This column was composed two weeks before the official release of the film The Passion of the Christ, which has generated controversy since producer and director Mel Gibson gradually unveiled it to select groups last year.
Last fall and winter Gibson smartly showcased his film, about Jesus Christ’s final hours before His crucifixion, to audiences who were likely to create favorable buzz before its release Ash Wednesday 2004.
The Passion was shown before evangelical Christians at the Focus on the Family campus in Colorado and before conservative commentators in Washington, D.C, among other places. As Gibson I’m sure hoped, effusive praise for the movie poured forth from columnists such as Cal Thomas and Linda Chavez. Despite skeptics who believed a film in Latin and Aramaic about Christianity was doomed at the box office, church groups bought tickets by the thousands and now The Passion is expected to do very well.
But Gibson’s early targeted campaign for The Passion was not only meant to build word-of-mouth support, but also to defuse concerns about anti-Semitism in the Biblically faithful film, because some Jews in the Scriptures called for Jesus’s execution. The urges to “Crucify Him, crucify Him” by Jews in John 19:6 cannot be removed by a director striving for authenticity.
But to say the account promotes anti-Semitism is preposterous to any genuine student of the Bible. And no, this is not a “we all killed Jesus because we’re all sinners” defense.
Yes, many Jews pressured Pontius Pilate to execute the Lord (John 19). But Christ failed to defend himself before Pilate’s inquiries, who then, incredulous, asked, “Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”
Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Nor could the Jews have that power. That Christ’s death was predetermined in God’s plan is clear in John 17.
Of course, that doesn’t absolve those Jews who called for the crucifixion. But Christ Himself said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” The apostle Peter, in Acts 3:17, confirmed that those Jews “did it in ignorance” and offered them a second chance through repentance two verses later.
Speaking of apostles, let’s not forget it was Jews that Jesus plucked off the shore and from the tax office to be His disciples. Those Jews launched the gospel to their brethren and to the Gentiles. Christians owe those Jews gratitude for obeying the Lord’s command to go forth and make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19). Also note that the disciples never shunned their Jewishness. Indeed the Jews still are in God’s plan, even in the New Testament (Romans 11).
Enough of the Bible lesson — back to Gibson’s movie. To say a film, that is by all accounts faithful to the Scriptures, is anti-Semitic just isn’t credible. That prejudice is not in the Bible, despite the twisting and misinterpretation of so many who would demonize Jews.
To further prove my point, I hope The Passion is only the first of a trilogy. Next up should be The Resurrection, which is the real Good News where Jews testify of the risen Savior. And finally Birth of the Church based on Acts, in which a few Jews bravely go forth to spread the gospel.
Let’s remember what those Jews did for Christianity.
