I can’t stop thinking about Ron Grossman’s excellent and enlightening article about Mel Gibson’s upcoming movie. For me, a practicing Catholic, the article opened my eyes to the dilemma that the movie presents to Jews.
Now I better understand the problem is not that Christ’s story is anti-Semitic, nor that Gibson’s movie accurately portrays the history of Christ’s story. The real problem is that, over the intervening centuries, Christians have too often used Christ’s story as a pretext to persecute and kill Jews. Given this historical reality of Christianity (which has involved individuals, governments and religious authorities), it is natural for Jews to worry that Gibson’s graphic movie may once again stir-up anti-Semitic feelings. Never-ending news about neo-Nazis and Aryan supremacists confirm that such worries are well founded.
Ironically anyone who uses Christ’s story as a basis for persecuting anyone, including but not limited to Jews, is completely missing the point and is blaspheming Christ’s message. Christians bear the burden of explaining this.
The point of Christ’s story is to emphasize his message of inclusion, not exclusion; embracing, not accusing; forgiveness, not bitterness; and looking forward, not backward. This is the focus of Christianity, and Christians must make this reality.
