The Passion of the Christ is an invitation to build bridges, not walls with our Jewish brothers and sisters.

The following is an address to the Jewish Community of Temple Beth Tzedec in Toronto during the Sabbath Service on Friday, February 27, 2004. He was invited to deliver these words by the Rabbis on staff at Temple Beth Tzedec, Canada's largest synagogue and the largest Conservative Jewish community in the world.--Editor

Shalom aleichem! I greet you with the words of the Risen Christ in their original sacred language because the words and what they signify are at the very heart of my message of peace, hope, assurance, consolation and a pledge of renewed friendship this evening. Shalom aleichem!

I wish to express my deep gratitude to my friend and colleague Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl for his gracious welcome and invitation to deliver these words to the community of Temple Beth Tzedec on this Erev Shabbat. During the past days and weeks, through Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", the entire world is being exposed to the Way of the Cross and other details of Jesus' final twelve hours on earth in ways that have never happened before. "The Passion of the Christ", long ahead of its release two days ago (Editor--Ash Wednesday), has generated much discussion over its potentially negative impact on the Jewish community and Christian-Jewish relations. At the same time, among Christians who already have seen this dramatic representation of Christ's Passion, many have praised it and affirmed that it does not stir anti-Jewish feelings. In fact, it does the contrary in moving viewers to heroic love and forgiveness. I am one of those Christians. Yet I am painfully aware of the potential for misinterpreting this film, both for Jews and for Christians.

A teaching moment

The movie is offering both the Church and the Synagogue a very important teaching moment--a moment that dwells not on those who killed Jesus, but on the profound message of love and forgiveness which are the final testament of God's Son to us. The story the film depicts is at the core of the Christian faith and I know that you, as Jews, are sensitive to both the profound meaning of the crucifixion for Christians and to how deeply the Gospel Passion stories engage our intellect and emotions. The subject matter of the film, however, also deals head on with events that are at the very root of the historic divide between Christianity and Judaism.

One of the difficulties that any films of the life of Jesus encounter, especially from scholars and theologians who are not versed in the techniques and conventions of cinematic storytelling, is that they sometimes tend to be critiqued and judged as if they were actual Gospels. They are found wanting at this level and dismissed or condemned. This is a danger for "'The Passion of the Christ." We must remember that it is a film and that the screenplay is a "version" of the Gospel stories with no claim to be a Gospel.

We live in a world that thrives on "breaking news" and documentaries as if they were the only way to learn, study and discover truths. The reason Gibson's film shocks and distresses people is that it presents biblical details of the Crucifixion, not as "feelings," but as historical facts. "The Passion of the Christ" is not a documentary nor was it produced for artistic or entertainment value. The visceral appeal of "The Passion" for many Christians lies precisely in the fact that no rough edges have been sanded off, no potentially divisive elements have been smoothed over. It is not the Gospel "lite." It depicts in many ways "reality" at its worst. The filmmaker has put his artistry and fortune at the service of his conviction and belief, and that does not happen often, as we know only too well.

Mel Gibson's Jesus gives us a reason to live, to love, to hope, to suffer and to die unto God. Jesus in this movie shows us that violence can never be conquered with more violence, but only with boundless love. Violence, hatred and death were not the final answers in the story of Jesus of Nazareth. After viewing this movie three times over the past two months, I know now that I will never read the Gospel accounts of the Passion in the same way again. The film's brutality poignantly conveys the depth of Christ's love by showing him freely enduring such extreme agony for the redemption of all sinners.

At the conclusion of the Stations of the Cross at Rome's Coliseum on Good Friday night in the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II spoke these words:

"Who, if not the condemned Saviour, can fully understand the pain of those unjustly condemned? Who, if not the King scorned and humiliated, can meet the expectations of the countless men and women who live without hope or dignity? Who, if not the crucified Son of God, can know the sorrow and loneliness of so many lives shattered and without a future?"

