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Wednesday, February 23, 2005
It's Never Too Late
The movie is "Shadowlands." Starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. He plays C. S. Lewis, an aging, tweedy, bachelor Oxford scholar. She's Joy Davidman Gresham, a middle-aged American divorcee with a young son in tow.
"Jack" Lewis is a curiosity to his colleagues. An ardent Christian, he's become famous for numerous essays on faith as well as a best-selling series of children's books, "The Chronicles of Narnia."
Joy's no-nonsense directness enchants Lewis. An adult convert to Christianity, she grew up ethnically Jewish but actually atheistic. Not your everyday church lady.
From the minute these two meet, the dramatic air fairly crackles. They flirt their way into deep friendship, then Jack surprises himself by marrying Joy as a favor to help her legally remain in England.
All this, while he lectures here and there on his book "The Problem of Pain." Ever profound and quotable, he's quite the hit with the literary masses. When Joy develops bone cancer the problem takes on intimately personal power, cracking open Jack's confident faith to let doubt and fear rush in.
Joy's suffering also opens Jack's heart to recognize that fervent friendship has been transfigured into romantic love. So they're married for real, by the church this time. And Joy's cancer goes into remission.
But only for a season. The movie's last act takes us through more pain and suffering, and now loss and grief as well. Beautiful to the eye, believably acted from start to finish, the film left me a three-hanky choked-up wreck.
It also gave me a perfect sermon story the next morning.
John 3 tells about Jesus' interview with a religious man named Nicodemus. This is where the term "born again" originates. We need, says Jesus, to be born "from above... again... by the Holy Spirit." Poor Nic is confused, wondering out loud how you can be born when you're growing old. In effect, Jesus assures him it's never too late to let God give you a fresh start in life.
It's a matter of letting God open you up, fill you up, fulfill your true purpose for living.
C. S. Lewis was born again in his 30s, and wrote a book about it -- "Surprised By Joy." How appropriate that his soul collision with this flesh-and-blood Joy renewed his life another way.
His philosophical "Problem of Pain" was followed a few years later by another book on the subject. "A Grief Observed" was Lewis's diary of his own deep dark pain when Joy was taken from him. Abstract belief had become realistic faith, tried and transformed in the crucible of life.
Only God knows how many millions have been "born again" through this one man's story, have discovered that it's really never too late to let God in your life for good.
posted by Jack Buckley at
2:49 PM
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