categories

spacer

Movie poster for 'Water'  The Gift of 'Water' and Coke by Madelaine Beck   

“Last night and came away with resurrected childhood memories of steaming heat, monsoons and eating curry and rice out of banana leaves...”

spacer

I went to see Deepa Mehta's "Water" last night and came away with resurrected childhood memories of steaming heat, monsoons and eating curry and rice out of banana leaves, and with more truths about the reality of life at Christmas 2005 than I ever expected to get out of a story about the state of widows in 1930s India (who also number 34 million today and who also live in the same desperately dire straits as their predecessors):

  1. The truth is — there is still not enough being done in this world to relieve the suffering of the poor and oppressed;

  2. The truth is — the practice of "Corban" (Mark 7:8-11) is still practised today and more could be done by families to help their "own kin". In the film the Ghandi-like hero says that the religious system that bound widows to their poverty and kept them as outcasts was a disguise — it was all to do with money, and having "one less mouth to feed" as he put it. The whole scene reminded me of what I read recently in Isaiah 58:5-7 (taken from the Jewish Study Bible, bolding mine):
    Is such the fast I desire,
    A day for men to starve their bodies?
    Is it bowing the head like a bulrush
    And lying in sackcloth and ashes?
    Do you call that a fast,
    A day when the Lord is favorable?
    No, this is the fast I desire:
    To unlock fetters of wickedness,
    And untie the cords of the yoke
    To let the oppressed go free;
    To break off every yoke.
    It is to share your bread with the hungry,
    And to take the wretched poor into your home;
    When you see the naked, to clothe him,
    And not to ignore your own kin.

  3. The truth is — (just like a popular song title today says) "Love will save the day" but it needs to be practised vigorously and on purpose! At great cost it saved the 8-year old widow in the film. We are called to love our "own kin", the stranger, the poor, the oppressed — everyone. And just like Jesus, at no cost — no matter the cost;

  4. The truth is — more people need to see films of such excellent quality at this time of year not only to be reminded of the real blessedness of the life they are leading on this side of the world but also to be provoked to deeper thought about the preciousness of the gift of hope that the birth of the Messiah brought into the world. The gift of a life who didn't count His life as too great a price to pay to bring an end to the cycle of sin and death;

  5. The truth is — life is extraordinarily short and we only have a certain amount of time to exercise the privilege on this side of that world to do what the Coke commercial before the film encourages drinkers of Coke to do at Christmas — "Give, Live, Love".

I truly hope you get/take the opportunity to Love in this season of Holy Love.

Madelaine is a wonderful friend and writer presently living in Toronto.—Grant

spacer

sidebar