Sermon for January 22nd, 2023

[Film Clip #1 - Trailer - (2:35)]

Three Minute Film Summary

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio is based on the classic Italian children's story "Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi, first published in 1883. If you grew up with Walt Disney's famous animated version...this is not that story, although they both share a common source.

In this version, Geppetto has a son named Carlo, who is tragically killed, and Geppetto carves Pinocchio in a fit of drunken grief. The blue fairy brings Pinocchio to life, recruits a cricket to be his conscience, and the characters embark on a journey to discover what it means to be controlled vs. free, obedient vs. disobedient, rejected vs. loved, and ultimately, what it means to be truly, deeply, and completely human.

Imperfection

The film begins and ends with the image of a perfect pinecone. Geppetto is obsessed with perfection in his work, and his first son, Carlo, is well...pretty perfect. But he dies. Pinocchio on the other hand is very imperfect, but also innocent, good-natured, and well-intentioned. In other versions of Pinocchio, the puppet starts off bad, influenced by bad characters, but with guidance from good characters (like Geppetto, the cricket, the fairy) he eventually transforms into a good boy, then finally a real boy. This movie turns that upside down. Pinocchio, from start to finish, is imperfect, but good. It is those around him who transform, letting go of their ideals of perfection and control, and embracing life for all its flaws, its brevity, its imperfect beauty.

This is important: In several interviews, Guillermo Del Toro said he wanted to portray Pinocchio as a flawed Messiah. Keep that in mind as we walk through the story. In some films the Christ imagery is unintentional. But in this one, it's very intentional. Not only does Guillermo Del Toro turn the Pinocchio story upside down, he turns the Jesus story inside out (but in a good way).

Preparation

Matthew 3:1-3. In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”

In the Bible, John the Baptist is the precursor to Jesus, the one who prepares the way. John himself says that the one who comes after me (Jesus) will be greater than I am. And when Jesus is baptized, God the father says from the heavens, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. In the film, Carlo is the precursor to Pinocchio, but the roles are reversed: Carlo is perfect, saintly, the one in whom his father is well pleased. Pinocchio is not. At least not at first.

[Film Clip #2 - Preparation (2:32)]

Incarnation

Incarnation is a fancy theological word that means "became flesh." Pinocchio is carved (in a grotesque, haphazard way) by Geppetto, but it's the blue fairy who gives Pinocchio life. Only, in this version, it's not a blue fairy. It's something quite different, and yet something familiar.

Revelation 4:6-8. And in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and back: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

[Film Clip #3 - Incarnation (2:57)]

Cherubs, Seraphs, and other types of "guardian" angels are described in the bible in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation. Three pairs of wings, eyeballs all over, and the face of either a human, an eagle, a lion, or an ox. The angel you just saw has a counterpart that we'll see later...also with eyeballs all over, but with the horns of an ox.

Education

Luke 2:46-49. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

[Film Clip #4 - Education (2:15)]

Here again, Del Toro subverts both the Pinocchio story and the biblical story. Pinocchio must be in God's house...but instead of being amazed by his teaching, the people of the village are repulsed by him. This is a subtle, but truthful critique of the church--would we recognize Jesus if he showed up today and didn't conform to our mental image of him? We, Christians have occasionally been known to label people as "abominations" who show up on our doorstep seeking acceptance and love.

Temptation

Matthew 4:8-11. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 9 and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

[Film Clip #5 - Temptation (1:22)]

Pinocchio, our flawed messiah, doesn't pass the test as quickly as Jesus did. Actually he fails it, but in that "failure" (and in every subsequent "failure") he manages to befriend and then redeem one of those "little things, lost things, forgotten ones" that the angel spoke of. In this case, it's Spazzatura the monkey (Spazzatura is an Italian word that means "garbage").

Crucifixion

Philippians 2:5-8. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

[Film Clip #6 - Crucifixion (1:07)]

If you weren't convinced about the Christ-type by now...that one was pretty obvious. And here I should probably explain something. Pinocchio actually "dies" three times throughout the film, and each time he goes down into a dark underworld where he talks with another angel (who has horns like an ox) and then she send him back. The third and final time he visits her (shortly after this scene) is a little bit different.

Resurrection

Matthew 12:38-40. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.

So...Jonah, swallowed by a sea monster equals Jesus, three days and nights in the heart of the earth, equals Pinocchio, three trips into the underworld. Got it?

[Film Clip #7 - Resurrection (2:01)]

The first angel, and the beginning of the film, "broke the rules" to give Pinocchio life. Pinocchio defies the conventions of his world, showing those around him how ridiculous some of our rules really are. And the final angel subtly encourages him to break the ultimate rule--the one about mortality and death--in order to save the ones he loves. Jesus, of course, defied the conventions of his time, eating with tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and outcasts. And he broke the ultimate rule--the one about mortality and death, when he rose from the grave, so that we too might have life beyond death.

Ascension

In the biblical story, after his resurrection, Jesus sends his friends out into the world and ascends into heaven. In most versions of the Pinocchio story, Pinocchio finally becomes a real, flesh and blood boy, and lives happily ever after with Geppetto and the cricket. By now, however, you won't be surprised that Guillermo Del Toro has different (and quite touching) ideas about what it means to be a real boy, to live "ever after" and to go out into the world. I'll let him have the last word.

[Film Clip #8 - Ascension (3:31)]