This week’s gospel passage problematically refers to the disciples’ “fear of the Jews.” If you feel uncomfortable reading that in worship, good! The Gospel of John has long and rightly been identified as an antisemitic work, one that has stoked the hatred of Jews for centuries. Yes, this is dangerous material.
Writing in the December 1996 issue of Semeia, biblical scholar Tina Pippin offers the translation option to leave a “silent gap” in place of the phrase “the Jews”; she also suggests providing an apology to all Jews in the face of such readings. More recently, the Century published a thoroughgoing conversation on this subject with Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine. (“What should churches do about the treatment of ‘the Jews’ in John?” June 2023). This is a must-read before deciding to preach from this text.
While providing historical context is important, the fact is that the Gospel of John places “the Jews” into an enemy category. This, arguably, makes it impossible to do any historical distancing.
