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I saw a movie this week that moved me, changed me, inspired me and deepened my faith.

I was blessed to be part of a small group of people invited to a screening in Washington of Mel Gibson's "The Passion."

Even better was the fact that Mel Gibson was there to introduce the rough cut and answer questions for an hour afterward.

It was a memorable day, but it was Mel Gibson's art that stole the show.

It's not an easy picture to watch. It's grueling, in fact. It's torturous – as it should be under the circumstances. It's the story of inhuman suffering willingly accepted in the ultimate substitutional sacrifice. It's hard to watch such graphic depictions of a man suffering and dying – even when you know the ultimate outcome. But it is worth it. This is horror we all need to see and understand. This is a death that shouldn't be glossed over.

Before seeing the picture, I had read quite a bit about this movie. I had read it was controversial. I read some considered it anti-Semitic. I had read there was great concern expressed over the story.

I don't understand why.

I consider myself a good friend to the Jewish community in the U.S. and around the world. On an average, I speak to one large Jewish audience per month. I have warned Jewish audiences around the nation and the world about the rising tide of anti-Semitism. I believe it is real. I know it is a threat. I am deeply concerned about it.

But let me tell my Jewish friends: You have nothing to worry about in this movie. Drop it. Forget it. Don't waste another minute concerning yourselves with it. It is a wonderful, inspirational Christian movie that in no way takes any potshots at the Jews as a people.

It is a thoughtful, sobering, accurate recounting of the torture, death and resurrection of Jesus as told in the Gospels. Nothing more. Nothing less. Why this should be threatening to Jews is beyond me – particularly when Jews and Christians are making historic efforts to get along with one another, to find common ground and to recognize and celebrate their common values.

There's nothing remotely controversial about this movie for Christians – not real believers, not Protestants, not Catholics. So, if the Anti-Defamation League chooses to make an issue of this film, it will be the organization's own undoing. In effect, the ADL will be telling Christians their most deeply held beliefs, their faith, their Holy Scriptures are offensive.

To take issue with this movie is, essentially, to take issue with the Gospels, to take issue with the Christian faith and to take issue with a monumental artistic achievement by a filmmaker of increasing stature.

I wouldn't recommend that path to my friends in the Jewish community. It would be a dreadful mistake. It would set back Christian-Jewish relations – now at a high point in this country.

This is a movie that may not be the biggest box-office success ever, but it will resonate in the hearts and souls of millions and millions of Christians when it is released next spring – and, I suspect, for generations to come.

I am impressed beyond words.

Yet, the New York Times has tried to savage the movie. The New Republic is attempting to do it now. Others will certainly jump into the fray, having been stirred to passion by Abraham Foxman and the ADL.

They will all fail. They will all look foolish in the end. This is Mel Gibson's artistic triumph. It is his spiritual triumph. It is an act of faith that I believe will be rewarded.

It's time to get out of the way. It's time to let the artists finish this movie their way. It's time to stop all the idle gossip about it. It's time, simply, to wait – to give this film a chance to speak for itself.

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