‘Passion of the Christ’ gets mixed reaction in Everett

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2004

EVERETT — Connie Lysene was so moved by "The Passion of the Christ" that she sobbed through parts of it and still was shaken an hour afterward. Bill Comfort called the movie "crummy" and thought it didn’t accurately reflect biblical teachings.

Even before it opened on Wednesday, Mel Gibson’s story of Jesus’ last hours stirred more emotions than almost any film in memory. Some Jewish leaders labeled it anti-Semitic, while hundreds of Christian churches nationwide booked theaters for private screenings complete with prayer sessions.

After they left the noon screening at the Everett 9 theaters, Lysene, Comfort and three other Snohomish County residents — all from different religious congregations — debated the film’s merit at a nearby restaurant.

Six cinemas in the county are showing the movie, and some screenings have been selling out days in advance.

Lysene, 30, who attends Living Hope Community Church in Lynnwood, said that by focusing on the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life, the film captured the essence of her beliefs.

"His death and resurrection are the center of Christianity," she said. "Without that, we have nothing. We have no forgiveness of our sins."

But Comfort, 55, a lay leader at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Everett, said several scenes were purely Gibson’s imagination. And he was bothered by scene after scene that graphically portrayed the brutal torture of Christ.

"Only the briefest, tiniest bit of Jesus’ teaching is shoehorned in here and there," Comfort said, referring to several scenes flashing back to Jesus’ sermons. "Christianity is all about the Sermon on the Mount, which is about love. Jesus is all about love. Christianity is all about love, not brutality."

Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman of Temple Beth Or in Everett agreed.

"Christianity is a religion of love, of caring for the sick, of caring for the poor, of caring for people who are oppressed," he said. "But I didn’t see that in this movie."

Instead, he said the movie glossed over the Romans’ part in Jesus’ death and exaggerated the Jews’ role.

Depictions of Jesus’ passion — which comes from "passio," Latin for "a suffering" — has been used for centuries to incite hatred and violence against Jews, Muslims and others, Karz-Wagman said.

"It’s not supposed to create hostility against people," said Shereen Doughty, 55, who attends Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Everett. "No one group of people, no religion, no culture was responsible for his death. It was all of us. Every human being since Adam and Eve has been responsible, and I thought that was depicted in the film quite well."

Despite the graphic violence, the film ultimately is about love and forgiveness, said Suzan Bartee, who attends New Life Center Foursquare Church in Everett. It was a story of how God loved humanity so much that he sacrificed his son, and how Jesus loved and forgave even those who tortured him.

"After seeing this, you can never forget that, just as he forgave those people, we have no right not to forgive others," said Bartee, 40. "You can never forget that you should never have to stop and think about being a good person, that helping someone who needs something should be a part of your character. You should be like Jesus to all people."

Comfort added, "We can all agree with that."

Karz-Wagman, who said in a recent sermon at Temple Beth Or that he hoped people of different faiths would get beyond the film’s controversy and focus on working together to help others, smiled.

"I think that’s wonderful," he said.

Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com