 |
| Marvel Studios |
Guardians of the
Galaxy is the latest addition to Marvel’s franchise, and it is an eclectic mix.
It has the saddest and most moving opening of a blockbuster sci-fi movie since Abrams’
Star Trek, and yet it is as full of
quips and wit as Whedon’s cleverly-dialogued Avengers. It has a bazillion homages to great sci-fi films, but it
still feels like its own story—complete with a fully believable walking, talking tree
creature and a wise-cracking raccoon.
And smack dab in the middle of all this? One of the more unusual
kingdom images* I’ve collected thus far.
(Warning: some spoilers ahead)
(Warning: some spoilers ahead)
A common theme in comic book movies is a disparate group of people coming together to form not just an association but a new community or family. In the X-Men films, it is a group of mutants; in Avengers, it is a group of
superheroes. In Guardians, it is a group of people written off by the galaxy: Peter Quill is a smuggler and thief whose mother died when he was a child. Gamora
is an orphan trained to be an assassin who's seeking redemption by working against the
evil Ronan. Drax is a warrior seeking revenge for the death of his wife and
daughter who were killed by Ronan. Rocky, a genetically engineered raccoon who
is tortured by the memory of experiments performed on him, is a bounty hunter. And
then there’s Rocky’s partner, Groot, a kind but fierce humanoid tree creature whose
language is confined to three words—“I am Groot.”
While their association begins with a mission to collect a
handsome payoff for a mysterious artifact, bonds begin to develop between them.
When they discover the artifact could destroy the galaxy and it falls into Ronan’s
hands, Quill asks the rest of them to help him get it back so that countless
others will be spared annihilation.
“You’re asking us to die,” Rocky tells him, giving them all
pause.
Yet, each of them has had a taste of what it feels like to
have friendship and family—something none of them have ever had. And that taste
is enough for them to risk their lives so that others they don’t even know will
have a chance to live.
At one point, after a long battle, they are facing certain death.
Groot begins to extend and twine himself around them in a sphere to protect
them—a gesture that risks his own life. When Rocket asks why Groot is willing
to die for them, Groot responds, “We
are Groot.”
Groot no longer sees himself as an individual. The lives of
his friends are now enfolded into his own. The well-being of each of them is
not only equivalent to but above his own because this family is now his
identity.
I find this a crazily wonderful echo of life in the Kingdom,
where God’s people are called and enable to be this kind of “we.” A family of disparate brothers and sisters whose lives are intricately interwoven. A family of brothers and sisters who now willingly lay down their lives for each other, who no longer see themselves as independent individuals but whose identity is now a "we"--a family rooted in
Jesus, who said: "This is my
command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the
very best way to love. Lay down your life for your friends. If you love one another like this, everyone will know that
you are my disciples" (John
15:11-15 and John
13:34, mix of The Message and NIV).
It makes sense that we will be known as Jesus’ disciples if
we live as a “we” who loves like this because that is the kind of union and love
from which we are fashioned. This is the kind of “we” and love shared among the
Father, Son and Spirit. And if we are rooted in Jesus, this is the kind of “we”
and love of which we are capable. This is the kind of “we” and love that strengthens,
saves and restores. This is the kind of “we” in which God, as Dallas Willard
puts it, “is tangibly
manifest to everyone on earth who wants to find him.”
I admit, I wasn’t looking for an image that reminded me of
kingdom life when I walked into this movie—and, if I were, I certainly wouldn’t
have expected to find it in a tree-like creature that can only speak three
words. But those three words remind me of what kingdom life is like--and that brings God-talk into these open spaces.
* Over the
years, I’ve collected a lot of images that seem to echo or reflect the kingdom life: bubbles and molecules, a collection, new wine skins, upside-down, a man looking with love at his wife, a cultivated inner life, a father’s love for a
wayward-but-returning son, violence overcome with love, knowing “Life will out”, severed ropes, more like an embrace than a bridge, a better and far country, learning to see right, learning to live unbroken, the love between a father and son, opening a vein, sharing a meal, seeing in green, a dance, present to grief and pain without
shelter or reserve, seeing and hearing like Jesus, collecting fall leaves, a brother’s love, true friendships, New York city life, cul-de-sacs,
and even a
commercial.