15PentecostBProper18, Sullivan
Park Care Center, September 9, 2012, by Annette Fricke
This past week, I was saddened by
the news of the death of an actor I had enjoyed seeing in his role in the movie
titled, “The Green Mile.” The actor was
not the lead actor in this movie, but played a very important role in the movie
as one that made a big impact as a healer.
The actor was Michael Clarke Duncan.
In this movie, Tom Hanks is a supervisor for a state penitentiary in the
state of Louisiana in a place that houses only males on death row. This is not to be confused with the more
recent movie, “Dead Man Walking” with Sr. Prejean, the nun who is adamantly
against the death penalty. The theology
portrayed is not against the death penalty, but rather it is seen as justice in
which the crimes of murder committed are paid for by the taking of the
perpetrator’s life. It is the simple
theology we find espoused in the Old Testament and which Jesus refutes in the
gospel according to Matthew. It is this:
an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.
In this case, it is a life for a life or lives. The role that Tom Hanks plays as Mr. Edgecomb
is complicated. He is the leader and inspiration
not only of his staff at the prison, but even his own boss looks to him for
spiritual support. He takes risks that
he shouldn’t take in such a situation in order to be more human to the inmates
and he is especially friendly with and attracted to one inmate in
particular. The inmate’s name is John
Coffey and as John Coffey himself admits, he doesn’t know much of anything but
does know that his name is the name of the drink, but is spelled differently. He is uneducated and he is black in a very
prejudiced part of the country in a very prejudiced time in the history of this
country. Mr. Edgecomb is a saint. He is in relationship with everybody, but
even he has his limitations and his nemesis. He suspects that John Coffey,
gentle as he is, cannot have possibly committed the crime of which he is
accused. He even goes to the defense
lawyer for John Coffey, who sadly, believes otherwise. Above everything else, Mr. Edgecomb is a
seeker of justice. He goes out on a limb
throughout the three hour movie seeking justice for himself, but mostly for
those with whom he works and their families.
And that justice is linked to the very powerful healing that lies at the
heart and emotions of John Coffey. You
see, John has the power of healing. In
the movie, he brings a mouse back to life and heals Mr. Edgecomb’s bladder
infection. But someone else could use
that healing and he convinces his staff to go with his idea. They take John Coffey outside the prison to
Mr. Edgecomb’s bosses’ house in the middle of the night. Mr. Edgecomb is on a mission and he will not
be deterred. John Coffey is on the same
mission and seems to know that he has been summoned to help a lady. He gets out the truck, past the boss who has
a gun pointed at him, up to the upstairs bedroom and heals. He heals the wife of the boss who has been
diagnosed with a tumor the size of a lemon in her brain. It is inoperable and there is nothing the
doctors can do. But John Coffey succeeds
in taking away the tumor and the wife comes back to life, erasing all the
memory of the x-ray and the findings.
Not only is she grateful, but expresses that she had a dream where the
two of them met. But before John Coffey dies in the electric chair, he
completes one more task. He gives a part
of his gift to Mr. Edgecomb.
You might dismiss this as not being
real since it is just a movie that is based on a book. But think of it this way: if we truly believe
that the Bible points us to God, our lives and the way we live them are based
on what we see in the Bible. In the
gospel lesson for today, if we look at it really close, we will see that Jesus
is really also quite prejudiced. He
actually called the Syro-Phoenician woman a dog. That is a derogatory name, much the same as a
white person being called a Spick by a Mexican or a white person calling a
black person a nigger or calling people who live in trailers trailer trash.
When we really see this for what it is, we are quite shocked. Who is this Jesus who puts down others? In that society, she was unclean. She was a Gentile. Her daughter was also unclean. Perhaps, as
has been suggested, Jesus also had his moments of spiritual growth. Perhaps some of his would be followers stretched
him spiritually to be more inclusive with his teaching and healing
ministries. And just perhaps, that is
the main message of both the “Green Mile” movie as well as this text from the
Gospel of Mark. Are we, in fact, open to
getting outside of ourselves and our own conceptualizations of the world to see
things differently? The Jewish people
have their set of problems, even today; but so do the Gentiles, the rest of
us. Poor people have problems, but so do
the rich. But the biggest problem we
have is when we shut ourselves off from people that we don’t understand, whose
cultures are different from ours. It is
difficult and challenging to work with people who have a heavy accent because
we don’t know if they understand English and sometimes we find it difficult to
understand their English. Language,
cultures, and subcultures are all potential barriers to relationships but it is
in relationships that healing takes place.
Jesus calls the woman, who was desperate for
a miracle for her child, a dog, a dehumanizing ethnic slur common at the time. No
matter what sort of literary tap dance we might create to avoid this
uncomfortable truth, eventually, we have to face this stark truth. Jesus
uttered a racial slur. When confronted with the Gentile pagan in this story, he
explains that his message and ministry are for Israelites only, a comment of
ethnic exclusion and prejudice that calls to mind a similar refrain –
whites only – that reverberated throughout the South not too long ago. In
the South; just like in the movie, “The Green Mile.” I would be lying to you if I told you that I
no longer see that kind of prejudice today.
One of the women I took care of for almost two years, with every new
nursing assistant, would ask, “What color is your skin?” She didn’t want to sound prejudiced, so she
never asked, “Are you black?” although we all knew that’s what she meant. And we also knew she didn’t want a black
person working with her. Similarly, there’s the comment, “I don’t want her
sitting at my table.” After which I
explain that there is no assigned seating.
But I am a realist and I realize that there are certain some ones who
will probably always raise specific negative feelings in us. However, I think we can all work on trying to
live as best we can with those around us and we can do our best to try to get
to know people that we even consider to be particularly vile. How we respond,
when confronted with the narratives of the oppressed, reveal who we truly are.
Do we continue to ignore or deny these realities of oppression? Mock them?
Continue to brush them aside as dogs? Or do we, like Jesus, do the miraculous
and listen to them, be changed by the power of the truth they are speaking? We
are not so different. We are people who
like to be identified with certain groups and exclusiveness. We like to be comfortable and like to belong
to groups that are consisting of people who are just like us. It’s just not the same when we are with
people who have different values. One
resident complained to me one night when “other people” sat at his table
because they didn’t talk. He was
frustrated and angry because he was looking forward to having a conversation
and it just didn’t happen. It was not
something to which he was accustomed. It
made him feel insecure.
Going outside
our comfort zone is sometimes what makes a difference in people who feel
isolated and not a part of the group norm.
Initiating conversation with someone we normally don’t associate with or
trying to see things from another perspective, risking being rejected by those
we reach out to and those who are our friends.
That’s what sharing the gospel is all about. We are called to be healers to those outside
our group, not because they are outside, but because we are all God’s children,
all heirs of God’s eternal kingdom. It
is something we can all celebrate together. All need God’s healing touch
through us.
