Psalm 119: First Presbyterian, Pasadena Romans 8:1-11 July 16, JESUS AND THE MOVIES: DEAD MAN WALKING James S. Currie

Transcription

1 Psalm 119: First Presbyterian, Pasadena Romans 8:1-11 July 16, 2017 JESUS AND THE MOVIES: DEAD MAN WALKING James S. Currie Over the next few weeks I will be preaching a series of sermons on movies that I think have some relationship to Scripture. Just as Jesus told parables that reflected the world in which he and his followers lived, so also can literature and some movies tell us something not only about ourselves, but also about the redeeming love of God. In 1995 the movie Dead Man Walking appeared. Directed by Tim Robbins, it is the true story of Matthew Poncelet, played by Sean Penn, who is in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, sentenced to death for having raped and murdered two teenage girls. The movie is based on a book written by a Roman Catholic nun, Sister Helen Prejean, who agreed to serve as Poncelet s spiritual advisor. Initially, Poncelet is unrepentant, insisting on his innocence. He is arrogant, mean-spirited, a sexist, and a racist. After Poncelet has served six years in prison, Sister Prejean, played by Susan Sarandon, having agreed to serve as his spiritual advisor, begins to correspond with him first by letter. Finally, six days before he is scheduled to be executed, she goes to visit him. For the next six days Sister Prejean tries to get Poncelet to face up to what he has done. After blaming drugs and any of a number of other things, Poncelet finally realizes and admits to Sister Prejean what he did. Clearly, she understands that the road to redemption must begin with honest confession and that there are consequences for his actions. Sister Prejean begs the legal authorities that Poncelet s sentence be changed to life in prison, but to no avail. Sister Prejean walks with Poncelet to the death 1

2 chamber. Her last words to him are, I want the last thing you see is the face of love. Look at me. From the beginning of her agreement to serve as Poncelet s spiritual advisor, Sister Prejean researches what actually happened. In doing so, she visits the parents of the teenage couple who were brutally murdered. She sees and understands the anguish of those parents. Many do not understand what she is trying to do. Some are even outraged that she would befriend this murderer. The closing scene of the movie is of Sister Prejean in a church where she is joined by the father of the girl who was murdered. They are the only two there. Both are praying, both are seeking peace, both are seeking and praying, no doubt, for redemption. The 8th chapter of Romans is well-known. Most people are familiar with its closing words of the chapter, about how nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. However, the lectionary readings for today and for the next two weeks are the first half of this chapter, words that may not be so well-known. In the previous chapter Paul has struggled with the real presence of sin and evil in his life: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do... So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. And then he concludes: Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:15, 19, 21-24). Chapter 8 opens with these words: There is therefore now no condemnation for 2

3 those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death (8:1-2). While he is absolutely clear about the reality of sin and of death, and of his own susceptibility to sin, Paul is equally clear about the new life that is offered in Jesus Christ. Paul does not want to escape the consequences of his own actions, but neither does he want to deny the joy and the freedom that comes with life in Christ. The last verse in the text we read this morning reads: If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you (8:11). While Matthew Poncelet might be said to represent the person of sinful flesh, Sister Prejean is able, slowly and gradually, to awaken within him not only an awareness of his own guilt and eventual confession of that guilt, but in awakening that awareness, she also awakens within him the gospel of grace. He still must pay the consequences of his actions, but he also discovers something more important, namely, redemption. Now, some might say that that does little for the families of those two teenagers whom Poncelet killed, and they might be right. But that s where the closing scene of the movie becomes so powerful. Both Sister Prejean and the father whose daughter was killed find themselves praying in a small church, each struggling with the reality of sin and death, and each struggling with and hoping for God s word of grace, forgiveness, and redemption. I suspect that that s a lifetime struggle for both and for all of us. One of the fascinating things about this story is something Paul testifies to in his letter to the Romans, and it is embodied in Sister Prejean. It is that there is no one 3

4 beyond God s reach. Put another way, it is God s persistent and never-ceasing pursuit of sinners. Francis Thompson s poem The Hound of Heaven captures that same theme: I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. The poem continues until, finally, the pursuer -- God -- says, And human love needs human meriting: How hast thou merited -- Of all man s clotted clay the dingiest clot? Alack, thou knowest not How little worthy of any love thou art! Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, Save Me, save only Me?... Rise, clasp My hand, and come! (Complete Poems of Francis Thompson, pp.88-93) Sister Prejean reflects that persistent, never-ceasing pursuit of Matthew Poncelet until just before his execution he says to Sister Prejean, I have to die to find love. Thank you for loving me! What Poncelet says is true for all of us, is it not? We have to die to ourselves to discover the love and grace that God offers in Jesus Christ. Last week we heard from the young people who went to Ghost Ranch talk about breaking down walls and borders that prevent us from discovering God s grace and seeing it in others. Some walls are thicker and more substantial than others. The redeeming love of God is what we both confess and seek as we gather at this table. Here we confess our own unworthiness to be here because we, like Matthew Poncelet, know the reality of sin and death. But here we also seek God s mercy and grace because we trust and believe that we, also like Matthew Poncelet, can never be 4

5 beyond God s grasp. When we are in Christ, as Paul says, we gain a different perspective -- still human, still sinners, still frustrated by our own actions -- but now discovering the freedom that comes with knowing that there s nothing we can do to make God love us more and there s nothing we can do make God love us less. We are free to confess our faults and shortcomings because we know that God always has the final word, and that word is one of grace. Poncelet s words to Sister Prejean could well be our words to God: I have to die to find love. Thank you for loving me! Now as God s people let us live that gospel as we share it with others. Thanks be to God! 5