Sunday, February 03, 2019
Unbreakable
I watched "Unbreakable" last night. I liked how it talked about comic books presenting exaggerations of true phenomenon in the world. I didn't like how it left no room for transcendence, as though all the powers of the heroes and villains are only and merely imminently present in the world. It still, however, speaks to us in powerful ways, I think....
In the scriptural narrative, which we are all living out, the God of all creation, in Christ, identifies with His people in his baptisms in water and blood. So, we are GIVEN an identity. Unlike Elijah in the film, we don't have to anxiously search for who we are while on a path of destruction. So, in Christ, we have an identity. We are His.
Also, in the scriptural narrative, Christ is the "Son of God," the one who "well pleases" God and to whom we are to listen. "Son of God" there denotes royalty. That means that Christ is the royal representative of God; Christ is the image of God on earth. But, wait, I thought that was what humanity is in the scriptural narrative? The "image of God" (see the creation story)? Ha. Exactly! This means that Christ was on a mission to restore and redeem humanity in Himself. In being given the gift of an identity we don't have to fight for, we don't lose but gain our humanity. In Christ, who was broken for us, we also aren't a bunch of nobodies living in darkness and hopelessness, the image of which haunted Elijah for much of his life. In Christ, we inherit His royalty (through participation in his suffering and on to glory).
But, practically speaking, what does that mean? Adam and Eve were also given the task or "purpose" of "tending" to and caring for the garden. Well, Christ upped the ante on our original purpose and launched the project to restore and redeem not a garden but the whole of Creation. And, He continues that work through His royal people with whom he identifies, who have authority, power, and meaning in Him! Only royalty has the right to shape the world, and it is inherited through His suffering. So, in Him, we have both identity and "purpose." And, that purpose is kind of a big deal. All of creation is all.
Unlike Elijah in Unbreakable, we don't have to achingly and anxiously take it upon ourselves to seek and pursue "purpose" while on a difficult and daunting path that leads to destruction. That would break anyone. Instead, Christ lifts us up, heals our wounds by His own, and sends us on His way.
The task given to Israel through Abraham of being "a blessing to the nations" turns into showing the world what His Way looks like.
I was deeply moved when, in Unbroken, David Dunn is free from "the sadness" when he finds his mission and identity. I was reminded of my own life, when I was freed to love more fully and effectively - not to mention more centered on others - when I saw that I was taken up into the identity and mission (or task) of Christ. In other words, when I started "doing what I'm supposed to be doing." There were some cleansing waters flowing down my face.
We have a purpose, and we don't have to bear the burden of finding it on our own. In Him, we find rest. When Psalm 23 says He leads me beside still waters, I don't imagine them as the murky kinds of waters with darkness, serpents, and bugs swirling around beneath the surface that occasionally make themselves appear above for us to see and fear. Waters into which we will disappear and drown forever, David Dunn's kryptonite. Those seem to constitute Elijah's inglorious vision into which he's staring in this still pic from the film. Instead, I imagine the waters of our rest in His identity and vocation as clear and cleansing fires reflecting purifying, transcendent light.
In the scriptural narrative, which we are all living out, the God of all creation, in Christ, identifies with His people in his baptisms in water and blood. So, we are GIVEN an identity. Unlike Elijah in the film, we don't have to anxiously search for who we are while on a path of destruction. So, in Christ, we have an identity. We are His.
Also, in the scriptural narrative, Christ is the "Son of God," the one who "well pleases" God and to whom we are to listen. "Son of God" there denotes royalty. That means that Christ is the royal representative of God; Christ is the image of God on earth. But, wait, I thought that was what humanity is in the scriptural narrative? The "image of God" (see the creation story)? Ha. Exactly! This means that Christ was on a mission to restore and redeem humanity in Himself. In being given the gift of an identity we don't have to fight for, we don't lose but gain our humanity. In Christ, who was broken for us, we also aren't a bunch of nobodies living in darkness and hopelessness, the image of which haunted Elijah for much of his life. In Christ, we inherit His royalty (through participation in his suffering and on to glory).
Unlike Elijah in Unbreakable, we don't have to achingly and anxiously take it upon ourselves to seek and pursue "purpose" while on a difficult and daunting path that leads to destruction. That would break anyone. Instead, Christ lifts us up, heals our wounds by His own, and sends us on His way.
The task given to Israel through Abraham of being "a blessing to the nations" turns into showing the world what His Way looks like.
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
- Isaiah 2: 2-3, and Micah 4: 1-2
I was deeply moved when, in Unbroken, David Dunn is free from "the sadness" when he finds his mission and identity. I was reminded of my own life, when I was freed to love more fully and effectively - not to mention more centered on others - when I saw that I was taken up into the identity and mission (or task) of Christ. In other words, when I started "doing what I'm supposed to be doing." There were some cleansing waters flowing down my face.
We have a purpose, and we don't have to bear the burden of finding it on our own. In Him, we find rest. When Psalm 23 says He leads me beside still waters, I don't imagine them as the murky kinds of waters with darkness, serpents, and bugs swirling around beneath the surface that occasionally make themselves appear above for us to see and fear. Waters into which we will disappear and drown forever, David Dunn's kryptonite. Those seem to constitute Elijah's inglorious vision into which he's staring in this still pic from the film. Instead, I imagine the waters of our rest in His identity and vocation as clear and cleansing fires reflecting purifying, transcendent light.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
- Psalm 34
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