It was March 2020, and my Jewish roommate had invited me to celebrate Purim with her and her friends at a large Purim party down the street. (Yes, it would turn out to be the last party I would attend for awhile!) I only knew bits and pieces of what a Purim party might involve, but I knew that it had something to do with the book of Esther and that you could wear costumes, so I was immediately on board. It’s traditional for Purim celebrations to be joyful and even a little zany, and this party delivered on both counts. There was a table overloaded with tasty hamantashen (traditional Purim treats), a klezmer band was playing, and, before I knew it, someone had grabbed my hand to join the train of people coiling around the room, our linked hands held over our heads, dancing to the electrifying music as if we had been born for this moment. Check “dance to klezmer music” off the bucket list.
And, of course, every Purim celebration has to have a retelling of the Esther story. The part of Esther in this version was played by a very tall, very blue Muppet, who sang “Let it Go” to wild applause (as I said, joyful and zany). Audience participation during the play is traditional—cheering for Esther and Mordecai and booing and hissing at the villainous Haman when he appears. But this Purim play also included another form of audience participation—inviting the community to offer their reflections on the story aloud. I had been only vaguely aware until this point that the Purim party I was attending was hosted by folks involved with the Toronto chapter of IfNotNow, a group of Jews who work “to end… support for Israel’s apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis.” Now I listened as community members reflected aloud on how they might hear the text of Esther in light of various current events and issues. Seeing this community reading their sacred texts together—and letting themselves be read by the texts—in ways that ran counter to prevailing readings and that tried to hold their own religious tradition accountable was striking to me and remained with me.
As devastation unfolds before our eyes in Gaza, I have watched the work of IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and similar Jewish groups, in their courageous solidarity with the people of Palestine. The thousands of Jews who have protested the actions of the government of the state of Israel, saying “Not in my name,” have been profound examples of how to hold accountable those who might weaponize their identity against others. It has made me wonder if Christians are willing to follow their lead and do the same.
Christian Zionists have been actively involved in Western nations’ support of the state of Israel for decades and continue to have a powerful influence politically. Religion News Services reports that Christians United for Israel, founded by evangelical John Hagee, is “the largest pro-Israel organization in the US.” Yet many Christians have been hesitant to call out the Christian Zionist movement for its complicity in supporting a violently militarized apartheid state. Gregory Khalil considers why most evangelicals have either supported the state of Israel or stayed silent on the issue, suggesting that one reason is that Christians don’t want to be antisemitic or possibly contribute to antisemitism inadvertently. Certainly, both antisemitism and Islamophobia have been on the rise in recent weeks and Christians must take a firm stand against both of these evils. However, it also needs to be made clear that critiquing the actions of a particular government—in this case, Israel’s—is not the same as engaging in racist or hateful speech toward an ethnic or religious group. We can—and must—value the humanity of both Jews and Palestinians.
So what is Christian Zionism anyway? Christian Zionism interprets the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, seeing that event as an essential element for the return of Christ to happen. At its heart, Christian Zionism tries to manipulate world events to bring about the return of Jesus Christ. Christian Zionists are motivated by this to lobby governments to support the state of Israel. Many also see support of Israel as a means to gaining God’s blessing on their own nation.
Although Christian Zionism might appear on the surface to be supportive of Jewish people, sadly it does not really represent that much of an aberration from Christianity’s long, hateful history of antisemitism. Of course, many supporters of Christian Zionism genuinely care about Jews. However, the movement itself uses Jewish people, reducing them to ideological pawns in a cosmic chess game that leads only to the desired ends of the Christian Zionists. This is hardly a posture of respect for Jewish people or their faith.
And ironically, Christian Zionism seems to take an opposite stance to that which Jesus urged his disciples to take. Jesus repeatedly told his followers to “keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matt. 25:13, NIV). Never does Jesus indicate that we should try to find out the date or time of his return. And never does he indicate that his followers should try to make it happen—especially through aiding and abetting warfare. The kingdom of God can never come through violence.
“If not now, when?” That question becomes more pressing each day. Jewish organizations like IfNotNow are leading the way, and now it is our turn. The time to interrogate Christian Zionism, its powerful sway in contemporary world events, and the harm it is perpetrating is long past due.
Image: Revival Banner (“Revival: Messages of the Times”), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr.
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