy,  but  also  sedition.

But  blasphemy  above  all;  blasphemy  means  using  WORDS  that  offend  God.  And  you  have  to  get  rid  of  that!  So  they  can  have  their  freedom  of  conscience,  but  they  are  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  TEACH!  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  STUDY  THEIR  BIBLE  AND  TALMUD.  THEY  ARE  NOT  ALLOWED  TO  TEACH  OTHER  JEWS  HOW  TO  BE  JEWS!  Which  means  really  they  are  not  allowed  to  be  Jewish.

This  inner,  this  religious  toleration  for  people's  conscience  doesn't  go  far  enough.  You've  got  to  have  OUTWARD  toleration  too,  or  it's  not  a  toleration  that's  doing  any  good.

But  no,  for  Luther,  their  speech,  their  lies,  is  blasphemy,  therefore  cannot  be  tolerated,  otherwise  the  wrath  of  God  will  come  upon  the  land  because  of  their  lies.

We  dare  not  tolerate  their  conduct  says  Luther;  we  dare  not  tolerate  their  conduct  now  that  we're  aware  of  their  lying,  their  reviling,  their  blasphemy.  If  we  do,  if  we  tolerate  it,  we  become  sharers  in  their  lies,  he  says:

"To  witness  this  and  keep  silent  is  tantamount  to  doing  it  ourselves."

Allowing  the  blasphemy  to  take  place  taints  you,  you  become  tainted  with  the  sin  of  blasphemy  also.  If  it's  taking  place  in  your  community.  your  responsible  to  put  a  stop  to  it.

So  HIS  HARSH  PROPOSALS  for  dealing  with  the  Jews,  are  not  intended  as  punishment,  they're  intended  for  something  much  worst.  THEY  PURGE  THE  LAND,  OF  THE  BLASPHEMY  LIES  THAT  PROVOKE  THE  WRATH  OF  GOD!

We  dare  not  AVENGE  ourselves  said  Luther.  The  Jews  are  doing  these  terrible  things  to  us,  but  we  can't  take  vengeance,  that  wouldn't  be  right,  BUT  WE  MUST  CLEANSE  THE  BODY-POLITIC;  like  cutting  of  a  gangrenous  limb  he  says  at  one  point.  If  you  have  a  limb  getting  gangrenous,  you  cut  it  off  you  get  rid  of  it,  or  it  will  destroy  everything.  You  don't  want  to  compromise  with  this  awful  awful  disease  that's  causing  such  a  disaster.

That  way  -  the  RECOMMENDATION  TO  BURN  SYNAGOGUES.  His  recommendation  to  TEARING  DOWN  JEWISH  HOMES,  but  BURNING  JEWISH  SYNAGOGUES.  WHY  THE  DIFFERENCE?  Because  the  synagogue  is  the  place  of  Jewish  SPEECH,  JEWISH  TEACHING,  JEWISH  LIES,  JEWISH  BLASPHEMY..... IT  NEEDS  TO  BE  CLEANSED!

IT'S  THE  SAME  MOTIVE  ULTIMATELY  OF  BURNING  HERETICS!  

IT'S  NOT  A  FORM  OF  PUNISHMENT  BUT  OF  SOCIAL  CLEANSING,  SO  THE  WRATH  OF  GOD  WILL  NOT  FALL  ON  THE  COMMUNITY  BECAUSE  OF  THE  TERRIBLE  OFFENCE.

IT'S  A  VERY  PRIMITIVE  NOTION!

AND  IT'S  A  VERY  TERRIBLE  NOTION!

....................

TO  BE  CONTINUED