As I'm sitting, writing this, I'm also doing something that I've done at least 8 times now...watching the new Disney movie Frozen. I've seen a lot of Disney movies in my life. I have a sister that's 12 years younger than me so, as you can imagine, I spent a lot of time watching Disney during my teenage years. Not only that, but my wife is a huge fan of all things Disney so we've seen almost every movie Disney has ever made. My humble opinion is that Frozen is, by far, their best one yet.
Somewhat surprisingly to me, this movie has become a little controversial in Christian circles. There are those who think it is pushing an agenda. Honestly, I don't see it...at least not in a blatant way. One would have to do a good bit of "reading into" in order to make a case for that, I believe. However, there are also those who see a lot of parallels to Christianity in the movie. After watching it so many times, I, myself, see quite a few Christian themes in the movie, as well. It's definitely got more of a Christian theme than Noah, the latest "biblical" movie to come out. Anyway, that's another blog for another time. I definitely won't go into all the good themes I see in the movie Frozen (by the way that's been done pretty impressively by other bloggers), but I would like to unpack one of these because it just happens to line up with the current study we're doing with our students in our FaithWorks series from the book of James.
By the way, SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't seen the movie, you probably will want to stop here, go see it and come back. Otherwise, you've been warned!
The movie is about a girl, Elsa, who has the power to freeze things. After an accident with her sister, Anna, during childhood it's suggested that she hide these powers until she's able to control them. The rub is that she never is able to control them because, unbeknownst to all involved, it is her sister's love that gives her the power to overcome the raging storm inside her. Wait, did I mention that her sister's memories of Elsa's powers have been erased? Anyway, coronation day comes and Elsa is pronounced Queen of Arundell and, it being an emotionally charged event, the predictable happens and her facade cracks. Her powers come out and Arundell is plunged into an eternal winter. Elsa runs to the North Mountain, after her powers are revealed, where she hopes to leave Arundell behind for good. She believes that her sister and the other inhabitants of her kingdom can live safely and peacefully in her absence. Back in Arundell, there are a lot of mixed responses to the discovery of Elsa's powers. Some respond with fear, others with awe and wonder. Two responses, in particular, stand out. First, there's the unconditional love and genuine concern that drives her sister, Anna, to go after her. Anna hopes to bring Elsa home and help her to learn to control her powers. She's not put off by Elsa's revelation. Even after Elsa inadvertently hits her with her powers, thereby freezing her heart and bringing about her impending death, Anna's desire continues to be to see her sister restored. This response is so very different from another character in the movie. The Duke of Weselton wants one thing and one thing only...Elsa's demise. He claims Elsa's power to be "sorcery" and demands that she be brought to justice. In his mind, she's a monster and Arundell will never be safe until she is disposed of. At one point in the story, he sends his men along on a rescue mission for Anna, commanding them to "end this winter"...ie, get rid of Elsa.
So, two hugely different responses. And, as I think about them and our lesson from the Book of James, I'm cognizant of the fact that while Anna responded to Elsa with love, grace and genuine concern, the Duke's response was self-righteous judgment. Now, lets be honest about something. While most of us Christians would immediately identify ourselves with Anna, the truth is that the world would identify most of us with the Duke. For the most part, Christians are seen as self-righteous, judgmental people who tend to unmercifully point out the flaws in others while turning a blind eye to their own. Now, I don't think this would be case if it weren't at least partly true. We do have a tendency to point out the faults of others. We do tend to rail against certain sins that others commit while turning a blind eye to our own sins. The world watches as we demonize homosexuality, drunkenness, fornication and licentiousness, yet frequently indulge, ourselves, in gluttony, gossip, slander, back stabbing, greed, materialism and sugar coated idolatry. So, I say it again...though we think of ourselves as Anna, there is a great propensity for us to be more like the Duke.
Now, before you think I'm being soft on sin, let me point out an important little tidbit. I actually believe we don't call out sin enough! Let's face it...God has given us a high standard to live up to...and, I believe we've lowered the standard in today's church! Identifying sin is not what makes us judgmental people. We're judgmental when we set ourselves above others and self-righteously wag our pointing fingers, forgetting that we, ourselves, are sinners. We should call out sin! We should call out the sin of others AND we should call out our own sin!!
So, all of this to lead us up to what James has to say about the subject. "Don't criticize one another brothers. He who criticizes a brother or judges his brother criticizes the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?" (James 4:11-12) What is the law that James is talking about here? Well, our gut instinct would be to say that it's the Law given by God to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt...the ten commandments. That's not the law James has in mind though. Remember that context is always key! Look back a couple of chapters at James 2:8, where Ole Jimmy gives us this one. "If you really carry out the royal law prescribed in Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself', you are doing well. But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors." James goes on to state that breaking any one of the Mosaic laws makes you guilty of breaking it all. Therefore, since the Royal Law (given by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-40 and reiterated here by James) supersedes the Mosaic law, being unloving makes one guilty of breaking the entire law.
Upshot of this is that if you hate a homosexual because of their sin then you are just as guilty, if not more, than them! If you hate an adulterer because of their sin then you are just as guilty, if not more, than them! I could go on, but I think you get the idea...they may be breaking one of God's laws, but if you hate or self-righteously judge then you're breaking the entire law! You see, the law that James is referring to is the law of love! We're instructed to love one another and the reason that criticism and judgmental attitudes are wrong is because they cause us to break this law! Be sure of something, here. James is not saying we should be soft on sin. Read the rest of his letter if you think that! If anything he's setting the bar even higher! We must call out sin...but we must figure out how to do so in a loving and merciful way.
Back to the movie. Anna knew that what Elsa had done wasn't a good thing and she went after her, in love, to restore her and help her make things right. The Duke, on the other hand, was ready to write Elsa off. Anna was willing to leave the safety and familiarity of the castle to go after her sister. The Duke was willing to do nothing but sit back within the walls of the castle and condemn her. When pressed to go along on the rescue mission, he sent some guys in his place to carry out his mission. (Not to open a can of worms here, but this sounds a bit like what we Christians do when we send other people around the world to the "heathens" to tell them about Jesus while we sit back in our comfortable pews and air conditioned churches in the most affluent culture on the face of the earth and, self righteously, pat ourselves on the back for a job well done) Believers, we are called, just as Anna did, to go after those living in sin. To get in the trenches. To suffer along with them. To get dirty so that we can lead the filthy to the One who can make them clean. We're called to convince others to stop trying to hide their dirty little secrets and, instead, to acknowledge them and give them to Jesus (this is what true repentance demands, after all)! And, most importantly, we're commanded to do every bit of this with a loving, merciful and gracious spirit...just like Jesus!
So, who are you? Are you Anna? Are you selflessly going after those who are failing and flailing in their sin, driven by the grace, mercy and love that was poured out on you when you found rescue from your filth? Or, are you the Duke? Self-righteously pointing a finger at others, condemning, convicting, criticizing, but really doing nothing to try to help their situation? Truth is, I didn't like the Duke very much so I guess I can't really blame the world for criticizing when they watch believers act just like him. Hey, this world is frozen in the grip of sin...let's get busy spreading a little love and warming some hearts!
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