One time I attended a Passover demonstration at a church. Afterward, I had a brief conversation with an elder who was remarking how despite keeping the Passover, the Jews still missed and rejected Christ, in contrast to we Christians who got it right. His comments seemed off to me, but at the time I could not quite pinpoint why. After all, was he not correct? Is it not true that the Jews rejected Jesus despite all the indications that he was the Messiah?
Some might view such an assertion as inherently arrogant and antisemitic. I do not think it necessarily is. I believe the idea that the Jews rejected Jesus is problematic for a simpler, more straightforward reason—it is false. Some Jews did not believe in Jesus. Others did. Even more, those Jews who believed are the reason we have the opportunity to do so as well. They were the ones who understood their responsibility to be “a light for the nations” (Isa 49:6, cf. Acts 13:47) and brought the gospel to Gentiles, even at the cost of their own lives. It is therefore inaccurate, misleading, and also dishonoring to declare the Jews as having missed the gospel when it was Jews who not only were the first disciples of Jesus but also sacrificed so that we too could share in their promises.
Now, as alluded to earlier, it is possible to make such a blanket statement purely because one genuinely believes it to be true, despite evidence to the contrary, in which case one would only be ignorant, not arrogant. However, this all too common assumption of Jewish rejection of Jesus typically betrays a deeper bias, one that is quite ingrained in the Christian tradition. The sad reality is that much of Christian hermeneutics, theology, and even practice at times have historically been anti-Jewish. Moreover, ignorance can give way to arrogance. That is why Paul cautions, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited” (Rom 11:25, NIV). His warning to Gentiles is clear: “do not be arrogant toward the branches” (Rom 11:18).