In college I had to write over a dozen film analysis for
multiple classes. Starting with Introduction to Film Studies and
segueing into Australian Cinema and African-American Images in the Media
(just to name the major ones) my mind has been tailored to give media images
more credit than most people would. (Honorable mention to the eight page paper
on Edward Scissorhands that had to
have eight scholarly sources… no joke.)
So now that I told you why on earth I would have a blog with
such a ridiculous title; I am going to tell you why Captain Jack
Sparrow is like Jesus.
[disclaimer- If you have not seen the Pirates of the
Caribbean movies or have no idea what they’re about, this blog will probably
not make that much sense. But by
all means, read on anyway!]
Did you ever feel like you can’t figure out if God is on
your side? Is he trying to bless
you or punish you? Maybe sometimes
he feels like your boss, or sometimes he feels like your dad. I think most of us have heard that Jesus
wants to have a personal relationship with us, but as humans we don’t trust
that easily. It can take time. It’s like we want Jesus to prove to us that he’s on our side, when
sometimes it feels like he’s not.
We think that we know best, even if we want to believe that he does.
Remember the first Pirates movie? Remember Captain
Jack Sparrow? He takes the
seemingly innocent Will Turner on a quest to rescue the love of his life, the
beautiful Elizabeth Swan. That
seems noble enough. We know his
gear- a pistol with only one bullet and a compass that doesn’t point
north. What? That makes no sense. This perpetually drunken pirate is full
of oxymorons and is nearly impossible to read. Throughout the film it’s difficult to figure out whether or not
we trust him, and whether or not he truly has a plan.
[note- the drunken part is clearly not like Jesus. Keep reading.]
The film commences.
Enter Captain Jack Sparrow.
You see him on the top of the ship, looking bold, strong, windblown
hair, as if he can conquer anything.
I think this is how most of us see Jesus when we first accept him into
our hearts. He seems impressive,
and we realize that we need this amazing God in our lives. Romans 8:31 says “If God is for us, who
can be against us?� And we believe
this.
But then our earthly problems flow in. Sickness, relationships, finances… this
is not the perfect life we wanted!!
This is not what we signed up for!! And sometimes we feel lonely, like maybe God didn’t want to
help us after all. And Captain
Jack Sparrow feebly scoops one bucket of water out of his sinking ship… our
sinking ship.
Not to worry of course, Captain Jack Sparrow lands at the
dock in the knick of time, taking one last step from the sinking ship to the
safety of the dock, never to look back.
As the audience seeing the film for the first time we say “oh hey, that
was neat and clever. We thought
maybe the boat was sinking but here he is, confident and safe on the dock.� As Christians, we probably have had
experiences like this. We freaked
out, and we were frustrated with God for his seemingly feeble attempts to solve
our problems. Then, all of a
sudden, we realize we are safe on the dock. Sure, it gets our heart going a little faster than we
wanted, but hey, isn’t that more glorifying to our Almighty God?
Enter William Turner.
He has NO idea what he is about to get himself into. Within five onscreen minutes of he and
Jack’s partnership, Jack has got him walking with him, underwater, carrying a
canoe over his head. What? I know I know, it’s just a movie. Stuff happens fast so you can fit it
into two hours. But Will has no
choice but to follow the instructions of Captain Jack Sparrow, because he can’t
do it on his own. Sound
familiar? I think sometimes Jesus
leads us down fairly “unconventional� paths, and we have no choice but to
follow. At this point, Will and
Jack exchange a short, but meaningful, dialogue:
Will: “This is either madness, or brilliant.�
Jack: “It’s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.�
Why yes Jack, it is remarkable. Sometimes (well, pretty much all the time really) God is so
much more ridiculously brilliant than we are that we can’t even fathom what
he’s doing. We see a tiny sliver
of the picture, when really the plan is so meticulous, so ornate, and so
awesome and amazing.
Captain Jack Sparrow also has this amazing bit of wit about
him. The Royal Navy looks at him
like he’s an idiot, but somehow he’s the one that always ends up on top. (I know it helps that Johnny Depp’s
face makes millions at the box office, but work with me here.) When Will and Jack declare they are
going to take over the Royal Navy’s ship, a sailor laughs and says: “This ship
cannot be crewed by two men.
