“Understanding Jesus Means Understanding Judaism” With Dr. Amy-Jill Levine

by Robin Smith

Friday September 25, 2015, without thousands of people lining the streets, without hundreds of members of press in your face and without thousands of visible and invisible security personnel, Rabbi  Amy-Jill Levine delivered a message at the Lutheran Seminary in Columbia as powerful and important as the Pontiff’s visit to America.

The meeting started with echoes of Pope Francis' style - she came out into the audience to meet and be with the people who had given up an afternoon to hear what she had to say. “Glad you are here. Do you have any questions you want me to answer?” She went from row to row, group to group relaxing the participants so we could “HEAR” what she was going to say. Then she gave a little more than an hour-long presentation, in true Amy-Jill style. Filled with fast-paced rapid fire truisms, common sense, and humor, it was an intense address (normal delivery speed would have made it a two-hour presentation.) With the amount of information shared at the speed of light it will take some time to process what we heard.

With broad brush strokes and without repeating every illustration, I believe she is trying to tell us that we Christians need to look deeper into Judaism, at the truths it has to offer, and discard the stereotypes that have been projected on our Jewish brothers and sisters. The same is true that Jews need to discard some myths and stereotypes of Christians. Many of our Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, AME and other Christian elements have roots in Judaism. Dr. Levine stressed and stresses that the Christian and the Jew, as well as the church at large, MUST listen to each other, understand each other’s roots and have DIALOGUE that builds relationships rather than stereotypes.

Perhaps on a smaller scale Dr. Amy-Jill Levine is offering the same message of mutual understanding among all people that Pope Francis was commending on his visit to the United States.

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine spoke on her most recent book, Short Stories by Jesus. Several groups in our churches are reading it. Check with your local Episcopal bookstore to pick up a copy, newly released in paperback.

Robin Smith lives in Columbia and is a lifelong Episcopalian, artist, photographer, audio-visual pro and teacher of courses on spirituality and photography.