So many Christians and Catholics today have become numbed to the reality of the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, and to suffering in general. The poignant portrayal of the final hours of Jesus' life reveals an extraordinary model of passion and compassion that completely undermine especially our North American world of competence and competition. The contrast is stark and total in this movie: the passionate Christ jars us out of our numbness toward God, religion and the deep Judeo-Christian biblical values that are at the core of our country, society and culture. Christ's passion penetrates the numbness of our lives.

Catholics and Jews

I represent a generation of Catholic Christians deeply marked by the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially the monumental teachings and new understandings of our relations with the Jewish people. Born several months after Pope John XXIII called for the Council in early 1959, my whole lifetime has only known this new direction and vision. My Basilian priest brothers and the young men preparing for the priesthood here present know only the important journey of reconciliation that we have already accomplished together, and the road that lies ahead. The hundreds of thousands of young people from nearly 160 countries of the world, who processed down this very street two summers ago making their way to meet the Successor of Peter on the shores of Lake Ontario and again at Downsview Park, know that the Jewish people are God's beloved people, and our elder brothers and sisters.

Jesus reconciles

This generation of young Catholics know about the horrors of anti-Semitism in history; we have wept at the Holocaust, we are passionately committed to working for healing, reconciliation, justice and peace. The heroic life and example of Pope John Paul II has moved us to action. We deplore racism in all of its insidious forms. We know the libel that the Jews "killed Christ" involves a wilful misreading of the New Testament and teaching: Jesus was made man and came to Earth in order to suffer and die in reparation for our sins. That some Christian churches have historically been guilty of the sin of anti-Semitism is undeniable, but in committing it, they violated their own beliefs.

We must cease the conversation, which often turns into a monologue, rooted in mutual recriminations, reminiscent of children on a playground arguing over who started the fight. We must work together as Christians and Jews with the Scriptures in a mature and honest way, building bridges and combating and repairing the real damage of anti-Semitism, which is alive once again in the world.

The real issue arising from this film is how many political and even religious authorities throughout history have persecuted individuals with revolutionary ideas, and continue to do it today. Through his Passion, suffering and death, Jesus becomes for us a point of embarkation. As he dies, Jesus turns us outward toward people to whom we are not physically related, identifying these people as our spiritual mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers. We know that Jesus breaks down the barriers between people and creates this new family by the power that flows from his death for humanity. In his death, he builds not walls but bridges towards others. Our eternity is bound up forever with this Jew. The tikkun ha'olam, the healing of the world, its repair, restoration and redemption--including the redemption of Israel--has already been decisively inaugurated in Jesus' death on the cross, and three days later, in his resurrection from the dead. Nothing can remove our sense of belonging to, participating in, and being the beneficiaries of God's saving encounter with Israel and with the broken world, which occurred in the crucifixion of Jesus, son of Israel and Son of God.

I applaud the Canadian Jewish Congress for their fine, mature, moving statement earlier this week. I hope and pray fervently that these words do not remain on documents but become engraved on the hearts of all those who will be touched by the "Passion of the Christ."

"... It is our hope and expectation that, apart from the central role The Passion of the Christ is to play in moving Christians and strengthening them in their faith, Gibson's film also will be used to foster greater mutual understanding and farther demystification of Christian and Jewish beliefs. In other words, we must not allow the film to be a source of tension; we must translate it into an opportunity."

We have embarked on a journey of reconciliation that only moves forward. I am confident that this movie, as well as the statements and continued presence, vision and leadership of Pope John Paul II, will be catalysts and inspirations for the journey that lies ahead. It is a journey that leads to life ... to reconciliation and to peace, together.

Let us commit ourselves passionately to these thoughts and give them flesh with our lives. Shabbat Shalom!

Fr. Thomas Rosica, a priest of the Congregation of St. Basil (C.S.B.), is Chief Executive Officer of Salt+Light Catholic Media Foundation. He has been a member of the Canadian Christian-Jewish Consultation, representing the Canadian Catholic bishops since 1994.