You’ll never make it out of the bay.� And of course Jack smartly retorts, “Son, I’m Captain Jack
Sparrow. Savvy?�
Sometimes I feel like God looks down on
my life and says, “Really? You
think you’ll never make it? You
think that you can’t do this or you think this will never work out? Watch me. I’M GOD.� And of course, what happens? Before you really realize what’s going on, Will and Jack are
off on a ship, just the two of them, leaving the British Royal Navy
dumbfounded.
But Jack can’t really do everything
on his own. He knows when he needs
help. Ideally he would probably
like to have a crew with the caliber of Navymen or the raw adrenaline of
pirates, but he doesn’t get either one.
He gets a ragtag bunch of people gathered up, including a woman, a tongue-less
man, a little person, and a guy that uses pigs for a pillow. Ideal, huh? He asks them this question:
“Do you have the courage and
fortitude to stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?�
WHOA.
This sounds familiar.
How about Matthew 16:24- “Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me.�
Or 2 Timothy 1:12- ““For this reason I also suffer these
things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am
persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day.�
Jesus uses a whole bunch of random people on his crew too,
doesn’t he? He used the 12 disciples.
He used fishermen, tax collectors, persecutors, and broken busted people
not unlike ourselves to do his work.
And, indeed, he has pretty much made it clear that we are to stay true
no matter what, in the face of danger or death.
So we follow Captain Jack Sparrow and his motley crew on
this adventure to rescue the fair maiden.
On their way, they reach some trouble. They’re a bit lost, trying to navigate the ship through a
bad storm. Will gets angry at
Jack, asking him “How are we supposed to find our way with a compass that
doesn’t point north?� Mr. Gibbs
responds for Jack by saying, “We’re not trying to find north, are we?�
God specifically references the analogy of rough waters in
life in the Bible:
Isaiah 43:2– “When
you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not
drown.�
And as far as the north thing goes, I think it’s safe to say
that everyone can relate. You have directions to a place you aren’t even sure you want to go. Maybe it’s a career, a relationship, a degree… But you had a compass right? You had directions, and something was telling you where to go. Society. Friends. Media. Maybe even your own mother. Everyone has, at some point in their
life, had their eye on a prize that wasn’t really a prize. Maybe you’re at a point where you’ve been convinced that you need to follow something. If it’s not God that’s leading you, chances are you don’t want to go there, even if you have directions. What’s your north?
Back to Pirates.
They almost solve the problem about an hour into the movie-
all the golden pieces are returned, all the “blood to be repaid� is repaid
(with the exception of Will, who’s in the same room, and I’m guessing his blood
could be repaid pretty quickly).
However, there’s one catch- the maiden is still at the hands of the
pirates. And Will is upset. He wants to run in there, grab
Elizabeth, and save the day. No
plan, just raw adrenaline. That
could work, right? Then Captain Jack
Sparrow says two things to him, two things that could almost be straight from
the mouth of Jesus himself.
The first is this-
“Wait for the opportune moment.�
Yesssssssss.
This goes right into timing. Lately I have been thinking a lot about God’s timing. His timing in my life, his timing in
other people’s lives. Any world
racer can attest that we often ask this question about timing- “When is this money coming in???� Or have you talked to anyone about
their love life recently? Or maybe
thought of your own. What is the
timing on that going to be like? When is that significant other going to
come into your life? When are you
going to get a raise at work? When
will your sick family member get better?
When will _______ be over and your normal life resume? When? WHEN?
God tells us he’s got it all under control. God tells us to trust his timing.
Isaiah 49:8 NLT says: This is what the LORD says: “At
just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation I will help
you.�
Ecclesiastes 3 is all about timing- it tells us that there’s
a time for everything. This famous
passage begins with “To everything there is a season…a time to be born, a time
to die…� (just to jog your memory).
The Message even starts by stating “There’s an opportune time to do
things…� Well that’s cool. I didn’t even realize that when I
started this paragraph. : ) A
little later, in verse 11 (NIV),
Ecclesiastes says this: “He has made everything beautiful in its
time. He has also set eternity on
the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to
end.�
Let that sink in for a second.
