True Kindness

Yesterday I got a chance to see Wicked again. Now, before you call the cops, the CIA, or even NASA, there’s more to it than wanting to see Wicked instead of Sonic 3. It was at the request of my family. I haven’t completely lost my mind and my blog hasn’t been hijacked. And while watching, I had a fun little thought.

First of all, I like the idea of re-seeing movies to learn how to get more details out of them. I may try to find the time to rewatch other things to develop as a critic. But beyond that, a particular moment caught my eye. Halfway through the film, There's a scene where the wicked witch brings flowers for a professor that she is particularly fond of. The bouquet is an assortment of colors, much like her feelings for her newfound friend. There’s pity mixed with empathy and a splash of loving care in the mix. (But this isn’t romantic, since he’s a goat.)

And as she hands him the flowers, he says to her “thank you, you’re so kind.” And that got me thinking: what is true kindness? Can we truly say that this wicked witch has a good heart? I tossed around the idea for a while and here’s what I came up with.

Initially, I was stuck on a line that I jotted down in my little travel notebook: selective kindness is not true kindness. I think that’s a fair thing to say. If you are only nice to those who are nice to you, you’re just a reciprocator. Kindness isn’t a part of who you are. Whether it’s a need to please or a reaction to a warm, fuzzy feeling, you’re only being a product of circumstance if your kindness is just for those who show theirs first.

From there, my mind darted to Jesus, who showed un-selective kindness. He showed it for everyone and it took Him to some painful places. He was tortured and murdered in the slowest way known to man at the time so that we could live our lives with Him beside us. It doesn’t get any more un-selective than that, right? But from there, my mind went somewhere else. If God loved everyone, and died for all of us, then how do we explain how He treated the Pharisees? I mean, He was pretty clearly an enemy to them, right? I puzzled over this for a while, and something interesting actually came to mind:the story of Job.

Job was described as a pretty good dude. It says that God liked Job. But Job gets tested and his life gets rough. After a while of hurting and pain and stuff, Job starts demanding an answer from God. And God comes down and puts Job in his place, sarcastically asking Job if he thinks he can run the world better than God almighty. It’s a pretty good smack down that Job gets, but then God rewards Job by giving him a life again. 

I thought of that story because it seemed to me like God treated Job like He did the Pharisees, but it also says that He loved Job. I think it goes to show that sometimes our pride needs to be shattered, but that He will be there to pick us up when it is. It’s hard to show love and discipline in the same instance, but I think this example is our best bet.

So yeah, I had fun seeing this movie again. After all, it was this movie that made me really want to commit to being more of a public movie critic, rather than an avid moviegoer. It will be fun to see what other stuff like this I can come up with in the new year.

I pray that the God of perfect love meets you today and that you get a taste of His great, unfailing kindness for you. 

Until next time, 

May peace be your guide.