The End of the Movie
“…get understanding…” (Proverbs 4:5)
I walked in on the end of a movie once and was amazed at the audience’s reaction to what was taking place on the screen. The hero or good guy was acting as if he were the bad guy and the audience was cheering him on as if they were a bunch of sadists. I didn’t think I was going to like the movie considering my respect for the hero had tumbled considerably, but I had paid for the ticket so I stayed.
The treatment the hero received throughout the movie was unbelievable. He was beaten, robbed, humiliated, and not once did he raise his voice in protest. Finally in the end he struck back in a comparatively mild way and when he did, it was as if someone had opened the valve to a pressure cooker and a loud cheer went up. The second time I saw the end of the movie I had little difficulty with what was taking place.
I got to thinking later of the importance of seeing a movie from the beginning. I received a wrong impression of the hero because I had come in late. I had no sympathy or understanding because I didn’t know all that he had gone through.
You know, I think we come in on the end of others people’s lives a great deal. We are critical of others’ actions and behaviors because we don’t know the entire story. We need to remember that behavior is conditional. That is, there is a cause for everything we do. CONSIDER that sometimes others’ behavior is offensive and we need not try to justify it but I believe that as followers of Christ we should make an effort to understand. And understanding begins by seeing the movie from the beginning and avoiding hasty and critical judgment of others when we’ve only seen the end of it.
Rev. Wendell Mettey
Revised 4/16/2014
