Coming down the Pixar Pike

Last summer, Pixar exposed its humanity by dropping Cars 2 into the lap of America.

Those movie makers had smashed home run after home run by anchoring their feet on two solid foundations: the mystique of original characters and a depth of story that wrenched the human heart.  Cars 2 failed on both counts.  While their other sequels, Toy Story 2 and 3, returned familiar characters, the new characters captivated us, and the stories continued to plumb the human soul. Cars 2, on the other hand, smacked of commercialism and political correctness.

Back to the drawing board of originality ran the Pixar artists. From that easel springs Brave due out this summer. After viewing the trailer (below), I'm not hopeful. Take a gander yourself. I offer some encouragements and concerns afterwards.



Here we go.

PLUSES

1. PIXAR. Even with the dud that Cars 2 turned out to be, it was still better fare than 97% of the refuse that Hollywood is cranking out. Artists. Master storytellers. Bring it.

2. ART. Yes, they are cartoons. Yes, they are movies. Yes, they are geared to younger audiences. But they are incredible works of art. They drill a bullseye everytime they match a vocal talent with a character. The worlds the characters inhabit breathe.  Attention to detail beyond what you will ever notice. And it's not just noise. It enhances and never detracts. Brave seems to continue in that vein.

3. SCOTTISH ACCENTS. You can make just about anything better with a Scottish accent. While these are only words, "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain," you can't read them without hearing the lamenting pleas of Montgomery Scott's brogue.

Yeah, I'm sorry. That's it from the trailer. On to the ...

MINUSES


1. LOW-GRADE HUMOR. A nipple-pinch and a hoisted kilt to reveal a Scottish full moon. You expect such from South Park or The Simpsons, but its not the humor we've come to know and love from Pixar.


2. CHARACTER STEALING. Didn't it seem to you like they ripped off the characters and styles of How to Train Your Dragon or perhaps Tangled?


3. MEN ARE STUPID. Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible). A great character. A man. Unashamed. His heroics. His struggles. Bob Parr is an uncommon Hollywood character. Most male characters idolize adolescence and follow their hormones. They're idiots. Dolts. Pixar has done a decent job portraying men as heroic and noble. Perhaps King Fergus might be such a man. The clip offered little hope.


4. HELEN REDDY REDUX. Is this going to be yet another "I am woman--hear me roar" flick? Men are stupid and the women are heroes. Alas. Can we not have strong men and women without turning women into warriors and men into transvestites?


Well, I thought a story about bugs would be stupid and about an old man and a Boy Scout as exciting as chess. I was WRONG.


Here's hoping I'm wrong again. Bring it! We're going.

The godly example of Theoden King

For reasons various, a fictional character has preoccupied my mind a lot lately. In truth, I think about him often for, you see, Theoden King, sovereign of Rohan, creature of J.R.R. Tolkien's fertile imagination, brought to life in The Two Towers and The Return of the King, resonates in my soul.


"How juvenile!" some may exclaim. "Why don't you spend a bit more time in reality than in Middle Earth?" others might muse. Perhaps I should, but I have always been captivated by fiction. It took the likes of Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, and G.K. Chesterton to help me understand that maybe I wasn't just locked in my childhood, that perhaps the deep truths of reality are often best conveyed and digested through stories.

In no other character of fact or fiction can I feel the heartbeat, understand the mind, or wear the skin more than I can with Theoden. I am not him. I long to be him. And perhaps that says too much.

As he has filled my mind of late, my soul has been stirred by his godly example.

REDEMPTION

When we first happen upon this man, his kingdom is in disarray, his friends have left him, and he himself has grown gnarled and grotesque by the poison in his soul. He cannot escape nor does he want to. He rots in his oblivion. He hearkens the banter of the demon in his ear.

One day, the filth is driven from his soul, not by his hand at all, completely through the work of another, one who has already died that others might live (Gandalf at the Bridge of Khazad Dum). Theoden did not want it, did not deserve it, nor could he accomplish it, but redemption came to him nonetheless.

And what of me? While I was still a sinner, while I stood an enemy of God, while I was without power, Christ died for me.  Consider Romans 5.

"While we were still weak...while we were still sinners...while we were enemies..." (vv. 6, 8, 10)

REALIZATION

The transformation is immediate. He can see with clarity. As one who has woken from a nightmare, only to find it wasn't a nightmare but reality, Theoden comes to terms with the consequences of what he has done.

At the same time, there is no condemnation from the one who brought redemption.

Gandalf:  "Breathe the free air again, my friend."

Paul said, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1) and "The old is gone, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In response to this new life, this fresh opportunity, Theoden purges the poison from his presence. Grabbing Grima Wormtongue by the scruff of his coat, Theoden casts him from his court and down its steps bidding him never to darken the halls of his home again.

