Mr. Gibson, I'm Praying

Racism, bigotry, and prejudice of any kind cannot be supported by Christians or Jews. It is in complete conflict with our most sacred words and doctrine. Howecver, both are replete with the mandate to not only seek personal forgiveness, but to grant it to others.

By now all of us have heard the hour by hour reports about Mel Gibson's arrest for DUI and the media frenzy that followed with his apology and the counter accusations or commentary from various religious groups, Jewish and Christian leaders.

Father Jonathan Morris, a regular commentator on the Fox blog and consultant on the set of Gibson's blockbuster, The Passion, has addressed this matter as someone who personally knows Mel Gibson and speaks for a significant segment of the Christian community. His entire comments on the subject can be found at www.foxnews.com/fatherjonathan. His closing remarks are not the remarks of a blindly loyal friend, but of someone who is trying to practice the Judeo-Christian mandate and ethic of forgiveness and accountability. He writes:

"Mel’s deplorable comments came from somewhere. In his inebriated state, he revealed what was on his mind in a given moment. Together with Mel, I condemn his statements about Jewish people and say they are not true. But I praise him for what is on his mind now, in cold and reflective sobriety, as expressed in his first apology and his subsequent letter to the Jewish community. Now is a time for forgiveness. Mel has asked for it. We should give it."

Gibson's struggle with alcohol is nothing new. By his own admission in countless interviews leading up to The Passion and beyond he is a compulsive. This is not big news to the rest of us who struggle with some type of compulsive behavior, whether it be perfection, shopping, cleanliness, gambling, smoking, over-eating, etc. During the days leading up to the release of The Passion, I expected something like this to happen. Those of us connected with the ministry of recovery know full well that compulsives who are not participating in an ongoing process of recovery are in the words of a friend in recovery ministry, "one step away from stupid."

If Christians and Jews cannot offer forgiveness to Mr. Gibson, then every one of us needs to stop seeking God's unconditional grace and forgiveness. If Jews and Christians cannot practice forgiveness then we need to remove Psalm 51 and Matthew 18:21ff from our respective Bibles, not to mention the countless biblical pleas to God: "forgive the sins of your servant; forgive the sins of your people; forgive my sin; forgive their sins; forgive their wickedness", etc.

Gibson's statement can be found at: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/07/29/gibson.statement/index.html

The remarks and comments attributed to Mr. Gibson at the time of his arrest are indeed reprehensible, damning, vitrolic and mean-spirited. So are racists or prejudicial remarks made daily in complete sobriety toward Arabs, women, "Yankees", "Rednecks", Hispanics, Asians , African Americans, opposing schools, and on and on. How dare we dismiss, or rationalize our own prejudices by taking pleasure in Mr. Gibson's? Jesus said we need to get the log out of our own eye before we focus on the toothpick in our brother or sister's eye. I didn't say it was easy and without struggle. But if we're going to practice Judaism, or Christianity, we must love people, all people and leave judgement to God and the civil authorities charged with that responsibility.

For some time God has been telling me over and over, "love people Monty, love people." Funny, He says it more often when I'm around people who are very different from me in terms of culture/country of origin, skin color and ethnic background. I think He means it! No, I know He means it because His Palestinian-born, dark skinned, Aramaic-speaking, Jewish son died to show it.

Mr. Gibson, I'm praying for you. Your recovery, your walk, your talk and the reconciliation that needs to take place between you and the Jewish community. I'm praying you'll have the courage to admit when you are wrong and to seek deeper understanding and the respect of those you previously and perhaps even subconciously condemned. I'm praying that the spotlight on you will be dimmed long enough for you to have some time and space to work on your recovery and your family. I am praying for your family who (like mine in the past) are paying for an attitude, behavior and remarks they did not choose.

Mr. Gibson, I'm still thanking God (regardless of the motivation and critics) that you had the courage to tell the story of Jesus in a way that has never been told before and launched discussions, articles, blogs, books and a global conversation about Jesus that no church , or denomination could accomplish on its own. I'm thankful that you didn't physically hurt yourself, or someone else last weekend. I'm praying, as I do for myself every day, that when you are all alone with God you will find peace. I'm praying that my own attitudes, behavior, words and actions will reveal a love for others that is not humanly possible. I'm praying for Christians and Jews alike, to personally reflect and think about the implication and impact of our comments and actions before we make them.

Matt 6:14-15
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (from New International Version)


Finally, I'm thanking God for His all too generous forgiveness and His patience with a deeply flawed, all too human pastor who is always, "one step away from stupid."