“He has set eternity….
Yet they cannot fathom…�
Here God basically tells us straight that he’s got this
timing thing down, but we can’t even fathom it. It’s too big for us.
We only see a small portion of the big picture.
The next thing Captain Jack Sparrow says to Will is this:
“Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?�
Sounds familiar, huh?
Let’s go straight to the Bible- Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the Lord and
lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he
will set your path straight.�
Think of that verse.
Think of the scenario.
Think of the big picture.
Think of your life.
Are you acknowledging God in all ways? Are you seeing a sliver of things
through Will’s eyes? Wouldn’t you
rather give some clout to the big guy, who sees everything from beginning to
end?
Well Will decides that he wouldn’t. He does what he wants. He knocks out Jack with an oar (nice
huh?) messes up the plan, and disowns him. Leaves him behind.
Pretty soon Jack is surrounded by pirates ready to kill him. He remains calm and says the magic
words to the evil Captain Barbosa- “The girl’s blood didn’t work,
did it?� (Background- the blood
needed to be repaid. Elizabeth’s
didn’t work. They don’t know why,
but Jack does).
Ever been at that point? You’re ready to give up or make some last desperate attempt. You’re ready to write off God. Then He whispers in your ear,
“It’s not working, is it?�
It can be a little frustrating, someone in your ear, telling
you they see that it’s not working out, knowing your hidden unhappiness.
And with a sigh, we react like Barbosa. We look up, a little defeated, and ask,
“You know what I need??�
And since it’s God, of course the answer is yes.
Matthew 6:8 says “… for your Father knows what you need
before you ask him.�
Philippians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs
according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.�
Fast forward a bit in Pirates–
Jack shows up to rescue his motley crew.
He has a plan, but of course no one trusts him (unlike Jesus, pirates
aren’t that trustworthy. We should
probably trust Jesus.) Jack shows
up unannounced and uninvited when the situation is looking pretty desperate- when
Jack himself is assumed to be a goner.
Colossians 1:13-
“He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
kingdom of the Son he loves.�
Psalm 91:14-15- “Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will
rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and
I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor
him.�
Barbosa can’t believe his eyes. He can’t believe that Jack is standing right in front of
him. He looks at Jack and says,
“It’s not possible!�
Jack’s reply- “Not probable.�
Luke 18:27- “Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is
possible with God.�
Because God, as we have covered thus far, takes average,
sometimes broken people (Mat 16:24); rescues them (Col 1:13) (Psa 91:14); gives
them what they need (Phil 4:19); and helps them along the right path in life
(Pro 3:5-6).
BUT WAIT!
There’s a grand finale.
Captain Jack Sparrow isn’t finished working yet.
And neither is Jesus.
Remember the last, epic battle scene? Remember watching, a little shocked, as
Barbosa stabs Jack? (This movie
came out when I was 13. I reserve
the right to have been appropriately shocked the first time I watched it). I thought Jack was dead. All hope was lost. Everyone was in trouble now. Jack takes a step back into the moonlight and it turns out-
drum roll please…..
he went immortal for just long enough
to save the day and square everything away.
Funny, God went mortal for long enough to save the day.
Mortal in the form of his son, Jesus. Who died on a cross, took on the sins
of many, but saved them all.
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
Did you see that coming?
Although Pirates of
the Caribbean was a blockbuster film that hit the theatres in 2003; starred
a crazy, drunken, unpredictable pirate named Captain Jack Sparrow;
and was incidentally Disney’s first PG-13 movie (which tells us that
Disney was expanding its target audiences to older moviegoers, just fyi), it
can be more than just a tall tale.
I hope this blog can make the realities of Jesus a little more tangible,
a little more relative, a little more something
to you- whatever it is that has been lacking in your life.
Remember that Captain Jack Sparrow had a plan.
Jesus has a plan.
“For I know the plans I have for you,� declares the
Lord. “Plans to prosper you and
not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.�
Jeremiah
29:11
It’s all in his perfect timing.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what
God has prepared for those who love him.
1
Corinthians 2:9
This was pretty long guys. Thanks for getting through it. And if this was a real film analysis, I think I would get
an A. Just sayin.
