Question: Why does it seem that Christianity's success seems to be dependent upon making Jews and Judaism a failure? The more I read the more I see an inferiority complex.
Answer:
Judaism was not a failure. It lead to Christ who was the 'end' of the Mosaic Law. (I am equivocating on the word 'end' because it can mean either the terminus or the goal of the Law.)
The only Jewish failure was that in the 1st Century the Jewish leadership did not accept their Meshiach.
Christianity succeeded Judaism as the religion of the promise to Abraham. When the Jews continued to practice the Temple cultus after it had been rendered obsolete by the sacrifice of the cross, God gave them time to repent of this. They failed to do so and so God OBJECTIVELY put an end to it.
Because of the hermeneutic keys given to us by the NT, we Christians are better able to understand the OT prophecies which for Jews remain mysterious:
Mal 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name [shall be] great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense [shall be] offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name [shall be] great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. [THIS WAS SEEN BY THE CHURCH FATHERS AS A FORESHADOWING OF THE MASS BEING CELEBRATED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.]
Mal 3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? "For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. [THIS IS A PROPHECY OF THE COMING OF CHRIST AND HIS SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS.]
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. [THIS PREDICTS THAT A NEW COVENANT WILL BE FORMED WHICH WILL BE UNIVERSAL AND EVENTUALLY CONVERT THE WHOLE WORLD TO WORSHIP HASHEM SO THAT NO FURTHER MISSIONARY WORK WILL BE NECESSARY.]
Isa 66:16 For by fire will the LORD execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many. 17 "Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, says the LORD. 18 "For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their cereal offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 22 "For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, says the LORD; so shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. [THIS PROPHECY SAYS THAT MEN OF ALL NATIONS WILL BE TAUGHT THE WAYS OF HASHEM AND SHALL GIVE UP ABOMINABLE PRACTICES. THEN ALL MEN WILL BE JUDGED BY GOD, NOT JUST THE JEWS. FURTHERMORE IT STATES THAT SOME NON-JEWS WILL BECOME 'PRIESTS AND LEVITES'. THIS IS FULFILLED IN THE CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD AND DIACONATE.]
I know that Jews have their own interpretations of these passages, but the Christian interpretations work nicely and several of these prophecies are echoed in the NT writings themselves.
So don't look at Judaism as a failure. It is an opportunity. As St. Paul taught:
Rom 11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 "Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." 4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al." 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day." 9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs for ever." 11 So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Rom 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
HaShem is not finished with the Jews yet. He has marvelous plans in store for them in the future.
Art Sippo
The Catholic Legate