For the believer, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and we are to abhor what is evil and to hold fast what is good (12:9). With eyes to see, I cannot coddle what corrupted me in the past. I cannot call good what God calls evil. With the power and strength that comes through the Holy Spirit, I must be holy as my Lord is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16).

Be gone, Grima!

RESPONSIBILITY

Gandalf and company redeemed Theoden for a reason. The free air breathes well and Rohan could not be a nicer place to live, but dark clouds demanded that he consider his people. He was saved for a purpose. Not knowing the outcome, not knowing if he would succeed, he began to lead his people away from Rohan toward the fortress of Helm's Deep. They could not stay or they would surely die.

God has not saved me to stagnate in my salvation. Yes, the free air of not being enslaved to sin is good. Certainly, knowing that I have eternal life, that I am a child of the King with a place in heaven is great. But God did not save me to sit. "I know the plans I have for you," he says. Lest you suggest that is "Old" Testament, Paul makes plain that God crafts his workmanship upon us that we might set about working upon the tasks he has ordained for us (Ephesians 2:10).

Regarding the work, we have no promise regarding its outcome in this life. We must not lose heart in our labors (Galatians 6:9) but must trust that he will complete the work that he has begun in our lives (Philippians 1:6). And so we put our hand to the tasks that he has laid before us.

DOUBT and DESPAIR

"Who am I Gamling?" Theoden mumbles amidst the numbness of the pending battle. Against the hordes and with so few, the man sees himself as but a man.

Gamling encourages the one who should be encouraging him, "You are our king."

Theoden further sighs, "And do you trust your king?"


Oh, the ache! Who am I, Lord? What am I?

The spiritual will rightly counter that Christ has won the victory. Ultimate good will triumph for it has triumphed. On these things we must hold fast. Yes, all this is true, but life overwhelms. Darkness runs ashore like a tsunami with unstoppable speed and force. Have you never felt that despair? There are days when life crushes like a refrigerator on the shoulders. Perhaps on that day you can be Gamling to another man and simply say, "You are our king (or boss or friend or brother). Your men will follow you to whatever end," and thereby spur him to take the next step with legs seemingly crippled with care.

GRACE

After Helm's Deep, the people of Rohan could return to their home. They celebrated victory, celebrated valor, and mourned their dead. And yet darkness still remained. Gondor, the country far to the east, stood toe to toe with evil and needed Rohan's help, but Gondor had not come to the aid of Rohan.

"Where was Gondor when the Westfold fell? Where was Gondor when our enemies closed in around us?" Theoden seethes through clenched teeth.

Perhaps nothing stings so deeply as being forsaken by a friend and a brother. Perhaps nothing festers and gives birth to bitterness as such things. How well Bernard Hill portrays this in the film as he inhabits the role of Rohan's king! In his bitterness, he would not go to the aid of Gondor.

Then it becomes plain that Gondor's need is dire and that if that country falls, nothing stands between Rohan and the tidal wave of darkness. He must go. But he does not just go. No, he musters as large a force as he can to come to the aid of his brothers.

As a Christ-follower, I must follow Christ. Consider the example of the one who was forsaken by those closest to him, by those who denied him and fled from him, those who lied about even knowing him. Notice that Paul specifies in his description of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:5 that he appeared especially to Peter, the most egregious betrayer of the lot (apart from Judas), Jesus' closest friend and most vehement denier. We see part of that love and restoration fleshed out in John 21:15-19.

Maybe you have been stung by close friends. If the former, lavish grace upon those who wounded you deeply. Extend your love to them, fight for them, because they may not know how or have the strength to reach out to you. If you don't know how to reach out, if you don't think you have the strength, trust the God who gives strength and when the fires of Minas Tirith are lit, you can come to the aid of your friend.

SACRIFICE

Courage. Doing what must be done amidst certain doom. Standing on the deck of Titanic with your violin and three other men playing "Nearer My God to Thee" providing comfort to those facing death when you needed comfort yourself. Theoden knows their demise is certain as he crests the hill of Pelennor Fields, and yet ride they must. I weep even as I write.

"Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises! ... Ride now!... Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending! Death!"

And me? What of me? I hide my face in shame at such courage. With the freedom given to him, Theoden King turns right around and lays it down for others. Had he chosen not to go and had he stayed in the comfort of Rohan, he would have been destroyed by the coming darkness. As it is, his valiant charge into the face of certain death cost him his life but purchased enough time for the tide to turn and victory to be won, a victory he did not get to experience in this life. His final words,

 "I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not now feel ashamed."

