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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2010
IT is to be expected that the conflict situation which we have examined would have provoked a response from the Church. The hostility experienced by Jesus messengers in the mission to Israel was bound to affect both the Church's theological understanding of the place of Israel in God's plan and the Church's missionary strategy. It was bound also to affect the way Christians interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem. It stimulated reflection concerning the attitude to be shown toward Jewish opponents: should it be eschatological hatred or patient love? Were the sufferings of the missionaries to be treated as a sign that the End was at hand, or were they simply a part of the Church's on-going life in the world? We shall examine Matthew's answers to these questions.
PESSIMISM CONCERNING THE POSSIBILITY OF THE CONVERSION OF ISRAEL
It must be assumed that the post-Resurrection mission to Israel was initiated in the expectation that many of the descendants of Abraham would respond favourably and receive a place in the Kingdom. Despite early resistance to the Gospel, missionaries persisted in their work in the belief that they were destined as the instruments of salvation for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When the mission to Palestine proved unfruitful, the missionaries turned to the Diaspora, expecting to rescue lost sheep there. This persistent optimism concerning the mission to Israel seems to be reflected in Paul's account of his conference with the apostles in Jerusalem.
As the years passed, and resistance to the Gospel became increasingly prevalent in the Diaspora as well as in Palestine, the initial optimism inevitably gave way to a growing pessimism.
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