A man stood off to the side, surrounded by a group of 15 or so people crowding in on him, squeezing close, from afar there appeared to be a quiet intensity about that little huddle of people not the least of which included the large sign he carried, bordered with flames...
Across from this group were thousands of oblivious concert-goers. Not knowing, or not caring, to hear what this man had to tell them.
I stood observing him for five or ten minutes. To give him (and those around him) credit, there did not seem to be any shouting or intimidating going on, but there was plenty of tension, plenty of angry tones, plenty of hostility, toward him and his message, as well as from him.
I and a friend drew closer to listen, joining that little crowd of people (this group was gaining and losing people every moment, but there were a few faces who remained the entire time I was there) who were variously trying to argue, trying to belittle, finding something to laugh at, finding something to be angry at, being confused, and being agravated, or just listening...
A few faces stood out to me::
A young gothic teenager and his gothic girlfriend, he seem angry and frustrated; the girl told me she was a Christian when my friend asked her, she was not happy with this man's presence.
Another gothic man, perhaps my age, wearing a set of handcuffs, a red tee-shirt, and a shaved head. His face more than any other stands out in my mind's eye. The entire time I was there (20 minutes?) he never said anything, he had a very meek demeanor with folded hands, as though he didn't want to provoke, and he wore (what seemed to me) a pained expression on his face. I did not speak to him, but it seemed to me as though he wanted to listen, to understand why he was destined for hell, as though he wanted to hear what this man said, almost out of self-loathing...
...I want to speak to him.
Other faces, mocking and jeering, arguing and confronting; I am sure that my own was somewhat twisted with anguish...
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Earlier I had watched the movie with Denzel Washington, Man on Fire. Now, you are going to have to grant me some leeway here, which I think is warranted by Jesus own way of speaking; the Parable of the Unjust Judge is an example of Jesus speaking of God in a way that gets at a truth, even though it speaks of God in other ways that aren't necessarily true; so bear with me here.
In this movie Denzel Washington plays a broken man, a drunk haunted by evil things he has done, it is hinted at that he was involved in covert military operations. He sporadically reads the Scriptures and at one point he asks, "Can God forgive us for what we have done?" He lands a job as a body guard for an elite and wealthy family in Latin America. His primary role is to protect their young daughter from kidnapping. At first he presents the young girl with a gruff exterior, but her love for him wins him over, he comes to love her. When she is kidnapped, and then killed, he unleashes upon her killers with vengeance.
He is relentless, and goes to any lengths to rescue her, and then avenge her, without concern for the risk or cost to himself. He will not be dissuaded from his course of action, he has found the one thing in life that has made it okay for him to live, and now she has been harmed.
Perhaps it was simply the plot itself and the acting of Mr. Washington, and yet, I know that it was aided by the portrayal of the young girl by a blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl, similar to my own beautiful daughter Zoe; for whatever reason, this film touched me. I couldn't help but cry at several points in the film, and even afterward... and I felt that God was saying to me, "Steve, my heart loves like this, my heart hurts like this; tell them that I love them like this!"
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...and so, when I saw these people listening to this man explaining to them why God wants to torture them for eternity, I was moved... I don't know how to respond. I didn't really respond then in any way other than to listen, and be sad. It demands a response. People have to know, they need to know that God desperately loves them, He yearns to be with them.
Isn't that the point of the Parable of the Lost coin, the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Son? Isn't that what we hear whispered in the name of Jesus? Isn't that what we see when we look to the cross? At the anguish of God, desparate to recover to himself, his dear children?
3 comments:
The 'bull-horn guy', as I've met him, doesn't appear to bridge the gap. Rather, he tries to motivate out of some kind of fear. I've really only seen this work when hunting buffalo...you spook 'em, and run 'em off a cliff so you can eat 'em later.
PS - I dug 'man on fire' too.
I once saw a film called "The burning hell", shown in a church. My wife and I giggled the whole way through, it was so unutterably kitsch. But at the altar call that followed, a surprising number of people went forward.
I was slightly repentant about my cynicism, and thought, "by all means save some".
"by all means save some".
I agree, but of course, I think you would agree, that putting a gun to someone's head and leading them in the 'sinner's prayer' even if someone actually came to a deep, real and lasting trust in God through the experience, would hardly be continuing in the footsteps of the work of Jesus.
I have no problem believing that this man in the square was doing the best he knew how...
...it is exactly THAT that I find so saddening!
We are failing the world if we teach ourselves to 'win the world for Jesus' by means that Jesus would abhor.
PS I finally figured out that all of Bill's references to "Steve's Orthodoxy" weren't directed towards me!!!
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