If proposals for
settling the differences between Jews and Christians were as flawless as their sponsors
are earnest, the issues that divide Jews and Christians would long ago have been settled.
This declaration came to mind upon reading your statement, that:
"The Jews have Moses, the Christians have Jesus. Then why
does not your Church let it drop at that and give up the idea
of bringing `the lost sheep of the house of Israel' into their
fold?"
"Why?" Because your proposal has a flaw in it that
makes it untenable. It is the assumption that Moses is on one side of the religious
dividing-line, and Jesus on the other side. That is not so, and was never so, even before
the religious line of demarcation between Jews and Christians began to exist. Jesus was
always in Moses, potentially, in prophecy; while Moses abides in Jesus the
"Prophet," Messiah and High Priest. That may be the reason why Moses is the only
character in the Old Testament whom Jesus likens to Himself. (St. John 5:46-47)
The Jews of today do claim Moses, but they have him only in part,
sentimentally. That is because Moses was, above all else, the high priest of Israel, who
functioned sacerdotally at the altar through Aaron and his successors, who are no more. On
the other hand, Jesus is the High Priest forever, presented in type in Genesis 14:18, He
continues to function in the priests of His Church. That is why they are called, alter
Christi, other Christs.
Christians have not Jesus to the exclusion of Moses. They have both, for
Jesus is the "Prophet of thy nation and thy brethren like unto me," said Moses,
whom "thou," that is you and me, and every other Israelite, "shalt
hear" (Deut. 18:15). That is why Jesus could say, "Moses wrote of
Me" (St. John 5:46). Moses was the first prophet; Jesus was the last and the
greatest Prophet of Israel. Jesus carried to perfection the principles Moses proclaimed.
Your proposal embodies a failure to realize that you can no more separate
Moses from the man-God Jesus than Solomon could divide the child between the women who
claimed it and leave each with the child as a living organism. You can no more separate
Moses from Jesus than the Ten Commandments can be denied the followers of the Messiah, and
leave a moral organism of God's making in the world intact. Moses may be said to represent
the negative, and Jesus the positive side of God's law. The two make the whole moral code,
as seen in the "Thou shalt nots" of the Commandments, and the "Blessed be
they" of the Beatitudes.
The doctrine of Judaism of old was personified in Moses. The doctrine of
Christianity is personified in Moses plus Jesus, for while the Mosaic sacrificial worship
ended, the moral law lives on forever, though elevated by Jesus.
Moses was the first to proclaim the nature of God, His Oneness. Jesus was the
first to proclaim the triadic characteristic of that same God, whose Oneness manifests as
the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier.
Moses was the Law-giver, whereas Jesus, in His prehuman existence, made the
Law that Moses expounded to the children of Israel. St. John tells us that "the Law
was given by Moses, but grace (the supernatural favor) and truth (complete knowledge of
God) came by Jesus Christ" (1:17).
Moses said to the murmuring Jews, "this is what the Lord hath
spoken" (Exod. 16:23); whereas Jesus commanded in His own name, "I
say--" (St. Matt. 5; 6).
Moses permitted divorce followed by remarriage (Deut. 24:1-2);
"but I say to you," said Jesus, that is adultery.
Moses proclaimed the sacrificial worship of the Old Law. Jesus instituted the
sacrificial worship of the New Law.
Moses used the blood of beasts for sacrifice; whereas Jesus gave His own
blood, being the last lamb to be offered, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world" (St. John 1:29).
Moses declared the terror of sin; Jesus forgave sin.
Moses was a sinner, "I have sinned against the Lord" (Deut.
1:41); whereas Jesus never sinned, "which of you can convince (that is convict,
prove me guilty) of sin?" (St. John 8:46).
Moses called upon the Lord to show him the way (Exod. 33:12- 13);
whereas Jesus said, "I am the way" (St. John 14:6).
God spoke through Moses; whereas God spoke in Jesus.
Moses, great though he was, was only a man; whereas Jesus was more than
human, He is the "I Am," "He Who Is."
Moses foregleamed Jesus, being the Light that Moses foreshadowed.
The doctrine of Judaism is personified in Moses; whereas the doctrine of
Christianity is personified in both Moses and Jesus. That is the basis for maintaining
that conversion from the Synagogue to the Church is an affirmation, and not a denial of
the faith of our fathers in Israel.
The Catholic Church could no more "drop" the thought of bringing
Jews into the Church than she could give up her claim that Jesus is the promise of Moses
fulfilled. Jews, and not Christians, must make a choice. They may remain minus Moses as he
is in the Torah, or come to him in his fullness in the fold of the Good Shepherd. The
unity of the two was seen in the Transfiguration. It was the triumphal occasion when Moses
came from his spiritual Jerusalem to appear face to face, in his glorified body, with the
"Prophet" he said "thou shalt hear." No separate tabernacle was ever
to be erected for Moses, as the voice from heaven said of Jesus, "This is My Beloved
Son, hear ye Him," words identical with those uttered by Moses fourteen centuries
before, "him thou shalt hear."
The Catholic Church pays great honor to Moses. Her Roman Martyrology lists
him as one of the great saints of the Old Law, paying reverence to him especially on the
sixth of each August. His figure, chiseled by Michael Angelo in massive proportions,
stands in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, on the Esquiline Hill, Rome, commanding, by
his expression of intellectual and moral strength, an appreciation of the high regard with
which Catholics honor the great leader Israel. |