Introduction
John the Baptist was a prophet who lived on the edge of society. His demeanour and his message meant that he came into conflict with many in the world of his day. But this eccentric figure also had his followers, people who were looking for ‘a different way’.
Context
In Danny Boyle’s eponymous film about Steve Jobs, he portrays the late visionary technology entrepreneur as a modern day prophet; a man who doesn’t respond to what the public wants, but tells them what their hearts desire.
Andy Murray and Tyson Fury both achieved great success last weekend.
Alan Bennett allowed an eccentric lady, Miss Shepherd, to park the van in which she lived on his drive for 15 years. He first told this story in a play and now in a film, The Lady in the Van. Miss Shepherd, it transpires, suffered from an overburdening sense of guilt.
The publicity afforded to the ‘advertisement’ for the Lord’s Prayer that was refused by the company responsible for advertising in cinemas has led some to see the irony of it being ‘banned’.
Spencer Matthews was the first to leave the ITV show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, but he came out of the wilderness confessing his sin, rather than calling others to repentance.
The Sun has claimed in a headline that one in five Muslims sympathised with jihadists has been widely criticised for being an unhelpful statistic.
Reflection
John the Baptist got a mixed reception when he appeared as the one who ‘prepared the way of the Lord’. He was a challenging character by what he said and by what he did. Perhaps those who have the greatest effect on the rest of society are those who make us feel most uncomfortable. Andy Murray and Tyson Fury are both, in their different ways, sometimes perceived as either difficult or eccentric characters. Does a prophet need to be ‘difficult’? Is Steve Wozniak correct when he says, in the film Steve Jobs, “You can be decent and gifted at the same time”?
Perhaps there is something here about seeing the world differently. That is certainly the case with regard to the Lord’s Prayer. The subversive nature of which was well-caught in this cartoon.
John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple, says in Steve Jobs that ‘no one sees the world the same way’ as Steve Jobs. Is this part of what it means to be a prophet – to see the world in a different way?
Commentators have looked behind The Sun’s headline about British Muslims’ sympathy for jihadists and it has been widely criticised.
Earlier in the year three schoolgirls went to Syria during the February half-term holiday. When questioned why they might have gone, an expert said that they saw the world not as it is, but how they wanted it to be. This is a hope they share with Christian people, although the expectations are very different.
Both The Lady in the Van and Steve Jobs are based on real people. Yet, it is hard to know quite how much is true and how much is included (or excluded) for dramatic effect. Is this also true of the Gospel stories? For example, did it suit Luke’s purpose to have John off the scene before Jesus began his ministry, so he doesn’t actually tell us that it was John the Baptist who baptised Jesus (Luke 3.19-21)?
Prayer
Our God,
we thank you for abrasive people
who make us uncomfortable
and challenge our way of looking at ourselves and at the world.
We thank you for the entrepreneurs
who are prepared to take risks
and see the world as it could be rather than as it is.
Our God,
you have called us to be your people in this world.
Help us to know what that means and live accordingly.
Help us to see the world not as it is, but as it could be,
and to have the required ‘courage and kindness’ to make it happen.
Our God we pray for those
who so badly need to know forgiveness,
but who have been unable to find it.
May your Church be a place where burdens are lifted
and where people can come to find peace and freedom from fear.
Amen.
Questions
- Joanna Hoffman, Steve Jobs’ marketing executive at Apple, is said to have pleaded with Jobs that he should ‘manage expectations’. John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus lived up to contemporary expectations of what a Messiah would ‘look like’. If Peter and the others had been as in tune with Jesus as Joanna Hoffman was with Steve Jobs, might they have suggested to Jesus that he ‘manage expectations’ better?
- Miss Shepherd, in The Lady in the Van, is overwhelmed by the guilt she carries from a grave sin she believes she has committed. Do we underestimate the power that guilt can hold over people and therefore undervalue the importance of pronouncing forgiveness?
Action
John the Baptist, the Old Testament prophets and Jesus all saw the world differently. In this they reflected something of the message of the Gospel as sung by Mary, ‘He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’ (Luke 1.52-53). Western European Christians, with some exceptions, tend to want to fit in.
Are there ways that you could be more prophetic, more ‘angular’, in the way that you live?
Young people
Cinderella is available on DVD. Young people might like to watch this film and note that Cinderella is portrayed as a visionary young woman, who forgives those who have so badly wronged her.
Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film.
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