Chocolat

For a study break yesterday I watched Chocolat again with my wife. This movie easily rates as one of my favorites--five beers for sure. I will not review the movie today, although I would like to--I have to finish this paper I am working on instead. I was surprised to discover so many of the themes that I have been writing about lately emerge from this movie. I will leave you with the concluding homily given on Easter morning by a young priest who is learning about ministry and life. Here it is:

I am not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be. Do I want to speak of the miracle of our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about his divinity. I'd rather talk about his humanity. I mean, how he lived his life here on earth--his kindness, his tolerance. Listen, here is what I think. I think that we can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude. I think that we have got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create and who we include.

I am sure that this homily, read by itself, causes apprehension in many believers. There seems to be an allowance for too much freedom here. There are not enough boundaries given to control behavior. If behavior is not managed a little more closely than what is to ensure the continued faith of those who follow Jesus?

Is it possible that we put more emphasis on Jesus' divinity because it is easier to control behavior with a model of holiness that appears to be so clearly distinct from the pleasures of our everyday life? It becomes messier when we have to explain Jesus' human actions. How do we regulate when someone is supposed to hang out with prostitutes and when they are not; when they are to give more wine to likely drunk wedding partiers and when they are not, when they are to waste a years wages on a perfume bath and when they are not; when they are to eat with 'sinners' and when they are not. Worse yet, how do we control the manner in which they do these things...the methods? Can we live out of control and really give people freedom to embrace, create and include like this priest urges his congregation? Or is it too dangerous?

Perhaps I am being too abstract and we all need to watch Chocolat together. Chocolat is about a town that has to answer these questions. It is an atheist who ultimately has something of value to share with the Christian...at least with those who are willing to receive the gift. Well, now I have gone too far and started a review...