Some Jews Do Not Want to Hear It

Many Jews ask, “Why must you always try to convert us? Can’t you leave us alone?” They are entitled to an honest answer:

There is an age-old Jewish tradition of telling people what they do not want to hear. From the beginning, God has called Jews to evangelize. Moses proclaimed God to Israelites who did not feel the need to be witnessed to. Before they crossed the Red Sea, the Israelites told Moses, Ex 14:12 “Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Even after God led them safely across, Ex 16:2 “The whole congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt…” Finally, as Moses led the Israelites to Mt. Sinai he cried out to God, Ex 17:4 “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” But Moses led them to Mt. Sinai and gave them Torah.

All the Hebrew prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Baruch and many more — spoke God’s truth to people who did not want to hear it. Isaiah: Is 5:13 “Therefore My people go into exile for want of knowledge.” Jeremiah: Jer 2:13 “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.” Ezekiel: Ez 6:2 “Set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them.” Hosea: Hos 4:1 “There is no faithfulness or kindness, and no knowledge of God in the land.”

Centuries before Jesus of Nazareth arrived on earth, Jews actively sought converts among the pagan tribes. They continued to seek converts among the Romans until Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. When he prohibited the promotion of any other religion, most Jews stopped. Some devout Jews continued to evangelize until about the eleventh century, when persecutions made it virtually impossible. Jews today are politically free to evangelize but rarely do, partly because rabbis during the intervening centuries have prohibited Jewish evangelization for the safety of their people and partly because Jews who evangelize would have no basis to ask Christians not to evangelize them.

Jesus told us Acts 1:8 “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” God’s Messiah has called us to be His witnesses to Jews in particular, as He called Moses and the prophets. We who revere Him as the Messiah will do as He did. Jesus offended Jews in the synagogues. Lk 4:28 “…When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.” Jn 6:66 “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.” We who are called to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified must do it knowing that it will upset some people. Jesus told us, Mt 5:11 “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

When we accurately teach the Catholic faith we cannot profane Judaism because we are completed Mosaic Jews. We revere our Father in heaven and hold that Torah was sacred teaching for His covenant family. We can teach the Catholic accurately only when we do it as St. Peter did, 1 Pet 3:15 “with gentleness and reverence.”