The divinity of Christ points to the humanity of people. At the feet of the cross where the God Man gives His life as a ransom of many, life finds significance. Reflecting on the gospel should alter our perspective of others and align it with God’s. The American Church stands boldly for the sanctity of the unborn life, will she not stand for the sanctity of the liberal, poor, homosexual, addicted, oppressed, or unregenerate life? Or does she only care about the salvation of those that look like her.
God’s house has become a country club.
One restless night, unable to sleep, I found myself watching a silent film about a brilliant scientist that gets slapped and humiliated in front of his colleagues by a man he later finds to be sleeping with his wife. In the midst of humiliation and heartbreak, the man goes mad. He leaves the field of science to become a carnival clown named “He Who Gets Slapped.” Every night hundreds of people come out just to see him get slapped on the face, responding in endless laughter. As the laughter progresses the other clowns rip out a fake heart from his costume, step on it, and bury it in the soot. Every night, once everyone leaves, the man goes back to the tent and searches for his heart, only for it to be ripped out and buried again the next night.
As I think back on the black and white scenes broken apart by blank screens of words, my mind begins to recall experiences. I remember a teenager I once met that wouldn’t go to church because of the way the Christians at her after school job treated her. I think about a little girl I’m close to that hurts herself because kids at school and church are so mean to her. I picture a homeless man I once watched sitting on a curb in Brooklyn for close to an hour, not once having enough dignity to look up and make eye contact with the other human beings passing him by. Thinking about these people I begin to understand the point of the movie, so simple and so profound.
And I weep for the world that stands in front of our pointing finger.
