Sermon for January 11th, 2025

Luke 13:31-35 (NT p.77)

31At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

Faith & Film XIII: The Wild Robot

• Film Clip #1 - Trailer [2:24]

Three Minute Film Summary

The film opens in the aftermath of a storm, as a crate washes up on the shore of a remote island. The crate contains a robot: Universal Dynamics Rozzum Unit 7134, or "Roz" for short. Roz is programed to assist humans, but there are no humans on the island--only animals locked in a vicious, Darwinian struggle for survival. Roz explores the island, looking almost desperately for a task in order to fulfill her programming, but most of the animals shun her, calling her "the monster."

While trying to escape an angry bear, Roz accidentally destroys a goose nest, crushing all the goose eggs except one. When that egg hatches, the gosling imprints upon Roz, thinking the robot is its mother. Somewhat reluctantly, Roz accepts the task of raising the gosling, whom she names "Brightbill." She befriends the island's other outcast--a hungry fox named Fink. Together, the unlikely pair try to teach Brightbill how to swim and fly in time for migration season. To accomplish this, Fink must put aside his natural instinct to eat Brightbill, and Roz must override her core programming, learning patience, compassion, sacrifice and resilience--in short, learning to be a mother.

Slowly, the other animals in the forest come to respect this unconventional family and several even lend their individual talents to Brightbill's cause. When fall arrives, Brightbill demonstrates that he is ready, and flies south with the other geese, while Roz and the other animals settle in for winter. Winter on the island proves to be colder than usual, so Roz and Fink set out to rescue the other animals, gathering them together in Roz's shelter, where they must all cooperate and agree not to eat each other in order to survive the winter.

In the Spring, Brightbill returns to the island, now a respected leader among the geese. His reunion with Roz is short-lived, however, because a giant airship from Universal Dynamics has also arrived to reclaim (and reprogram) Roz, taking her away from her adopted home and starting a forest fire in the process. Brightbill and all the animals work together to rescue Roz and to put out the fire, but Roz now realizes that her friends will never be safe as long as she is with them. She decides to leave, but promises that when the time is right, she will find her way back.

In the Garden?

In the first minutes of the film, as brand new Roz wanders through the forest in wide-eyed wonder, meeting animals and taking in her brand new environment, there is a definite Garden of Eden vibe (and some absolutely beautiful animation).

• Film Clip #2 - Eden [2:36]

Of course, the animals in the forest, with their tendency toward violence and conflict, also remind us that this is a fallen, post-Eden world. Eden was perfect--animals did not eat each other, but all ate plants, according to Genesis 1:30. Violence and sin came into the world after the fall, and the Bible teaches that we are all tainted with that original sin. You might say that it's part of our inherited "programming." Can we rise above that programming? Are we more than our genetic predispositions? Perhaps, but we need someone to show us the way. Someone free from sin. A Messiah.

Robotic Redeemer

In this next clip, Roz and Fink are trying to put baby Brightbill down to sleep by telling him a story:

• Film Clip #3 - Incarnation [2:18]

So in one sense, Roz is like Adam, the first person--but in another sense, Roz is also our first "Christ type" of the year--a God-like being from the heavens who descends to earth in order to love us, save us, and show us the way. Christ types show up in our films almost every year we've done this, and I'm convinced it's because our story, the Christian story, is the most powerful story ever told; it both influences and permeates all other stories. Now, it's important to remember that a Christ-type is just that--a type. A Character who reminds us of Christ in many respects, but is rarely ever a perfect match. And in this case, Roz goes back and forth between Adam, the first human, and Christ (whom the Apostle Paul often calls the "new Adam").

Programming

Previously, we asked whether it's possible to transcend our programming, to become more than our animal impulses? Here's Roz struggling with that question, in a clip where she finds and repairs another robot who washed up on the beach, and then asks it for help with her task.

• Film Clip #4 - Programming [2:15]

I said last week that conversion or personal transformation is a theme that shows up in a lot of movies this year, and this one is no exception. Depending on how you look at it, Roz is either becoming a new creation, or else discovering that she has what we would call a "soul"--a spiritual dimension that is more than the sum of her atoms and molecules.

The Peaceful Kingdom

In the next clip, Roz has successfully completed her task raising Brightbill, but now finds herself increasingly taking care of the other animals, too, rescuing them from the freezing winter by gathering them into her shelter, at great cost to herself.

• Film Clip #5 - Haven [3:14]

Isaiah, 11:6-7. "The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox" ... in the peaceful Kingdom of God.

The Heart of the Story

The Apostles Creed, which we recite every Sunday in worship, reminds us that Jesus "Suffered under Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven. Several of those scenes find their way into our film, so here are some very short clips in succession--I'll narrate as we go:

• Film Clip #6 - Suffering [0:16]

Note that Roz is fixed to some kind of frame, with her arms outstretched as if being crucified.

• Film Clip #7 - Resurrection [1:23]

Next we have a death, and a slight reversal of roles--instead of Mary, the mother of Jesus mourning at the foot of the cross, here we have the son mourning the mother. And of course the miraculous resurrection.

The creed says that Jesus "descended to the dead." This is often referred to as the "harrowing of hell," and is often depicted in medieval art as Jesus plunging into the burning flames to save all those held captive there.

• Film Clip #8 - Harrowing [0:42]

I think this is one of the most powerful images in the film, when Roz looks at Brightbill and sees a succession of memories of him, giving her strength and courage to plunge into the fires. I like to imagine that as Jesus descended into the flames of hell, he too carried in his mind the images of you and me, all those he loved and came to save.

Our final clip shows what would be comparable to Jesus spending time with his disciples after the resurrection, preparing them for the fact that he is about to leave them again, and ascend into the heavens. But tucked into this clip is another image I want you to notice--Roz wrapping her arms around ALL of the animals, embracing them as a mother. This is also quintessential Jesus: In our scripture passage from Luke, Jesus compares himself to a mother hen, who longs to gather her children under her wings.

• Film Clip #9 - Ascension [2:39]

The film ends with the hint that there will be a "second coming" of Roz, our Christ-like robot. Knowing Hollywood, that's almost a gospel certainty. In fact, the sequel is already in the works.

As Christians, we do believe in a "second coming" of Christ. For some people, that's the Revelation image of the trumpets sounding from the clouds, and Jesus descending in glory to usher in the end of the ages. Some have been predicting the exact day and hour that's supposed to happen (incorrectly) for at least the past thousand years.

But when I watch films like this, and when I remember that Jesus' final words to his disciples in the gospel of Matthew are actually "Lo, I am WITH you ALWAYS, until the end of the age"... Then I wonder if maybe, just maybe, this is what Jesus meant: That he would come back, again and again, in every beautiful story we tell, in every stirring song we sing, every moment of love and sacrifice we experience together--that he would remain with us always... in memory, in spirit, and inside each one of us.

As the credits roll at the end of "The Wild Robot," the closing song plays. The words could well be those of a mother to her child, but they could equally well be the words of a savior to his people:

I'm gonna live forever in you, as long as the sky and oceans are blue I'll always love you, and I'll never stop--I'll always be there, even when I'm not.