Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
A friend of mine recently visited Rome and did a walking tour around the city. But she was left unsatisfied at the end of the tour due to the apparent bias from the tour guide, who is not necessarily a religious person, as the tour guide accused the early Christians of banishing the Jews from Rome. I don't know which episode in history the tour guide was referring to. I guess that she is referring to the banishment of Jews, including Jewish-Christian followers, from Rome under the emperor Claudius around 49 AD. The expulsion was reportedly caused by internal strife, attributed to constant disturbances arising from the dispute over “Chrestus". Most scholars interpret "Chrestus" as a Latinized version of "Christus" (Christ), indicating that the conflict was likely between Jewish Christians and non-Christian Jews. The expulsion significantly altered the Christian community in Rome, which at the time had a mixed Jewish and Gentile membership. The situation got worse as the Gentiles interpreted the expulsion as a sign of divine disapproval and even rejection of the Jews.
This expulsion of Jews, indeed, had complicated St. Paul's situation as he wrote in the letter to the Romans concerning the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel was initially preached first for Jews and also Gentiles. But Paul found that many Jews rejected the good news. At the same time, many Gentiles were coming to faith. This situation then creates immense pain and agony for Paul. In his letter, we found that Paul is essentially willing to be cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of the salvation of his fellow Jews, who refused to believe in Christ. It is reminiscent of Moses who pleaded before God to punish him rather than the Israelites who had committed idolatry by making the golden calf. Nevertheless, Paul recalls God's goodness to Israel, which led him to bless God and to reaffirm that the fulfillment of the Messianic promise is in Christ himself.