I think it is Mel Gibson himself that so eloquantly put it, in his Prime Time interview last night.
The human race killed Jesus. We killed him because of our sins; which he so readily died for as was the divine plan.
Technically speaking however, it was the jews that persecuted Jesus, and the romans who sentenced him. Pontius Pilate, dispite his ruthless nature could find no wrong doing in Jesus, and even spoke on his behalf initally. He only sentenced Jesus to appease the crowd and keep them from rioting. He offered them a prisoner of choice for release to further sooth their raging anger.
The farasees and high priests were hypocrites and as I pointed out in another thread (and Kalamos has here) of this nature, Jesus was expected to be a mightly conqueror and a powerful politician, and all for the service of Israel alone. The fact that Jesus came as a vulnerable infant, and in the most humblest of ways, and came for jews, gentiles and every other tribe of the world enraged them and they denounced him.
Furthermore, the jews do not believe in the New Testament or the Gospels, therefore. One of the reasons the jewish people are still fighting the "holy" war is because of a territorial dispute, wherein they claim God gave the land to them. They are still waiting for the Messiah to come the first time, whereas Christians are awaiting the second coming.
You wonder, at least I do, that if the jews had accepted Jesus as God and the Messiah, even after playing a major and leading role in putting him to death (an undeniable fact, as jews admit and acknowledge Jesus DID exist) that the "holy" war which isn't holy at all, wouldn't be happening. You wonder how they might have been transformed and how relations in the region might be better than they are. Many jews were converted upon the sight of the crucified Jesus, as were many roman soldiers; leaving pagonism for Christianity. Longinus is the roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with his lance to make sure he was dead. After the veil split in two (which has a symbolic meaning), the thunder started and the earth trembled, I believe it was Longinus who said "Surely this was the Son of God!" Longinus by the way is a confirmed Saint; in catholism anyway. He was so converted by his experience that he went on to do good deeds dispite the roman occupation of Israel.
Most christians and jews that have seen an advanced screening of "The Passion Of The Christ" don't see it as anti-semetic. The movie, as Mel Gibson put it is about the PASSION of Christ. Not his birth, not his resurrection, his PASSION. Simply put, if you can't bare to see the truth as accurately portrayed as humanly possible with the means given us as a race, then you simply shouldn't watch the movie.
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