I wish sin was not so funny and entertaining, but nearly every form of entertainment, especially film and TV, seems to be reliant upon depicting
human sin in either a thrilling or amusing manner. I guess this will have been the case ever since the first time human beings stood up in order to entertain an audience. Even despite its veneer of elegant Elizabethan language some of Shakespeare’s plays are peppered with sexual innuendo and vulgarity. Many of the TV programmes I grew up with as family favourites, like “ALLO, allo”, “It ain’t half hot mum”, “The Benny Hill
show”, “Fawlty Towers” and the “Two Ronnies”, depict human sin in an entertaining way and against the background of today’s sensitive and controversial debate on human sexuality, even some of the humour in those shows is regarded as unacceptable by today’s generation of young people. That being said I find aspects of humour which they find entertaining on Tik Tok and other social media platforms horrendous. What better way
for satan to lure us from the path of righteousness than to get us to laugh at that which makes God angry.
It is debatable whether or not viewing such things is sinful itself. What we laugh at is often the incongruity, irony, and clever word-play. I would seriously doubt if we find adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, the manufacture of illegal drugs, greed, murder, assault, treachery and much more presented
before our eyes on the screen or in the pages of the book we are reading as actually something to be approved
of. One person, however, who did not find any aspect of human sin amusing was Jesus. Such things cost him his life.
St Paul was the master of rhetoric and in the 5th chapter of the Letter to the Romans, Paul enters into rhetorical debate with himself as to whom he would
consider it would be worthy to die for. He writes, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.” (Rom 5:7). Most of us I’m sure we’ll have at some stage played the ethical dilemma, the “Balloon game.” If not it is a game in which those participating apply the principles of utilitarian ethics to decide who is expendable and who is to be considered worthy of survival amongst
the passengers of a Hot air balloon, fated to crash unless unnecessary cargo or passengers are jettisoned. Players often make their selection based upon the utility of a particular passenger to society or future benefit they offer to the majority.
Deciding upon those who live or die in a fictitious scenario is one thing, but when faced with reality, such a decision is horrific especially when that
person is you. Fr Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest who died as prisoner 16770 in Auschwitz-Birkenau on 14th August 1941, made such a personal sacrifice.
At Auschwitz he was known discreetly to give his own food to other prisoners, even as his own health crumbled, to hear confessions and, in the face of stern prohibitions, to celebrate mass. It was late in July 1941 that a fellow prisoner, Franciszek Gajowniczek was
condemned to death in retribution for the successful escape of another prisoner. To save Mr Gajowniczek, Kolbe stepped forward bravely and said, ‘I want to die in place of this prisoner.’ He was condemned along with 9 others to death by starvation over a two week period. Kolbe was still fully conscious when he was finally killed by lethal injection.
All of us, I am sure, would be willing to die to save the life of someone we love and a soldier might be willing to die to save the life of one of his comrades. A great many films depict that very act of human self-sacrifice and devotion, but how many of us would be willing to die for someone you dislike, or worse still, dislikes and despises all that you hold dear? It is with this in mind that after debating with himself St Paul reasons, “But
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)
Isn’t that extraordinary. Despite our sinfulness. Despite the fact we find that which God hates, a source of amusement and whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Such grace, such love.
It is hard for us to get our minds around the penitential
system of blood sacrifice, but for those people who heard and read St Paul’s letters in the 1st Century, from both the Jewish and Greco-Roman culture, such things would have been commonplace. Blood sacrifice was very familiar to people living at that time. We know all too well the complex system of sacrifices and cultic ritual established in the Old Testament and such things were practiced amongst the Gentile pagans too, but to us
in our world, such things seem very alien indeed.
Many Christians would rather avoid any discussion of blood sacrifice in relation to Jesus entirely, but distasteful as it seems, St Paul’s words still hold true, “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Rom 5:9). How is it that we are justified through his blood?”
A justifiable decision is one which has been declared by others as reasonable and right in a set of specific circumstances. Returning to the balloon game, the players might consider the decision to eject the elderly person from the balloon as justified because they had already lived a life, whereas the toddler is only at the beginning of theirs and also weighs less. A person may be considered to have been justifiably present in a
meeting by reason of the authority they have or contribution that they may bring to the success of the outcome of that meeting.
Our forgiveness and our right to enjoy eternal life in the presence of One who is utterly pure, is considered justifiable by God on the grounds of a decision made by one man, His Son Jesus Christ. Like Maximilian Kolbe, Jesus says to the
Father, “Take me instead and let them go!”
We may never fully understand the quality and effect of the shedding of Christ’s blood in that One and Perfect sacrifice, but we gratefully accept it to be true.
So where does that take us in our dilemma over depictions of human sin on TV and in film? Romans 5:8-9 has a lot to say in regard to what we should and should not find
amusing. Firstly, we see that human sin is not funny. It cost Jesus the shedding of his blood. Secondly, sin is not only not funny, sin separates us from God and each other, causing misery and heartache and it makes God extremely angry. Thirdly, despite our sinfulness God has not stopped loving us, too much in fact to let us die as sinners, but we have a choice to make.
Even media which depicts human sin in action often conveys important, positive and praise worthy themes and messages, but I would suggest that if watching such things causes us even for one moment to approve of what is depicted, we cross the line. There are many TV shows and films that if you extract all that portray human sin as being humorous, you would have very little left. A good example is “Black Adder.” Remove the bawdy content
and you have nothing left. Perhaps one should question as to whether watching such things are worth potentially harming our souls?
Laughter is a gift from God and it is healthy, but we must always remember that sin is not funny to God and cost His Son His life. We must ask ourselves, Is it worth dying of laughter?
Amen