THE CROSS LEAVES NO ROOM FOR RACISM

There is a subtle, deadly lie that has haunted the Church at times, and it must be named and rebuked plainly: “They killed Jesus.”

When that sentence is used to justify hatred—especially antisemitism—it reveals not zeal for truth, but a failure to understand the gospel itself.

If someone insists on saying “they killed Jesus,” while refusing to acknowledge that it was their own sin that placed Him on the cross, that way of thinking stands in direct contradiction to the gospel itself. Salvation rests on trusting Christ as the One who died for our sins—not someone else’s guilt. Where personal repentance is absent, saving faith has not yet taken root.

The Bible is clear that Jesus was not a helpless victim of one ethnic group; He was the willing Savior who laid down His life. If I do not believe that my sins put Him on the cross, then He did not die for me—and if He did not die for me, then I have no Savior (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus was a Jew. Mary was Jewish. The apostles were Jewish. The early Church was overwhelmingly Jewish. Paul—the apostle to the Gentiles—was a Jew who never ceased to love his people, even willing to be accursed himself if it meant their salvation (Romans 9:1-5). Christianity did not emerge in spite of the Jewish people; it was born through them. The Scriptures we cherish, the Messiah we worship, and the gospel we proclaim all came to us through Israel.

Yes, some Jewish leaders rejected Jesus—just as Gentile rulers condemned Him, Gentile soldiers crucified Him, and Gentile crowds mocked Him. Rejection of Christ is not a Jewish problem or a Gentile problem; it is a human problem.

And just as some rejected Him, many thousands of Jewish men and women believed—so many that the faith spread from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4). We are Christians today because Jewish believers first confessed, “Jesus is Lord.”

Racism of any kind collapses at the foot of the cross. The ground there is level. No one gets to boast, and no one gets to blame. The gospel humbles us all: Christ died for sinners—not for one race, not against another, but for the world (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). To hate the Jewish people while claiming allegiance to a Jewish Messiah is not Christianity; it is a denial of it.

If the cross teaches us anything, it is this: grace leaves no room for hatred, and salvation leaves no place for pride.

BDD