Not "us against them"

Letters

Editor: It seems everyone has their opinion on Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. I have read some excellent articles by both Jewish and Christian leaders on the topic, both those that warn of impending negative fallout from the film, and those that dismiss any fears as groundless and prefer to emphasize the positive. The articles I have most appreciated are the ones that call for continued respectful Jewish-Christian dialogue on the subject and refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or being dismissive of either point of view.

As a longtime Christian Zionist, I can truly understand both sides, but my heart is especially with the Jewish people, who once again feel they have to be "on guard." This should not be. It has also been painful to listen to some defensive posturing on both sides, which threatens to destroy the fragile cords of friendship that have been so tenuously woven over the past few years. One key to the eradication of anti-Semitism within the Christian Church is the full realization of the Jewishness of the entire story of Jesus – of the setting, the characters, the value system, the Scriptures and Jesus himself.

I commend Rabbi Saltzman's positive, gracious article "Violence is not the whole story," in the National Post recently. He tried to bring a perspective that affirms Christians' faith as well as his own and, in doing so, rises above some of the more divisive criticisms I have read elsewhere. I thank the rabbi for not asking Christians to dismiss their own Scriptures in order to make the story more palatable. But, rather, saying that we must examine the narrative in a truer light – as a first-century Jewish scenario.

It was not and should not be "us" against "them"! The rabbi compared Jesus' redemptive suffering to what has occurred throughout history to Jesus' brothers and sisters, the Jewish people. It is significant that Christians read Isaiah 53 and see in it a clear picture of Jesus' death; the rabbis have said it represents the nation of Israel. Maybe both are right.

This image made me weep. When I saw Jesus being whipped and tormented, I did not see just a character of 2,000 years ago, but also the people of Israel today – being attacked and tormented by a cruel, ignorant world. The rabbi is correct that the stories are related and similar and he applies it to the experience of the Jewish people in the Holocaust (and the "resurrection" of the nation of Israel as a result).

That is true, but I think it also applies to Israel now. Israel is being "tried" by the World Court for the "crime" of trying to protect innocent Jewish citizens from being blown up by the most cruel, conscienceless terrorists the modern world has seen. That trial is also a farce. And their suffering is equally as great – they are being butchered on a regular basis – and the world not only does not care, but blames them!

It is ironic that no one blames and hates the English for what they have done (except for maybe a few nationalist Scots), yet people still try to blame the Jews for something that happened thousands of years earlier – to one of their own!
What about hating the Italians who crucified hundreds of thousands of people? Such accusations should not even be an issue, yet we have to recognize that the concern by Jewish people today is not unwarranted – history and current events prove that anti-Semitism has resulted from such emotional dramatizations of Jesus' death when it is not put in its proper sociological and spiritual context.
An overemphasis on the physical suffering of the crucifixion is not only misleading from a religious point of view, as the Gospels report Jesus offered up his life and no man took it from him, but dangerous from a sociological viewpoint – it can turn into a kind of voyeurism and inflame base emotional passions in ignorant people, similar to the ancient Roman spectacles of gory violence.

I do not fear that real Christians who understand the Bible will become anti-Semitic from seeing the film, but I am concerned about its effect on biblically ignorant people in places where anti-Semitism is endemic. Another concern is the recent rapprochement between Jews and Christians being eroded by inflamed emotions on either side over a film. We are working for continued dialogue and contact between our two communities – we cannot allow this film to destroy that.

Betty-Lou Loewen
Jewish and Christian Friendship Circle member

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