One has purchased all for me. How can I not follow where he leads? How can I not go where he directs? How can I not trust him to bring about his good purpose? And yet I hesitate. I falter. In my weakness, he comes alongside and lifts me up and carries me on.

Dear God, let me run my race to please you. Help my crippled legs and my cowardly heart. Let me hold your sword with my weakened hands, two if need be. Spend me as you see fit. Use me wherever you will. Let me say with Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." If necessary, let me lay down my life for my friends.

Let me lay down my life for my King.

Just a character of fiction? Wrought in the mind of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Brought to life by Bernard Hill under the direction of Peter Jackson. The godly example of Theoden King.

When Jesus was crucified, Part III

In the last two posts, we looked at the terms "three days" and "the third day" within the New Testament (here) and then why the Church generally recognizes Friday as the day of crucifixion and Sunday as the day of Resurrection (here). Today, we'll look at what the Bible says, and we'll see that there might be an alternative.


And we'll throw this in from the outset:


[NOTE:  None of this should, nor is it intended to, alter anyone's convictions in the inspired and inerrant word of God nor in the doctrine of the literal (and atoning) death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ.]


Now, on with the show.


If we are to take Christ at his word, that he says what he means and that he means what he says, we have no choice but to think that he really believed he would be interred for three full days when he said:

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40)

The following detective work requires that you have a finger in all four gospel accounts of the death of Jesus and his resurrection (Matthew 27:32-28:2, Mark 15:33-16:3, Luke 23:44-24:3, and John 19:28-20:2).


We have assumed to this point that the Sabbath that was approaching on the day of Christ's crucifixion was the standard weekly Sabbath, that would be Saturday. Notice what John 19:31 says (parentheses included in the ESV):

"Since it was the day of Preparation, and so the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away."

There are other Sabbaths apart from Saturday. Think of it like this. Christmas falls on a different day every year due to the perma-shift of December 25th. We have holidays that fall on different days of the week. Yes, every President's Day is a Monday and every Easter is a Sunday, but neither is always on the same date.  Christmas, though on the same date is not on the same day. The Jewish calendar had holidays, too, or Sabbaths.


Consider, each of the feasts has a holy convocation, a Sabbath, associated with it (Leviticus 16:29-3123:24, 26-32, 39). Leviticus 25 speaks of a Sabbath year! And when God instituted the Passover, the day after the Passover was a Sabbath that started the Feast of Unleavened Bread (note Exodus 12, esp. v. 16).  John's inclusion of the term high day leaves one to think that quite possibly it was a non-Saturday Sabbath that was approaching.

Let's turn to the events that took place between the death and the resurrection, specifically, the women had to get the stuff ready to properly bury Jesus body. You simply didn't have these items lying around the house. They needed to be purchased. Notice what Mark's gospel tells us.

"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him." (Mark 16:1)

Which Sabbath? The one that immediately followed Jesus crucifixion. The Sabbath ended at sundown. Shops would not open at that time; in fact they would not open until the following morning. If Jesus had died on Friday, this would put the women going to market for the supplies on Sunday morning, but the gospels tell us plainly that at daybreak they were on their way to the tomb.  Luke's account states:

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared." (Luke 24:1)

Note the past tense. So in Mark's gospel we see that after the Sabbath the women had to procure the products with which to anoint the body, but immediately after the Sabbath they were on their way to the tomb. That's just not possible if Jesus died on Friday.


So when did he die? For the three-days and three-nights and Sabbaths to work out, he would have had to have died on a Wednesday late afternoon on the day of Passover (which Jesus had eaten the night before that day). That day was also the day of Preparation (John 19:31, 42) for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Three days and nights later, he would have been raised late Saturday afternoon or "early" on Sunday which would have been after sunset of our Saturday.


Would that not provide a plain reading of the text?


Why do I care? One of the most breath-taking things for me as I have grown in my relationship with my Lord is that he speaks plainly in his word. I do not have to set my mind aside to be a believer in the true and living God, the One who spoke the cosmos into being, the One who died for my sin and rebellion. If he did not remain in the tomb for three days and three nights, he did not know what he was talking about when he gave Jonah as an answer to those seeking a sign.


Bottom line, what the Bible says can be trusted. Will I still celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday morning? You bet because that is when he was first seen. I would say it doesn't matter when he was raised--just that he was raised--but that would indict the character of God the Son, not something one such as I is qualified to do.  At the same time, I'll not get my knickers in a knot regarding brothers who celebrate Good Friday or state that Jesus rose on Sunday morning.


He died.  He lives.  And because he lives, because of his completed work, God has made the way for us all to have eternal life. A free gift purchased in blood. Will you take it?

