If you like the book, you’ll love the movie. Or is it the other way around? If you liked the movie, you’ll love the book.
The truth is that I loved the book (or books) when I read them for the first time in the 1970s. And I loved the movies (two so far) when they came out. Now I’m looking forward to The Return of the King, which will complete the trilogy that began with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers.
If the movies we love feature a good story line (like I said two Sundays back), this is one epic story. And if good story lines are built on conflict, the tale of the ten who set out to save Middle Earth from the evil Lord Sauron is one intense read! His work being voted the Book of the Century speaks well of J. R. R. Tolkien’s ability to write in a most captivating manner.
Last Sunday I talked about the movies we love revealing character development. They can’t be just all action. The audience wants to identify with the main characters. To understand why they do what they do. To cheer them on in their struggles. And who doesn’t identify with the hobbits in this saga? As the story moves along we witness with great interest the growing up of Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee.
This Sunday let me add that many of the movies we love present us with bigger-than-life heroes. Take your pick in this trilogy I’ve been talking about. Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf, Arwen—and hey, that’s just a start.
***
If you like the Gospel of John in the Bible, then you’ll love the new movie that’s out with that same title—The Gospel of John. Many of you have already gone to see it. If you haven’t, once again I urge you to do so this coming week. It’s playing at _________________.
Most of you have heard of Christopher Plummer, who narrates this film. He, of course, played Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Plummer has actually been in more than 80 movies including, more recently, A Beautiful Mind.
In this production, his is a big job, because the script is a word-for-word rendering of John’s gospel as it appears in the American Bible Society’s Good News Bible. The contract states that to use this translation, not one word could be changed, or removed, or added—not even a “the” or an “and.” So again, the movie script is literally the Book of John, verbatim.
Not as well known, but a man who does an incredible job playing the part of Jesus, is Henry Ian Cusick. He is a classically trained stage actor with the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. His long list of credits includes principal roles in Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Anthony and Cleopatra and Richard II.
Portraying Christ is not an easy assignment to take on. But I appreciate the way Cusick handles the role. He’s winsome, but still forceful. Compassionate, yet always totally in charge. I love the way he keeps referring to his father in heaven. The gospel of John almost takes on a warm and engaging father/son feel.
My personal response is that I can see myself following this kind of Christ. He knows who he is and what he had to do. Depicted here is great strength, but always under control. All in all, I find this Christ to be a most compelling personality. In fact, if we talk about the movies we love presenting “larger-than-life heroes,” I believe that’s a fitting way to describe how our Lord is presented.
***
The Great Books of the Western World 1973 Supplement featured a symposium on the topic of “The Hero and the Heroic Ideal.” Here it’s stated that certain characteristics mark all true heroes. That’s the case whether it’s someone out of the ancient world like Hercules, or a modern day comic book character such as Superman.
* To start with, the hero is capable of feats beyond the ability of ordinary individuals. Heroes pull the stronger bow or pack the more powerful punch. A hero can’t be himself or herself without special power. When that’s diminished, the reputation withers and somehow must be regained, as with the Samson story in scripture.
* There’s also a persistency factor. What heroes accomplish is not an isolated event. That could be just an accident or an anomaly. Heroes repeatedly display their power. Spiderman shows his prowess in numerous comic books, not just a single issue.
* Courage is another attribute. Heroes can be violent, self-serving, unjust, cruel, but they can’t be cowards. They must never despair, even in the face of hopeless odds.
* Finally, heroes face a certain aloneness or apartness. Sometimes they’re ridiculed or even disgraced. Average folk, like us, will never be able to appreciate fully what heroes must endure.
Even a brief look at these characteristics makes you quickly aware that Jesus meets all these qualifications. Who showed power for pulling off miracles like our Lord did, for example—on a stormy night walking on the choppy surface of the Sea of Galilee?
This was not an isolated event, either. In the Gospel of John, Christ fed 5,000 hungry men, plus women and children, with one little boy’s lunch. Jesus turned water into vintage wine and raised a man to life who had been dead for three days.
Was he courageous? Even when Jesus knew it would cost him his life, he rode into Jerusalem to confront the Jewish religious authorities, the leaders assigned to Judea by Imperial Rome, and the powers of hell itself.
Concerning aloneness—the words of the old spiritual come to mind, “Jesus walked this lonesome valley. He had to walk it all alone. Nobody else could walk it for him.”
So again, referring to Jesus as a larger-than-life hero is not inappropriate. You who saw the film, The Gospel of John, will agree, I’m sure, that this is a fitting description.
***
Turn with me now to John chapter 9, and let’s watch this Jesus in action. There are several passages I could have chosen that present him as a compelling hero to believe in. But this one I can read with very little comment. John chapter 9:
CHAPTER 9 1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parent, that he was born blind?”
3“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day; we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6Having said this; he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7“Go,” he told him, “Wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
What’s happening is so understated by John. That’s where movie helps us “see” the amazing miracle that’s occurred. Something truly remarkable has just been done by the young teacher from Galilee who, once again, proves he’s capable of feats beyond that of ordinary individuals.
8His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg? 9Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
You can’t blame people for doubting. Such a dramatic change of fortunes, for all practical purposes, was impossible. Yet this fellow insists, “I’m the same guy!”
10“How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded.
11He replied. “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12“Where is this man? they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The way John unfolds this story almost affirms its veracity. For most of his gospel, John doesn’t write in detail like this. But John was there and saw the event unfold. What he didn’t see he obviously heard the specifics being talked about and remembered them all his life.
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
Uh-oh! To the Pharisees, working on the Sabbath was a no-no.
15Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
That’s the Pharisees who were divided. Some apparently sensed the possibility that God was involved in what Jesus was doing. Others reasoned that if he was a representative of God, he certainly wouldn’t heal anyone on the Sabbath.
17Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
And he was right. Jesus was a prophet. But he would soon discover that Jesus was more than that.
18The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19“Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So the parents established the fact that this was indeed their son and yes, he had been born blind. Therefore, a true miracle of note had taken place. But they played it safe in terms of getting involved in the Jesus issue.
24A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
I love that. “I don’t know whether or not Jesus is a sinner. But one thing I do know—I was blind and now for the first time in my life—I’m seeing!”
26Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
That comment upset his interrogators.
28Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
Listen now as this simple man speaks the very words God might if he suddenly talked out loud.
30The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
But they refuse to hear the obvious.
34To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Now his healer shows up.
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
That’s what the Pharisees should have done—believed the obvious and bowed in worship before Christ. But they refused to.
The man who formerly was blind didn’t share their hang-ups, however. In deep gratitude for his sight, he now worshiped his savior. And when you think about it, a young healer who gives sight to pitiful blind people is quite a compelling hero to follow.
This chapter ends with Jesus talking about another category of blind people.
39Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
***
Let me return to what I said a minute ago. A young healer who gives sight to pitiful blind people is a compelling hero to believe in.
Over my lifetime I have known several blind people. I’ve always felt a certain pity for them. That’s not because I believe I’m superior in any way. The truth of the matter is that their ability to function and their remarkable talents amaze me. But not being able to see is such a decided disadvantage. I sincerely wish they could. I’d probably give them one of my own eyes if such a trade could be successfully worked out.
I feel the same way about people who are spiritually blind. They’re not inferior to me. Because I’ve experienced the life Christ offers doesn’t give me grounds to boast. It’s just that to not know the Lord, in my thinking, would be an incomparable disadvantage. To live without the peace he brings would be frightening. The sense of divine companionship that’s developed over the years would be sorely missed. The security I feel facing aging and death I wouldn’t trade for anything. So again, I’m not looking down on anyone when I say that people who are spiritually blind have my pity. I genuinely feel for them.
If I couldn’t see, if I were physically blind, news of a young healer who had given sight to others would be intriguing. It would be all the more wonderful to hear that he wasn’t in it for the money, that he wasn’t charging a fortune for his miracle touch. Let’s face it, to have no hope whatsoever regarding a change from a really rough existence, to being freely given a whole new lease on life—how wonderful! I believe that meeting this miracle worker would be the single focus of my life!
And the same would be true spiritually speaking. To have made so many mistakes in life, to have blundered and sinned and hurt others and terribly disappointed myself time and again—and to realize that with age I’m really not doing a whole lot better than I was when I was younger. How blind can I be?! Well, I certainly would want to meet someone who could turn things around for me—give me forgiveness for my past wrongs, and, can you believe it, a brand new start.
Yes, I know some people are like the Pharisees, who were too proud to admit they were blind. Pretty much everyone else knew they were hypocrites, out mainly for themselves. Spiritual leaders in their own eyes, but in reality the blind leading the blind. And yes, there are still such people around. I trust you’re not one of them.
I say praise the Lord, who sent his only son Jesus to earth. As I’ve searched the Scripture I’ve always found Christ to be most compelling. And now I can say that if you like the Book of John, you’ll love the movie called The Gospel of John. Here Jesus comes off as the hero he really is. And I know the truth is that in real life our Lord was far better than he’s portrayed in the film!
A young healer who gives sight to pitiful blind people is a compelling hero to believe in. That’s John’s bottom line reason for writing his gospel. This comes out clearly as you watch the movie, because it’s John’s writing word-for-word, and He wants people to believe in Jesus. For their own sake he wants them to believe.
Not believe like some of the supposedly open-minded Pharisees did. Remember what they said? “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” Resaid, “Yes it was the Sabbath, but look at what this man did on the Sabbath. He gave sight to a blind man. That’s not the feat of an ordinary person. And Jesus has done a series of miracles like this!” But their observations didn’t mean they were committed to Christ. When Jesus reprimanded them he said, “I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” And not one Pharisee responded, “I too was blind, but I see now! I worship you, Jesus.”
That’s like seeing the movie The Gospel of John and on the way out telling a friend, “I liked it”--but who Christ is and what he expects doesn’t really touch who you are going to be from now on. You only liked it the way you liked The Two Towers or The Return of the King.
If you’re spiritually blind, the way you receive your sight is to admit that, spiritually speaking, you’re blind as a bat. At best, you’re just groping in the dark. But now you’ve come to Jesus Christ as “the light of the world.” That’s what our Lord called himself back in verse 4.
Tell Jesus that it’s his light you want to follow. Yes, you will live loving God and loving others like he commanded. You haven’t lived this way, but if he will forgive you and enter you by his Spirit, your intent will be to follow his example. Unfortunately, apart from receiving spiritual sight there’s not a way in the world you can pull off such a change. But if he will just take the darkness away and fill you with his light, that miracle will suffice. Then you too will say, “I worship you, Jesus. I attribute worth to you. I now believe that you alone are worthy of my allegiance.”
How does one explain what happens next? Words fail us. But in countries all around the earth people will testify with an expression like what was heard earlier, “One thing I know. Once I was blind, but now I see.”
That’s because giving sight to blind people remains one of the specialties of Jesus. Isn’t it about time you personally experienced that miracle?
The truth is, he’s more than a prophet, as great as that is. He’s far more than what an actor can portray on the screen. He’s even beyond the larger-than-life superhero category. Jesus is none other than the Son of God. And he waits today for you to be another of those who bows a knee in worship before him.
