Finding Jesus

I've been thinking about all the surprising places the Savior can be found.  He's everywhere!  He's a lion, a wizard and a ranger and a hobbit, a convict imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, a robot 700 years in the future, an alien lost on earth.

Okay, so you've probably guessed that I'm talking about the movies.  It is amazing how pervasive and powerful the story of Christ is.  It can be found everywhere.  Stephen Spielberg (a self proclaimed "good Jewish boy") has made several films with Christ-like characters:  E.T., Oscar Schindler, Captain Miller and Private Ryan (though Jesus wouldn't say the line "earn this").  Just take one of those.  E.T. comes to earth, teaches, heals wounds--visible and invisible, is captured, dies, ressurrects, and flies back home. 

More recently, there is Wall-E who opens the eyes of passengers aboard the Axiom to the real world that they haven't paid attention to in their entire lives, focused instead on constant media and pampering to the point of total laziness.  He then sacrifices his own existence to save this ship of fools filled with the descendents of the people who left him behind 700 years before without a thought.  Wall-E has something of a ressurrection as well.

Other examples of this are Harry Potter (who allows himself to die in order to save others), Aslan the Lion (whose sacrifice saves an entire world), Andy Dufrense (from the Shawshank Redemption who crawls through a sewer pipeline and comes out "clean on the other side" as the narrator of the film says), and of course the three major figures of the Lord of the Rings (Gandalf--who sacrifices himself for the fellowship, dies, and comes alive again to greater power; Aragorn--the King with healing in his hands, and Frodo--the frail, suffering being who climbs a hill with a great burden to destroy a great evil).

All of these analogies break down at some point of course, but the point is this:  the Savior is everywhere you look, even in our stories and entertainment.  If we can see Him there, we must also seek to find Him in our world.  In the sacrifices of everyday people, in the faces of those in need, and hopefully in ourselves.  To the people we come in contact every day, we may be the only Jesus they encounter.  And though we are filled with weakness, God has chosen us to be Jesus for them and He doesn't have a Plan B. 

On day 5 of lent (because Sundays are celebrations of Christ's ressurrection and don't count into the 40 days of lent) look for Jesus.  You might be surprised where you find Him.