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February 16, 2004 I received the following from Mike Brown, and wanted to pass it on. Paul Harvey Comments on "The Passion" by Mel Gibson I really did not know what to expect. I was thrilled to have been invited to a private viewing of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion," but I had also read all the cautious articles and spin. I grew up in a Jewish town and owe much of my own faith journey to the influence. I have a life long, deeply held aversion to anything that might even indirectly encourage any form of anti-Semitic thought, language or actions. I arrived at the private viewing
for "The Passion," held in Washington, DC and greeted some familiar
faces. The environment was typically Washingtonian, with people greeting
you with a smile but seeming to look beyond you, having an agenda beyond
the words. The film was very briefly introduced, without fanfare, and
then the room darkened. From the gripping opening scen! e in the Garden
of Gethsemane, to the very human and tender portrayal of the earthly ministry
of Jesus, through the betrayal, the arrest, the scourging, the way of
the cross, the encounter with the thieves, the surrender on the Cross,
until the final scene in the empty tomb, this In addition to being a masterpiece
of film-making and an artistic triumph, "The Passion" evoked
more deep reflection, sorrow and emotional reaction within me than anything
since my wedding, my ordination, or the birth of my children. Frankly,
I will never be the same. When the film concluded, this "invitation
only" gathering of "movers and shakers" in Washington,
DC were shaking indeed, but this time from sobbing. I am not sure there
was a dry eye in the place. The crowd that had been glad-handing before
the film was now eerily silent. No one could speak because words were
woefully inadequate. We had experienced a kind of art that is a rarity One scene in the film has now been forever etched in my mind. A brutalized, wounded Jesus was soon to fall again under the weight of the cross. His mother had made her way along the Via Della Rosa. As she ran to him, she flashed back to a memory of Jesus as a child, falling in the dirt road outside of their home. Just as she reached to protect him from the fall, she was now reaching to touch his wounded adult face. Jesus looked at her with intensely probing and passionately loving eyes (and at all of us through the screen) and said, "Behold I make all things new." These are words taken from the last Book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelations. Suddenly, the purpose of the pain was so clear and the wounds, that earlier in the film had been so difficult to see in His face, His back, indeed all over His body, became intensely beautiful. They had been borne voluntarily for love. At the end of the film, after
we had all had a chance to recover, a question and answer period ensued.
The unanimous praise for the film, from a rather diverse crowd, was as
astounding as the compliments were effusive. The questions included the
one question that seems to follow this film, even though it has not yet
even been released. "Why is this film considered by some to be 'anti-Semitic?"
Frankly, having now experienced (you do not "view" this film)
"the Passion" it is a question that is impossible to answer.
A law professor whom I admire sat in front of me. He raised his hand and
responded, "After watching this film, I do not understand how anyone
can insinuate that it even remotely presents that the Jews killed Jesus.
It doesn't." He continued, "It made me realize that my sins
killed Jesus." I agree. There is not a scintilla of anti-Semitism
to be found anywhere in this powerful film. If there were, I would be
among the first to decry it. It faithfully tells the Gospel story in a
dramatically We would all be well advised to remember that the Gospel narratives to which "The Passion" is so faithful were written by Jewish men who followed a Jewish Rabbi whose life and teaching have forever changed the history of the world. The problem is not the message but those who have distorted it and used it for hate rather than love. The solution is not to censor the message, but rather to promote the kind of gift of love that is Mel Gibson's filmmaking masterpiece, "The Passion." It should be seen by as many people as possible. I intend to do everything I can to make sure that is the case. I am passionate about "The Passion." P.S. From Julie: My daughter, Kristin, tells me they learned at her church Youth Group that Mel Gibson stated he did not appear in his own movie, by his choice, with one exception: It is Gibson's hands seen nailing Jesus to the cross. Gibson said he wanted to do that because it was indeed his own hands that nailed Jesus to the cross (along with all of ours).
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