I’m not sure how old I was when I figured out the whole world wasn’t Jewish. Suffice to say I was still in single digits age-wise. I think it was a disappointment too. “How come everybody wasn’t Jewish,” I thought.
My parents I’m sure did their best trying to explain to the young, immature, challenged, Scott what the differences were between Jews and non-Jews. Gentile was the first word that I learned back in the day from my parents.
They were, “Non-Jews” I was schooled. I remember them throwing the word “Gentile” around quite a bit when I heard them talk about people. I’m thinking that was more of their generation that did that. Not sure.
The Jesus Word
I’m not sure the first time I heard the “Jesus” name. Whether it was from my parents or my Gentile friends I don’t remember specifically. I’m sure if I heard it from my friends first I relayed the info back to my parents wondering what the conundrum was with Jesus. Here’s how I remember the conversation with my Mom:
Me: Who is Jesus
Mom: Jesus was a Jew but then became Christian.
Me: Why?
Mom: I’m not really sure, but all the Gentiles think that he was killed and then rose from the dead.
Me: You mean he died and came back to life???
Mom: Yes, that’s what they think. But people don’t just die and come back to life so in Judaism and being Jewish we don’t recognize that as ever happening.
Me: So, Jewish people don’t think that he came back to life after he died and the Gentiles do?
Mom: Yes, exactly.
I think I walked away from the conversation with my tail between my legs. I was so confused. I’m like, “How could one religion believe one thing, and all the other religions believe another thing?”
It just didn’t make sense to my ignorant self. Of course, since I was a young Jew that kinda gave me a false sense of pride. I was unequivocally convinced that the Jews were right. “It’s impossible for someone to die and then come back to life,” I reasoned. I was like, “Who would believe such a crock? The Gentiles were idiots I’m sure I thought.
That weighed heavy on my mind because, unlike my parents who had a ton of friends that were all Jewish my friends we mostly Gentiles. I didn’t want this to come between me and my friends but I thought that somehow it could.
I didn’t run over to my best friend’s house (they were Catholics) and accuse him of being an idiot because he thought Jesus died and came back to life. But…I don’t think I looked at my Gentile friends in the same way I did before that Jesus conversation. And it made me think…Somebody is right and somebody is wrong here. “Why can’t the Gentiles see the truth,” I thought.
One More Thing About Jesus In My Home
My parents never came out and said this, but the undertone that I got from them about Jesus was extremely negative. The communication that I got from them and how I interpreted their sediments was like this:
“Look, Jesus was a Jew but he wasn’t a good Jew. He started a revelation and created a new religion based on supposition, not facts. He has caused the Jews of today to be tormented and persecuted. The Gentiles can have him because we surely don’t want anything to do with him.” That might sound a little harsh, but that’s kinda how I think they felt based on our conversations.
Conclusion
I was definitely a little confused about all this religious stuff when I was a kid. The whole thing about someone being right and someone being wrong about Jesus coming back to life weighed heavy on my mind. Even at a young age, I knew that when you die, you’re dead. You don’t come back to life. That’s impossible. “Who would think such a thing?” I know I never would!
