What leads us down the paths we choose? Sometimes it is a matter of simply not choosing to follow any particular path, and not caring what happens to us along the way, blindly believing that things will work out. If we don’t have the mind of Christ we have the mind of the world, and in the world there are many opportunities to make bad choices.
The movie Jesus’ Son is not about someone living their life as a follower of Christ. Instead, it is a story about what can happen when you don’t care very much what path you go down, as long as it is sort of fun and there are some cool people involved. It could as easily be titled “The Loveable Self-Destructives”, since the main character, FH, and most of the people he associates with, don’t seem to care what happens to them. Jesus’ Son effectively captures the allure of the world; it is filled with some of the hippest, most interesting actors around, including Jack Black, Denis Leary and Holly Hunter. The chief allure is in the title role as acted by Billy Crudup, and his carefree tumble into wrecking his life and that of his girlfriend, as played by Samantha Morton.
By the end of the movie FH does get his act together, and the director provides hints that FH is heading toward the path of Christ. The sobering truth remains that our actions have consequences to our own lives and the lives of those around us. We may find forgiveness in Christ—glory hallelujah!—but that forgiveness is not a time machine that sends us back to before our mistakes and helps us avoid them. Which makes, for myself at least, the redeeming love of Christ’s sacrifice all the more miraculous, all the greater in its ability to stand in the rubble of our destruction and lead us out onto his paths of righteousness.
Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. John 14: 5-10