When Jesus was crucified, Part II

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:39-40)

So Jesus stated with enough crystal clarity to satisfy Colonel Nathan Jessup that he would be dead for three whole days (see yesterday's post here).


This raises some questions, then. Try this one on, "When was he crucified?" Then there's the sequel, "When was he resurrected?

Before we troll into those waters, let's look at why we think he was crucified on Friday.


In Mark's gospel, he states that the day on which Jesus was crucified was "the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42). It doesn't take a PhD in Jewish studies to know that the Jewish Sabbath was Saturday. Therefore the day before the Sabbath would naturally be Friday.  Luke's gospel gives us a similar perspective (Luke 23:54).  In John's gospel, we read that because the Sabbath was fast approaching, the rulers wanted the dead bodies off the crosses as opposed to festering up there over the weekend (John 19:31-32).


Nobody doubts that the events of Jesus' first appearance occurred on Sunday morning.  Three of the gospel writers mention specifically that it was "the first day of the week" (Matthew 28:1, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1). Mark states that it was "after the Sabbath had passed" (16:1). I've often heard pastors and Christians refer to Sunday as the day that Jesus was resurrected, but did you know that nowhere in the Bible does it state that Jesus was raised on the first day of the week? Many think the earthquake occurred because of the resurrection. Others think that Jesus needed the stone rolled away to let him out. Now, if he appeared in a locked room, I think he can make it through a sealed tomb. Might I suggest that the earthquake and the rolling of the stone occurred to let the witnesses into the tomb, that they might see and testify that he was indeed not there?


So, we have come to believe that he was crucified on Friday and raised on Sunday. There appears to be more evidence for the former than the latter, but tomorrow we'll examine the time line with a bit more biblical scrutiny.


In the meantime, he is risen!  He is risen, indeed.
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[NOTE:  None of this should nor is it intended to alter anyone's convictions in the inspired and inerrant word of God nor in the doctrine of the literal (and atoning) death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ.]

When Jesus was crucified, Part I

In Matthew 16:21, the apostle tells his reader of the time when Jesus began to teach his followers of his pending death. As it was the primary reason he took on flesh, it should come as no surprise that he would explain to his followers what would take place--whether they got it or not. In the very next chapter, Matthew provides a quotation from the Lord, "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day" (17:22b-23).


Did you catch that?  The third day.

No doubt you have heard scholars discuss what it was that Jesus meant by the third day, that any portion of a day that an event crosses would be considered part of that day. Therefore, the argument goes, since Jesus was crucified on Friday, the day before the Sabbath, the gospel writers are telling us that on the morning of the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead.


That's what the Church has asserted this 2000 years. But for many years, other verses about the coming resurrection made me squirm.  Consider these:

• Mark's telling of the events uses "after three days" as opposed to "on the third day" (see Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34)
• Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)

Much of the rest of the New Testament points to Jesus being raised on the third day (Acts 10:40, 1 Corinthians 15:4). Reconciliation? Perhaps at the conclusion of the third day.


But then there's this thing that Jesus said when he was asked for a sign by the scribes and Pharisees.

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:39-40)

If not for this one utterance, I would have been content to abide the Friday-to-Sunday-equals-three-days argument, but Jesus had to go and specify three days and three nights and he anchored it to an historical three-day/three-night event, the tribulation of Jonah in the filth of the fish. "As Jonah was three days in the fish, so too will the Son of Man be three days in the earth." Had he said it that way, we might be able to use the it-touches-three-days theory.  But Jesus went and got astronomically specific.


What's the big deal? Well, the truthfulness of Scripture, for one. The ability of God the Son to communicate plainly, for two. Combine those into whether I can believe the Bible as it is written or whether I have to bend it or contort it into something other than the plain reading and you have three.


It's like when God had to go and muddy up what a day was in Genesis by adding, "And there was evening and there was morning the xth day."  If he had just said "On the second day, God created thus and so," we might have been able to abide a day being a thousand years. Or billions. But God went and added that there was the evening and the morning, pretty much nailing it to one axis rotation. In case folks weren't clear on it in Genesis 1, when God gave Israel the commandment to keep the Sabbath, he equated the six days of labor for man with his six days in the creation (Exodus 20:8-11).


I do not intend to muddy Resurrection week. For those of you who merely think of the Bible as a book of fables, you are dismissed. You needn't stick around for the rest of class. But for those who hold to the inspired and inerrant word of God (plenary verbal, etc.) in the original manuscripts, this is something with which we should come to terms.


So tomorrow, we will do just that.

[NOTE:  None of this should nor is it intended to alter anyone's convictions in the inspired and inerrant word of God nor in the doctrine of the literal (and atoning) death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ.]