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This past Friday evening two ministers and I gathered together with a group of Christians and Jews at Temple Bat Yam to discuss the story of the Passion of Jesus, so much in the news recently. Our goal was to explain our mutual attachments and sensitivities regarding this story to each other, and build bridges between ourselves and our communities. We were most successful. Reverend Larry Schneider of Unity Church in Minden, and Father Jeff Paul of St. Peter’s Episcopalian Church in Carson City joined me for this panel discussion. Our initial question was: “What does the story of the Passion mean to you from the perspective of your tradition?” Answering this question from our three liberal traditions proved to be the start of an evening of wonderful communication – not just between the three of us on the panel, but also between everyone who attended. Jews got to share their trepidation with the historical presentation of the story of the death of Jesus. Such “Passion Plays,” starting in the Middle Ages, often led to outbreaks of Christian persecution of already downtrodden Jewish populations. This sensitivity on the part of Jews often gets in the way of understanding just what exactly is so important about this story to our Christian neighbors. Such sensitivity has been the primary voice for our responses to the story in past months. Father Jeff recalled his sense of how the suffering of Jesus plays such a central role in Christian salvation. That is that when Jesus suffered, no one came to his aid, and that led to his forgiveness of not only all of those who let him die – which was everyone – but all of those in all ages who have fallen short. This story forms the backbone of Christian belief, and most of us from a Jewish perspective have little experience with an honest sharing of that view. Reverend Larry explained how all of these stories offer us the same teaching, one with which many Jews are familiar – learn about the divine, worship the divine, and act in ways that exhibit love of the divine. Larry teaches much from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, meaning that we share many perspectives. What followed were many questions, as well as explorations, about Mel Gibson’s presentation of this story in his latest film. There was much agreement about the movie, including the sense that it strayed from the text of the New Testament in many ways. We reminded everyone that the text of the New Testament itself is an argument against the Judaism of the Second Temple period, and is therefore pretty anti-Jewish on its own. Yet, even though the text and the movie have been sources of dissent between Christians and Jews, everyone felt an amazing accord with each other that evening. We all hope that this is only the first of many occasions for fruitful dialogue and discussion. Please be on the lookout for other interfaith dialogue opportunities – we accomplish so much more when we speak openly and honestly with each other.
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