Finding the Gospel in (Spite of) ‘Red Sparrow’
In a recent blog entry, I examined Lawrence’s starring role in the sexually violent film Red Sparrow, and how she claimed in an interview that the movie helped her feel empowered. After being the victim of a photo hack that released nude pictures of Lawrence onto the internet, her choice to go nude (and much more) for Red Sparrow allowed her to reclaim what the photo hack had stolen: her autonomy.
To a degree, I get where Lawrence is coming from. The sexual offenses committed against her in real life took place without her consent, so she turned the tables (so to speak) by willingly participating in similar activities, thus finding a sense of liberation. If she could do of her own free will for the sake of her art what others did against her will for their own sakes, it might at least mitigate the damage done to her. (That the film’s director gave Lawrence the right to sign off on the final cut helped her positive experience, no doubt.)
We have
already addressed how Lawrence’s involvement in Red Sparrow reveals a misguided response to the offenses committed
against her in the past. Now we will examine two ways in which those choices
hint at the real solution to her dilemma.
NAKED AND
UNASHAMED
First,
Lawrence says the uncomfortable nature of public nudity in Red Sparrow was made “much more comfortable” because of the support
of the crew: “Everybody made me feel like I had clothes on,” she says, which
helped her feel “empowered” and “amazing.” This hints at an important spiritual
reality: the only way to truly overcome having your dignity stripped away is to
share your vulnerability in a context where you will receive love and
acceptance, not further condemnation.
Where can
you find a context with that kind of unmitigated grace? It’s nice to be amongst
crewmembers who make you feel comfortable during an uncomfortable scene. But
that uncomfortable scene is being played out in front of audience members who
are going to have a different response. They will decidedly not imagine you as fully clothed while
they’re watching your full monty on the big screen. Many will use your “deliciously
perverse” outing (to borrow a phrase from film critic James Berardinelli) as
fodder for their own fantasies. Others will criticize and condemn your use of nudity (and in this case, rightfully so).
No,
extreme vulnerability (physically, emotionally, or in any other form) paired
with absolute, unqualified love will not come from involving yourself in a
boundary-pushing sexual violence fest. Acceptance in the face of extreme vulnerability
must come from another source.
That
source is the gospel of the grace of God. From this wellspring, you don’t receive a congenial God who simply pretends you are clothed when you really aren’t; rather, you receive a holy God who will replace your nakedness and shame with a bright and
clean covering—a robe of righteousness (see Ezekiel 16:9-13; Isaiah 61:10;
Revelation 19:8).
This beautiful adornment covers not only the shame associated with offenses committed against us, but also the shame of offenses we ourselves commit. In the words of Tim Keller, “The gospel says you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, but more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope.” In the light of the gospel, we can be naked and unashamed (so to speak). That is, in light of God’s forgiving and restoring work, we can be eternally vulnerable and transparent without the fear of being demeaned or rejected.
This beautiful adornment covers not only the shame associated with offenses committed against us, but also the shame of offenses we ourselves commit. In the words of Tim Keller, “The gospel says you are more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, but more accepted and loved than you ever dared hope.” In the light of the gospel, we can be naked and unashamed (so to speak). That is, in light of God’s forgiving and restoring work, we can be eternally vulnerable and transparent without the fear of being demeaned or rejected.
TRUE
RESTORATION
Second,
Lawrence says that choosing to undress herself—taking matters into her own
hands—helped her feel “empowered.” In fact, it helped her feel like she “took
something back that was taken from me.” I have already argued that such a
response, while understandable, is misinformed.
Lawrence’s
experience is more complex than, say, having your wallet stolen. The theft and
publication of nude photos can’t just simply be reversed—not even by the
willing publication of your nudity in a different context. The latter does not,
and cannot, cancel out the former.
If we step
back to examine things from an eternal perspective, any attempt to fix one’s life
through one’s own effort is, in an ultimate sense, futile. We lack the power
and wisdom necessary to make things right—let alone to undo the evils that assail
us. The final answer, the ultimate solution, to being sinned against is not to
pick up the broken pieces of our lives and pretend we can successfully glue
them back together again.
Many of the losses we experience can not and will not be recovered through our
own power. That may sound depressing, but it is only part of the truth. The good news is this: rather than
attempting—and failing—to take back what was stolen from us, we can entrust ourselves to
the one who “judges righteously” (2 Peter 2:23) and who has promised to avenge
all evil (Romans 12:19). Furthermore, ours is a God who can “make all things
new” (Revelation 21:5) and “restore…the years that the swarming locust has
eaten” (Joel 2:25). Not only will He rightly deal with every single act of
injustice, but He will also restore us in such a way that will functionally reverse the evil that has happened.
As recipients of grace, we have hope to receive the actual undoing of all that is wrong with our hearts and our circumstances. A day will come when God’s blood-bought children will (to borrow language from J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings) experience everything sad coming untrue. God will take back what was stolen from us. Even more importantly, God will restore what we have stolen from ourselves—and from Him. Once that day comes, we will delight in unbroken joy and fellowship with Him, His people, and His creation in a world where “thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).
As recipients of grace, we have hope to receive the actual undoing of all that is wrong with our hearts and our circumstances. A day will come when God’s blood-bought children will (to borrow language from J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings) experience everything sad coming untrue. God will take back what was stolen from us. Even more importantly, God will restore what we have stolen from ourselves—and from Him. Once that day comes, we will delight in unbroken joy and fellowship with Him, His people, and His creation in a world where “thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20).
That is
true catharsis. That is true freedom. That is true empowerment. And that is
what I pray Jennifer Lawrence will experience.
photo
credit: alien_artifact
via flickr,
CC
(A color filter has been added to this photo, which has also been cropped from
the original.)