I am Christian: You will (not) be Assimilated

I was in a BeliefNet discussion thread the other day, and ran into a Jewish fellow who was convinced I wanted to convert him. I can imagine Jewish people run into Christian proselytizers all the time, and I can't know what it is like. But I get the idea that some people think that all Christians have this as a motivation at heart. Let me set the record straight.

When the first missionaries, such as St. Paul and St. Barnabas, went about, nobody had heard of Christianity. Indeed, they had only recently made up the term, while at Antioch. But in our day and age, not only has just about everyone heard of Christianity, but the Internet makes available all the great apologetics of the last 2,000 years. Going door to door is just annoying, and Jesus Himself had this to say about such a thing; "For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

Instead in this modern world, we are rather tasked by St. James; "I show my faith by what I do" he tells us, exhorting us to feed the hungry, look after the widows, and shelter the homeless. And of course, with so many aid agencies, schools, hospitals, and development projects that Catholics and other Christian churches run, many are living out that witness.

As to the Jewish people, I have no illusion that I personally could lead a Jew closer to God. When I was a teenager, my best friend was Jewish, and in very subtle ways I saw it first hand. Typically a Jew can read Hebrew, the very language most of the Bible is written in. And they have managed to persevere through incredible suffering - millennia of persecution and attempts to destroy their people have failed. How can anyone doubt that God loves and protects this people?

The big question that divides Jews and Christians is a matter of faith. As a Christian, it is important to me to see Jesus as the Messiah, because He is the very mercy that reaches down from Heaven to take pity on my pathetic state. On the other hand, Judaism looks to the arrival of a king akin to David, who will bring peace to the world. Either way, it is a matter of faith. As a matter of fact, it is something that could only be settled when (and if) the Messiah does come, either for the first or second time.

I've always chuckled at the saying of Martin Buber the Hasidic theologian, who presents this scenario; he suggests we would all go up to the Messiah and demand to know if He has come before. And before He would have the chance to respond, Buber would run up to Him and say, "And for Heaven's sake, don't answer them!"

I believe that when the Messiah does return, it will not be to triumphantly tell the Christians, "You were right!" or to tell others, "You were wrong!" If He is to bring peace, then He will reproach us all, for all the times we could have done it ourselves, and failed to. He will tell us we should have trusted in God, and not relied on ourselves or our mad belief that we are rational. And He will show us all the more excellent way - Love. When the Messiah comes (or as I believe Jesus returns), He will not be saying, "I am He." He has already told us as much. Instead He will ask as He always has, "Who do you say that I am?"

I speak the language of my faith. I can't help it. But I do not carry around in my head a marketing plan to turn Jews into Christians. I believe that God loves us all. And I celebrate that. I keep it that simple.