Welcoming gentiles, others Is 60:1-6; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12 The Gospel of Matthew is the most Jewish of the four Gospels. It is likely that the evangelist wrote for a community of made up of largely Jewish Christians. They would have appreciated the Gospel’s frequent citations of and allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures. A genealogy of Jesus that begins with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, forms the preface of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life and ministry. By the time Matthew wrote his Gospel, the number of Gentile Christians was far greater than that of Jewish Christians. In response, Matthew wished to preserve the Jewish matrix of the Christian movement while affirming that the inclusion of the Gentiles into the Christian community was in accord with God’s will. Matthew, then, frames his “Jewish Gospel” with two stories that illustrate God’s will for the inclusion of the gentiles. The first is the visit of the Magi (2:1-12) and the second is the great commission (28:16-20). An attitude of openness to gentiles was not easy to come by. Because of historical circumstances, the people of ancient Israel had ambivalent feelings toward them. Though they believed the prophet’s words, “Nations shall walk by your light” (Is 60:3), they often thought of gentiles as their enemies. Though King David’s great grandmother was a gentile, marriage with gentiles was forbidden. Though they believed that all nations would be blessed through their ancestor Abraham (Gn 12:3), they avoided contact with gentiles. Some Jewish Christians expected gentiles to convert to Judaism before they could become authentic Christians. They believed that Jesus simply offered people another way of being a Jew. Paul, however, opposed this and he won the day. Paul taught that gentiles, too, were heirs of the promises made to Abraham: “it has now been revealed ... by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs ... and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel” (Eph 3:5-6). The Jewish people are our elder brothers and sisters. Antisemitism is any form has no place among Christians. Paul extended a welcome to all people — Jew and gentile — into the community of faith. He dismantled the wall of suspicion, the wall of religion, the wall of culture. We are beneficiaries of Paul’s dismantling. We are Christians today because of Paul’s insistence that there must be no wall of mistrust, animosity and fear between Jew and gentile. Matthew, too, encouraged Jewish Christians for whom he wrote his Gospel to welcome gentiles into the Christian community. He reminds his readers that the Magi, who were not Jews, were among the first to greet the Christ child. The last words he has Jesus speak in his Gospel are these: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Americans too have always harbored ambivalent attitudes toward outsiders. Although we recognize that all our forebears at one time or other came to this country as immigrants, many of us want to stop or at least limit immigration today. Although immigrants mined our coal, built our railroads, butchered our cattle and hogs, we tend to think of immigrants as undermining our economic growth. Although immigrants have served in our armed forces in peacetime and war, we consider immigrants as security threats. Although immigrants have entertained us, taught in our universities, have been among our great musicians and artists, we think of immigrants as not fitting into our culture. American Catholics ought not be among those who turn their backs on immigrants. We ought to be able to extend a welcome to those who, like the Holy Family, seek a place of refuge from persecution and oppression — political, economic or religious. Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus were fortunate that there was no wall to keep them out of Egypt when they were fleeing from Herod. Concern for migrants is among Pope Francis’ “most personal issues,” since he was a son of immigrants who left Italy to escape from the rule of Benito Mussolini, finding a welcome in Argentina. Christians ought to welcome people fleeing oppression because Christ himself was a refugee. Christians then are not those who build walls, but they are those who dismantle walls.
About the Author Father Leslie Hoppe, OFM, is professor emeritus of Old Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union, 5416 S. Cornell Ave., Chicago.