JERUSALEM, Israel – Although the war with Iran is being fought in the Middle East, there’s another battle going on in churches worldwide: rising antisemitism, even among Christians. CBN News spoke with Anglican Bishop Julian Dobbs about the problem on his recent visit to Israel. We talked about faith, history, and the areas where misunderstanding has led to division.
Dobbs is on a mission to fight antisemitism among Christians. A bishop from the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word in North America, he delivered the Good Friday sermon at Christ Church in Jerusalem’s Old City. The day before, we sat down to talk about the rising tide of hate.
The bishop believes much of the Church’s anti-Semitic tension comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of scripture itself, starting with the gospels, which describe a crowd being stirred up to demand that the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate crucify Jesus.
“We need to understand the scriptures in their context,” Dobbs insisted. Was this a small crowd? Was it a large crowd? I have a colleague who suggests it might have even been a rent-a-crowd. But what was said by the man who hung on the cross? ‘Father, forgive them.'”
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Bishop Dobbs also points to the importance of Christians learning Old Testament scripture as the foundation for the New Testament.
“We have not spent time understanding and being rightly taught the fullness of the Word of God,” he stated. “So therefore, if the Old is the Word of God, let’s receive it as the Word of God and ask the Lord’s help as we read it to understand and use the New Testament with the depth that the Old brings, bringing the Word of God together.”
We asked, “If you had an arena full of American pastors, what would you tell them?
He replied, “First, say, obviously, the most ultimate thing we can always and must ever do is to proclaim Christ. But we must also proclaim Christ’s coming again, and He comes again in the fullness of who He is. We will see him as the King of Jews, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.”
Bishop Dobbs contends that a lack of commitment among pastors opens the door to misunderstanding among their congregations, which can often turn into blame.
He explained, “I think it goes right back to the very events that we are considering here. Who was held responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus? Who does the world hold responsible? They say they hold the Jewish people responsible.”
Dobbs continued, “In fact, as I read the scriptures, I’m responsible. My sin is responsible for putting Jesus on the cross, not the Jewish people. Jesus was Jewish. The Jews gave us our Messiah to other Jewish people.
We pointed out that Paul and Peter, both Jews, gave us the New Testament, and started the Church, and asked, “So, how do you think (some Christians) are able to separate that when it comes to the disdain for the Jewish people?”
Bishop Dobbs answered, “Well, I think there has been a gradual and probably deliberate move over many generations to separate the Church from her Jewishness. We end up with a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus in many of our stained-glass depictions of Him, with no connection to Jesus, to His Jewishness. So, therefore, when there’s a rise of antisemitism, both in the Church and globally around the world, it can be very difficult for the Church to understand that Jesus was and still is Jewish.”
And that disconnect, he says, is not limited to one country or one church. We asked him if he believes we’re in a day and age in the Church where the people’s love has “waxed cold,” as Jesus described in Matthew 24.
“He replied, “Well, it shouldn’t surprise us, should it? Because the closer we come to the return of the Lord, the more we will see the love of many growing cold.”
He concluded, “I think that’s why we need to be praying that men and women and young people will courageously stand firm in their faith, act like men, the scriptures tell us. And what does it say then? That everything you do – back to your point – be done in love.
