Within You

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within you. I believe that but I don't always get it. You know what I mean?

Well, on Thursday we got 3 Netflix movies in the mail. They were Patriot Games with Harrison Ford which is a great fun movie to watch, Oh Brother Where Art Thou which is also a fun movie and Pulp Fiction, which was a surprise since no one remembered putting it in our cue. Now I have always heard Pulp Fiction was a very rough, but very good movie. To be honest I really didn't even know what it was about, so with an understanding of its rating we made arrangements with Sawyer to do something else while Sherry and I watched it.

It was very rough. The language was intense and extreme. The violence was over the top. Drug and alcohol was everywhere, but for some reason I kept watching. I can't ever recommend the movie to anyone because of that, but there was one thing in particular that made me very glad I watched it.

In the movie Vincent and Jules are two hit men who argue constantly, but they are apparently quite good at there job. In one of the first scenes these two are wearing matching black suits on their way to an apartment to work a job. When it seems like they are done, the scene cuts to them entering the establishment of their boss wearing gym shorts and t-shirts. Later in the movie the job in the apartment is revisited and completed. The job wasn't really over in the first scene. What really happened is that a guy leaped out of a room with a monstrously large hand gun and started firing at the two hit men from point blank range. The bullets never hit them. Behind them on the wall were bullet holes that made it appear that at least one or two bullets must have passed through their intended victims without damaging them at all.

Here is the part that I found intriguing. Vincent and Jules began arguing again, except this time it was about why they were spared. Vincent said it was just random luck, but Jules said that it was a miracle. Both experienced the exact same thing, but both interpreted the event differently. One, Vincent, maybe because his luck ran out was killed doing his next job. The other, Jules, performed an incredible act of mercy because he believed God had intervened in his life. I am not saying that Pulp Fiction was preaching some kind of sermon, but I do think that it illustrates a point well.

In this one vignette about disgusting gangsters, one experiences the Kingdom of God and is transformed. The other, who stands at exactly the same point, who is just as disgusting, who survives the very same shooting does not experience the Kingdom of God, and he is not transformed.

So here is what it comes to; no matter how much I beg, borrow, or steal, no matter how much I manipulate, cajole, or intimidate, I will never be able to make anyone experience the Kingdom of God. By the same token I will never be able to love, hope or believe someone into the Kingdom of God either. As uncomfortable as it truly is, the Kingdom of God really is inside of us, out of reach of anyone except ourselves and the Lord, or it isn't.