The Family Stone

The movie, The Family Stone, deals with a lot of different themes. My family walked away with mostly the same feeling, that it was dumb and too worldly. I don't know if its an oldest child thing or what but I was again the only one that liked it. The family has five children and they all come home for Christmas. The story is about Emrit bring his girlfriend home and all but one family member doesn't like her. One of the children has his "friend" there, who he is gay with. The dad is passive, the mom is over the top, the youngest sister is mean and the Ben played by Luke Wilson is the mellow care free guy (who is the comic relief). This family is maybe a bit disfunctional some would say extreme but maybe not. The fact is (in the movie world) that that is their reality. The fact that one of the brothers is gay, the mom is dying of breast cancer, and all the other stuff is just family drama is their reality, it is where they live, the air they breath, it is where they are.

And that's the kicker, regardless of it being right or wrong it is where they live in time and space and Jesus would meet them there. There weren't any real "Jesus" characters in the movie but when you try to watch a movie with the eyes of Jesus I guess you see things different. (I suppose no matter whose eyes you would watch a movie with you would see it that way, but who's better to look through?) In Luke 9 when Jesus sends out the 12 on their first trip he gives(1-2)"them the power and authority over demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." (6) " They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere." The thing that might stoke me the most about Jesus is that He met people where they were. He told them about the kingdom, the good news and he went a step future and met their needs. He backed up his news, with acts of love. It didn't matter what reality they were living, he met them there and told them what a free life was and the Good News that God loves them. Social prejudice didn't scare him and dirty people didn't freak him out. He loves without boundaries.

I don't know how much that really pertains to the movie but that was what I read today and then to see that movie and think what if someone would have known about Jesus' love for them and been able to share it. How much richer that family's life would have been?