Sermon for January 7th, 2024
Contents
Luke 4:14-21, 28 (NT p.61)
14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Colossians 2:12-15 (NT p.200)
12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
Faith & Film XII: Wonka
Three Minute Film Summary
Wonka is a prequel to the beloved Roald Dahl children's story, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The film opens as a young Willy Wonka returns home to start his career after seven years abroad. He doesn't have much money, and so ends up in debt to a crooked hotel and laundry facility--where all of the residents/workers owe exorbitant debts they can never hope to repay, making them functionally enslaved to the owners. Here, Willy makes his first friend and follower, an orphan named Noodle. The two of them make chocolate each night, and sneak out of the laundry facility each day to sell chocolate in the town square. The chocolates are magical, and have transformative effects on those who eat them. Willy's presentation begins to draw large crowds, but also the attention of the "chocolate cartel"--the owners of three rival chocolate companies, who tightly control the flow of chocolate in the town, and also control the local law enforcement. They attempt to get rid of Willy, but he eludes them with the help of Noodle and several other enslaved laundry workers, now part of Willy's inner circle. Around this time, Willy also encounters Lofty, a small orange man with green hair who has been stalking him for several years.
Willy and friends finally save enough money to open their own store, but at the grand opening the laundry owner secretly poisons his candy, and so the crowds turn against him, destroying the candy and the store. At this point, the leaders of the chocolate cartel offer Willy enough money to pay off the debts of his friends, if he will leave town and never come back. He agrees, and they put him on a boat to Alaska...which they subsequently blow up as it sails away. Miraculously, Willy escapes the explosion and returns to his friends. Together they come up with a plan to sneak into the headquarters of the chocolate cartel (an underground vault hidden beneath a cathedral), to find a book--an accounting ledger--which which would prove the crimes of the chocolate cartel, vindicating Willy and his friends, while also liberating the vast store of chocolate the cartel has been withholding from the town. I won't give away the ending, since there are a few surprises, but I will say that right before the credits roll, Willy Wonka sings the iconic song from the 1971 film adaptation: "Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination..." as he strolls into an abandoned castle he has purchased, painting a picture for the audience of what it will look like when he has transformed it into his iconic future chocolate factory.
Come With Me
This story should be ridiculously familiar to most of you. Where else might we have heard the story of a young man returning from the wilderness to start his career, who works miraculous wonders, feeds crowds, transforms lives, and gathers followers, saying to them, "Come with me" -- who confronts and confounds powerful rulers, who then plot to kill him. He is betrayed, and the crowds turn against him. But he willingly lays down his life to pay the insurmountable debt of his friends, purchasing their freedom. For a time, it seems he is dead and the powerful rulers have prevailed--but then he returns to life, appearing to his followers. Simultaneously, he descends into the bowels of hell in order to set the captives free forever, defeating his enemies in the process, and assuring us all of our place in the kingdom of God, the world to come with pearly gates, streets of gold, and many mansions.
The Wonka story, as presented in this film IS the Jesus story.
Now...let me be clear: I doubt this is intentional on the part of the scriptwriters, directors, producers, or actors. Some of you may think that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail--so to a pastor, everything looks like the gospel story. But I really think the connections here are too strong to ignore. And while they may not be conscious, they are at least unconscious. God's story, the story of Jesus, is the greatest story ever told--it permeates through all of our culture, art, literature, and storytelling in ways we often don't intend or anticipate. But we can (and should) recognize it, claim it, and proclaim it wherever we find it. That's a big part of why we do this series every year.
Flamingoes & Sheep
Flamingoes are a recurring theme throughout the film. At one point, Noodle sees a flock of flamingoes in the local zoo, and says she's always wondered why they don't just fly away? Willy says "Perhaps they haven't thought of it." Noodle gives him an incredulous look and says "You're kidding" to which Willy replies, "No, I’m serious. That’s the thing about flamingoes. They’re flock animals. They need someone to show them the way."
Noodle and her friends are, of course, also captives who could just "fly away" but like the flamingoes, they are "flock animals" in need of someone (perhaps Willy, perhaps even Noodle) to lead them. Jesus often compared people to another flock animal: Sheep, in need of a good shepherd to lead them. Later in the film, as Willy and Noodle fly out of the zoo on a bouquet of balloons, we see the flamingoes following after them.
The Wee Little Man
At first, I couldn't quite figure out how the Oompa Loompa fit into thee Jesus story. I think it was my daughter Abby who figured it out first--she said, "Dad, he's a Wee Little Man," referring to the children's song about Zaccheus, the wee little man who sat aloft in a tree waiting to see Jesus (the Oompa Loompa tells us his name is "Lofty"). Zaccheus, in the Bible, is a tax collector--and Lofty the Oompa Loompa takes a percentage of Willy's chocolate that he feels is owed to him.
Who is Noodle?
Noodle is Willy's first disciple, so that makes her like Andrew, the first one Jesus called. But at one point, she walks on water with Willy, just like Jesus walks on water with Peter. Several times in the film, Willy asks his followers if they believe him (usually when he's talking about the little orange man) and they always say no. But Noodle is the first one to publicly declare her belief and allegiance to Willy, making her, in this instance more like Peter. But just when you think that seals it...we learn the name of Noodle's deceased father--Zebedee. Two of Jesus' disciples were the sons of Zebedee: James and John. And John was described as the disciple that Jesus loved, which would also fit the close relationship between Noodle and Willy Wonka.
Actually I think Noodle resembles a mix of Jesus' followers, including the sisters Mary and Martha. But in the end, she most resembles...us! You and me. Like Noodle, we were (spiritual) orphans until Jesus reconciled us to God, our long-lost heavenly parent. At one point in the film, Noodle and Willy are both being buried alive together in liquid chocolate. And then they are both raised up together, out of the chocolate, and out of the underground vault (representing hell). Our scripture passage from Colossians reminds us that "when [we] were buried with him in baptism, [we] were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Chocolate burial, chocolate baptism.
Chocolate Communion=
Which leads me to chocolate...probably one of the most pervasive motifs of the film. After all, Willy Wonka makes chocolate. It's an extension of his self, his identity, his magic. He learned how to make chocolate from his parent, his mother, and she promised him that when he shared his chocolate with the world, she would be there right beside him.
For this reason, I think the chocolate is to Willy Wonka what the Word of God is to Jesus. Willy shares his chocolate with the people and his mother is with him. Jesus shares God's Word with the people, and his heavenly father is with him. Jesus is the Word made flesh, and Willy Wonka IS the heart and soul of his chocolate. His chocolate transforms lives, just as Jesus transforms lives through his words, his parables, and his preaching. Incidentally, in the gospels, the religious leaders thought they controlled all access to God's Word. They thought they alone knew what God's Word was and wasn't. So too, the leaders of the chocolate cartel:
Near the end of the film, when all the chocolate has been liberated from the vault of the chocolate cartel, and liquid chocolate is streaming out of the fountain in the town square, Willy Wonka fills up a pitcher and pours out chocolate into the cups of the people. Then he takes the chocolate bar his mother made for him, breaks it, and gives it to his friends. And of course, we recognize the gesture, because we do the same thing every month.
