**An ethnically Jewish person who rejects the Messiah is no different from an ethnically French, Chinese or Peruvian person who rejects the Messiah. **
Sorry, friend, but this is categorically in error.
St. Paul, writing of the UNBELIEVING and EXTREMELY hostile-to-Christianity JEWS
of HIS day, wrote that THEY REMAIN BELOVED FOR THE SAKE OF THE
PATRIARCHS.
That did not mean because God liked Abraham’s beard, or Jacob’s style of clothing.
Or Mose’s cologne (or lack thereof).
God made promises, to the Patriarchs, that their SEED, not just the always-faithful
ones, would remain, forever, under God’s special protection until the very End of
the World.
See, I take issue with that, and here’s why.
On my father’s side, my family is Jewish. My mother’s side of the family is Gentile. That would make me Gentile in the matrilineal tradition.
My family members on my mother’s side tend to be nominal Christians, believing or unbelieving, atheists and agnostics. On my father’s side, they’re mostly Jewish, although almost all of the ones that I know are strong atheists and have been for generations, though most of them identify themselves very strongly as Jews. My father himself, though technically Jewish, doesn’t identify as such and has recently become Catholic.
Am I to understand that the Jewish atheists on my father’s side are somehow favoured by God over the Gentile atheists on my mother’s side? How are the European Gentile atheists in my family who reject all religion different from the Jewish atheists in my family who reject all religion? Why would my equating the two be categorically in error?
My cousin on my father’s side doesn’t identify one bit with his Jewish heritage and isn’t even circumcised. We both rejected God, the Old and the New Covenants. Did God love him more than me when I was atheist just because he is technically Jewish and I am half-Jewish but technically Gentile? And what about my more distant relatives, some of whom might not even know of their Jewish heritage?
And what about the black Jews? Many cannot trace their roots to the original Israelites beyond myth, and are a testament to ancient proselytism. Is the racism they often suffer from other Jews justified? Does God’s favour only extend to white Jews who are more likely to be literally descended from Abraham? Or is it by faith that both black and white Jews are part of the Old Covenant and spiritual descendants of Abraham, much like it is by faith that we are part of the New Covenant and also the spiritual descendants of our father in faith, Abraham? I’d imagine that it is faith and not race that means one belongs to one of the covenants of God.
St Paul said, “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:28-29)
How is that different from the traditional Catholic teaching that the Old Covenant will forever be valid but that it is no longer salvific, as it has been abrogated and fulfilled in the New Covenant? The Old Covenant faith of (some of) the Jews (and arguably perhaps even to some extent the Muslims who also claim to uphold the Abrahamic Covenant) is pleasing to God insofar as it is the faith of the Patriarchs and forms a part of the True Faith, and it is not through genetics that they can lay claim to God’s election but through faith only, much like Christians (Gentile and Jewish) can lay claim to God’s election in this way, and in so doing form the New Israel. It can be said that in that limited sense, Jews faithful to the Old Covenant faith of the Patriarchs do maintain their election, or their “chosen”-ness because the Old Covenant is forever valid. But this would be in an equal or lesser way than Christians, and in an equal or greater way than Muslims, who are adherents of a Judaeo-Christian heresy.
Do NOT make the mistake, the fatal mistake, of abusing the Jewish people.
Why would I want to abuse the Jewish people?
God is still especially protecting them. For the sake of the (promises made to) the Patriarchs, and He will continue to do so.
Insofar as they continue to adhere to the Old Covenant faith, which many of them don’t, yes, they are beloved of God. They are enemies of God in their rejection of the New Covenant, but to a lesser extent than those who have rejected both Covenants. But to claim more than that would be to flirt with the various heresies of Dual Covenant theology, dispensationalism and the like.
