Jesus Goes to the Movies: Tender Mercies

January 12, 2003

The Rev. Carol DiBiasio-Snyder

You may have memorized it in English class. Shakespeare. The Merchant of Venice. Act Four, Scene 1 Portia speaks eloquently : "The quality of mercy is not strain?d. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed. It blesseth him who gives and him who takes."

Mercy. Tender Mercy. Gentle Mercy. How often we need it. How often we have the chance to give it. The film, Tender Mercies is a gentle film with a powerful and spiritual message. "[It] tells the story of a has-been country singer and songwriter who has sunk as low as the bottom of his whiskey bottle. The movie begins with Mac Sledge collapsing after a drunken brawl, only to awaken two days later to find himself at a dilapidated motel/gas station in rural Texas. It is run by Rosa Lee, a young widow [her husband killed in Vietnam] who is trying to make a living while raising her young son Sonny. Offering Mac a job as motel handyman in order to pay off his bill, Rosa Lee even more importantly provides Mac with quiet strength, simple faith and straightforward acceptance. As a result, Mac is able to escape from the wilderness of a lost voice, a lost career and a lost family; Mac is, in time, re-born."

"The secret to Mac?s new life is the undeserved grace of Rosa Lee. Though she is reserved and seldom smiles, her tender mercies are nevertheless regenerative. Life has been hard for both of them and Mac has utterly failed. But for Rosa Lee, there is neither preaching nor condemnation. As the two learn slowly to talk to each other, they share their mutual pain." When one of Mac?s songs is rejected Rosa Lee offers support. Let?s watch that moment. Show clip of Rosa Lee saying, "It?s bound to be hard on you . . . I love you. When I thank the Lord for his tender mercies, you and Sonny head the list."

Let me repeat that line just in case you didn?t catch it: "It?s bound to be hard on you . . . I love you. When I say my prayers at night and thank the Lord for his blessings and tender mercies to me, you and Sonny head the list." Mac must never imagined he?d be on anybody?s list of blessings, let alone at the top.

"There is nothing sensationalized about Mac?s transformation. No Hollywood romance, no miraculous conversion, no storybook ending . . . but Rosa Lee?s tender mercies become a window to God?s tender mercies." [quotations from Robert Johnson and Catherine Barsotti from HollywoodJesus.com ]

They really are bound up in each other, God showing mercy to us and our showing mercy to each other. Edmund Spenser wrote: "Who will not mercie unto others show, How can he mercy ever hope to have?"

And in a bit of a reversal, if we are unable to accept mercy for ourselves ? be it from others or from God ? can we fully give it to others? In the movie, Mac?s ex-wife, a now very successful singer herself, is always thinking the worst of others, imaging their motives for doing things lie in wanting to spite her. What a sad way to live.

The film has more symbolism that we have time to go into today . . .the rushing sound of the wind blowing across the flat, expansive Texas fields brings the Holy Spirit to mind . . . Mac and Rosa Lee plant a garden ? a little piece of Eden ? and in a time of deep grief for Mac, the garden is a place of more than just growing plants. . . once, in anger, discouragement and despair Mac takes off in the pick up truck. As Rosa Lee anxiously awaits his return, we see her walk out to the highway, looking down the road, hoping and you can just see the father in the story of the prodigal son doing the same thing.

But another theme explored in the film I?d like us to consider today is personal transformation in salvation. Rosa Lee and Sonny attend the local Baptist church. Rosa Lee sings in the choir and Mac begins attending with them. Sonny is thinking of making his profession of faith and getting baptized. Let?s watch, along with his proud mother, as Sonny takes this step. Show clip of baptism scene and the conversation in the truck.

I don?t know if the appearance of Mac surprised you or not but the movie to that point doesn?t let on this will happen. But what I really love in that clip is the conversation in the truck on the way home from church. The energy in the cab sparkles!

Here are some thoughts on that scene from Ed McNulty in his book, Praying the Movies, Daily Meditations from Classic Films. He writes: "Sonny is young and tends to take the observations of adults literally, hence his looking into the mirror and at Mac for signs of visible change. He has not been through the soul-searing experiences of Mac, although he is trying to cope with the loss of his father, the taunts of some of his playmates, and his mother?s marriage to the older Mac. On the other hand, Mac has come a long way in his spiritual life, from the heights of stardom, to the depths of divorce and alcoholism, back to the heights of his love for Rosa Lee and Sonny, and now to the spiritual renewal confirmed in his baptism. His reply, ?Not yet? is important; not just an offhand remark. It shows that Mac possesses a deep understanding of faith and conversion as an ongoing process, not just a once-for-all-time, miraculous event."

We read in 1 Corinthians, "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. [1 Corinthians 1:18 - NRSV] Did you catch the verb tense there . . . the salvation is on-going, "to us who are being saved." We are all engaged in a life-long process and thank God as we know success and failure in that process, God?s tender mercies are there for us and as we heard in the verses from Lamentations: "God?s mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning."

Think about the experiences of your life that have shaped you. As you reflect on the events and people that have shaped your spiritual journey and contributed in positive (or even negative) ways to shape who you are today, who brought God?s tender mercies to you? Thank God today for those people.

And, to whom have you given mercy? Was it difficult? What about those times when you give your mercy to someone and they fail you . . . again? It?s complicated, this mercy business. Mac responded to the offer of mercy. Not everyone does. When they don?t respond we have a choice. We can become more cynical like Mac?s ex-wife. Or we can continue, like Rosa Lee, to thank God for the mercy we are given every time we don?t deserve it, and keep offering those same tender mercies to others.

In the midst of a world in which so many seem intent on violent revenge, is there a place for mercy, not only in our personal lives, but in our national and global lives as well? Yes, I believe there is a place for mercy in our political lives as well as our personal lives. And I implore all of us to pray for God?s mercy to be on us and all world leaders in these perilous times. Oh, no, it is not simple this mercy business, but it is critical. Receiving mercy, may we be merciful too.

This last bit of advice is thousands of years old, but time has only shown the truth of it more clearly. Listen to the prophet again: "God has shown you, O mortal, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Amen.