This is the last season of HBOs Game of Thrones. If you are one of the few who don't watch it, Game of Thrones is a fantasy fiction show in which there are fire breathing dragons, tragedy to rival Shakespeare, and apocalyptic frozen zombies bent on destroying the 7 kingdoms of Westeros. Of course being HBO there is crudity, nudity, and violence...
At this time, I'm not going to debate whether or not this is something a Christian should watch or not watch. If you haven't watched it as of yet, I don't insist that you do or recommend it as something to invest your time in.
But what I have enjoyed about watching this show is that it's a common relevant topic to discuss with strangers, acquaintances, and friends. It's interesting to listen to people's grasp on what happened in the last episode, their theories about what will happen next, and who they think will ultimately succeed in obtaining the throne. It truly is interesting. There are not many things that people can discuss with enthusiasm and honesty, which is sad. Politics - No. Religion - Ha. Weather - Yawn.
I connect with the show because of one character in particular - Jon Snow, the bastard son of Ned Stark who time reveals is really the legitimate son and true heir to the entire kingdom.
Why is it we mortals have invented so many stories about someone being more than they first appear to be? What is it about that theme that connects with us? It is repeated over and over again in literature, film, and theater. Is it because universally humankind longs for life to be more than it seems to be on the surface? Is it because we subconsciously know that man is more than he appears to be?
The question of "What is man?" is not a new one. The questions in our search for meaning and purpose are plenty: Are we just a bunch of chemistry that came together randomly and that is it? Are the things we do significant to the universe at all, will they last in anyway long after we are dust? Are we nothing more than big slightly more complicated lizards beholden to the primal limbic brain? Are we truly capable of love, sacrifice, and loyalty and if so, why?
The most epic and original "Hero's Journey" is the one God preordained and completed over 2000 years ago now. Think about it. What is Christianity claiming? It's claiming that God who is outside of time, beyond it, above it, creator of it - entered into it as a human. Actually, first he was what we would today label a "fetus" and then he was a baby; a baby born like the billions of us are, have been, and God willing will be. This total God/total human wasn't born into a traditional family, no, but to a virgin girl and her fiancé during a foreign occupied dictatorship of their homeland. He wasn't born in a mansion with OBYGNs on standby and a fine crafted crib from Pottery Barn Kids to sleep in. Not at all. His "Hero's Journey" goes on from these humble beginnings and only becomes more insanely amazing, historic, prophecy fulfilling, global impacting, destiny altering, evil destroying, kingdom building, personally relevant, life changing, soul saving, event of all times.
Under what captivates the masses, is the universal longing of all man - someone worth living and worth dying for. Do you know such a Man? Thanks be to God forever that He can be known to us. "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). xo
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