Idolatry in Back to the Future

Suggested Reading: Mark 15:27-38

As a teenager, one of my favorite film series was the Back to the Future series. In fact, when I was sick and I would stay home from school, I would lay down on the couch and watch all three movies back to back. The first two movies are a lot of time-traveling fun, but they set up the third movie where Marty McFly, the main character, learns an important lesson about how to respond or, more accurately, how not to respond when people call him a coward. See, Marty's biggest flaw was that he couldn't stand for anyone to call him a coward and he felt compelled to demonstrate his lack of cowardice anytime anyone did. Only when that tendency landed him in a life-and-death situation did he realize that trying to disprove every disparaging statement made about him was not the brightest idea in the world.

I was reminded of Marty's lesson recently when reading the crucifixion scene in Mark. As Jesus hung on the cross, his political enemies (and those who just joined in the "fun" of a public execution) mocked and taunted Jesus, demanding that he prove his status as Messiah by coming down from the cross as a sign. They scoffed, "He saved others but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel come down from the cross that we may see and believe" (Mark 15:31-32, NIV). If Marty McFly had been on the cross, we would all have been in a lot of trouble because he would have had to prove himself to his mockers by coming down from the cross. But coming off the cross would have eliminated the primary task Jesus fulfilled as the messiah, enduring the crucifixion so that he could rise from the dead. Fortunately, Jesus was sure enough of himself that he endured their taunts, knowing that he did not have to prove himself to anyone.

How many times do we feel the need to prove ourselves to someone? How often do we do things we know are unwise because we want to silence those who mock us? How often do we take a position we don't really believe because we don't want people to see us as stupid or ignorant? As believers in Christ Jesus, we cannot allow our actions to be dictated by the possibility of someone looking down on us. We cannot silence the words God has given us to speak or hold back acts of love and service because people might think we look stupid. We have to remember that, like with those people who wanted Jesus to come off the cross, proving ourselves is not worth the cost.

More than that, when we allow ourselves to be goaded into an action we would not take on our own simply because of what those people might think of us, we give those people, rather than God, control of our lives. Our desire to look good (or to not look bad) gives those people who would mock and ridicule us power over us, and that turns us into idolaters who worship at the altar of other people's opinions rather than faithful followers of Christ.

People thinking badly of us is not the end of the world if they think badly of us for doing the right thing. We should respond to taunts, insults and mocking in the same spirit as Jesus: "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23, NIV). Sometimes, not responding is the very best thing we can do.

Typhoons and Temptresses

Suggested Reading: Genesis 39:1-10

In Karate Kid, Part II, Daniel and Mr. Miyagi go to Okinawa to visit Mr. Miyagi's dying father. Almost immediately upon arriving they both find themselves confronted by angry rivals seeking to demonstrate how much better they are than the heroes of the movie. Near the climax of the film, in the middle of a typhoon, Daniel's rival, Chozen, refuses to go help a little girl caught in the storm. Instead, Daniel has to save her. Upon seeing Chozen's cowardice and his refusal to help the little girl, his mentor Sato tells him, "Now, to me, you are dead." Chozen had wronged the little girl and her family by not helping but, worse, he had dishonored Sato by being a coward. Sato took Chozen's failure to help the little girl as a sin against himself.

As odd as that interchange may seem to most Americans, a similar kind of honor can been seen throughout scripture. In Genesis 39, Joseph, whose brothers had sold him into slavery, had worked his way up through the ranks at his owner's home and Potiphar had placed him in charge of everything. Potiphar's wife took notice of Joseph and repeatedly tried to seduce him. Joseph's response to her is found in Genesis 39:8-9: Look, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has put all that he owns under my authority. No one in this house is greater than I am. He was withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God? (HCSB).

For Joseph, while sleeping with his master's wife would be wrong because of his relationship with her husband, Joseph spoke of the situation as a sin against God, not his master. Joseph would not have denied that sleeping with this woman was a sin against her husband, but he understood something deeper and more important: maintaining our integrity must be seen first, and foremost, in terms of our relationship with God.  If we are only concerned about not hurting people or not sinning against people, there may be times we think we can get away with something because no one will never find out. We can cheat on our spouse on a business trip because we are 300 miles away and she will never know. We can fudge our mileage when listing our tax deductions because no one will be able to prove us wrong. But that thinking only works if our focus is on the people involved. When we turn to consider God, who holds us accountable whether people know or not, who sees every hidden act and every desire of our hearts, we must view our behavior in a different light.

While it is important that we avoid hurting people and that we honor people's trust, it is more important that we live a life of integrity before God. We must remember that we ultimately reflect the One who sees everything we do and think, even if no one else ever knows. Does what you do in secret bring God shame or reflect his glory?

What Are You, Jesus? Chicken?

Suggested Reading: John 4:1-26

In the final two installments of the Back to the Future trilogy, we discover that Marty McFly's fatal flaw is his need to prove himself when someone thinks he is a coward. Twice, Marty makes really bad decisions because he is called a coward and feels the need to prove himself. Toward the end of the final movie, Marty is sitting at a red light when a friend pulls up, wanting him to race. Initially refusing, Marty denies accusations that he is a coward but is met with the words, "Prove it." Only then do we learn whether or not Marty has learned his lesson.

While the need to prove he wasn't a coward was something for Marty to avoid, Jesus seemed fairly comfortable with proving himself, at least with the Samaritan woman in John chapter four. Jesus had made an outrageous claim: that he could give her living water which would spring up inside her to produce eternal life. Noticing that Jesus did not even have a bucket to draw from the well she responded, "Prove it." Technically, she responded by saying, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water” (John 4:15, HCSB). But essentially, she said, "if you can really do that then prove it." In the ensuing conversation, Jesus did. Jesus made an outrageous claim but he was willing to prove it.

Maybe, you're reading this today and you are curious about God but you aren't sure if God is even real. If that is you, I would encourage you to pray the cynic's prayer: "God, if you're really there, show yourself to me. If you're there, prove it." God wants us to trust him, but that is an entirely different thing than affirming the truth of a set of theological statements. God makes outrageous claims on our lives: that he can give us eternal life, that he can change our lives, that he can transform us. But God is willing to prove those claims if we will give him the chance.

For those of us who know Jesus, understanding this truth means we don't have to worry so much about convincing the lost that we are right so much as it means that Jesus will prove himself to them if we can point them toward him. We can follow the example of this Samaritan woman at the well who, having been changed by her encounter with Jesus, then went and told everyone in town what Jesus had done for her. She brought them to Jesus and let Jesus prove himself to them.

Today, Jesus is just waiting for someone to challenge him, "Prove it." If you give him a chance, he is more than willing.