Worthiness
Worthy sounds like excitement and heroics. Do you remember the scene in the movie Gladiator where Joaquin Phoenix greets Russell Crowe in the arena and gets more than he bargained for?
What does Crowe get forced to say?
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
Following the death of Marcus Aurelius, Emperor Commodus ordered the execution of the General Maximus along with his wife and son. According to the movie script, Maximus survives, and the vengeance plot drums its way into our 21st Century psyches. Delicious it feels when the crowd chants Live! Live!, forcing the wicked Commodus to turn up his thumb. He wants, but cannot have, the adoration that Maximus possesses.
Crowe won the crowd. He was worthy in their eyes. That was his goal. Can recall the freed Gladiator Proximo who coached Maximus up through the ranks? Proximo spoke of a Gladiator’s glory. If it measured up to the crowd he could be considered worthy of his freedom. It worked, and Maximus Decimus Meridius carried that weight of glory to his advantage.
I take a great risk by injecting Smollet and Crowe into Ephesians 4. Why? Because the plots are evocative and easily turned into distractors. I have unrolled before you so many rabbit trails, along with their music, themes, and pathos.
I think this was a thing that God, not I, shaped. See my family was watching Person of Interest, a bit of Harry Potter, and maybe an Andy Griffith Show. I was working on this lesson and being unable to concentrate put on headphones and brought up a playlist from Amazon Prime: Epic Scores. I was able to concentrate with those in the background, and maybe even boosted a bit by the epic auditory scenery. That halted when the Gladiator theme came on. There was that section with words I included above; the words of Maximus Decimus Meridius. Do you know what? They happened like an underline to verse 2. The timing was impeccable, and the lesson has developed as a result. So as I have pondered this I have thought it God directed.
Leave a Reply