Pinocchio: Being Fully Human(e)

Luke 15:11-24:
Why a sermon series on the “Gospel According To Disney?” Biblical scholar Marcus Borg says that we receive wisdom in two ways. There is common wisdom, often known as “Conventional Wisdom.” This wisdom is seen in the prevailing values and mores of the culture in which you live. The beliefs held by most people. Then there is the alternative wisdom, wisdom that may challenge the conventional, often presented to a society by wisdom teachers such as Jesus. This wisdom tries to transform lives and values and create a new cultural norm. Jesus called this new norm “The Kingdom of Heaven or the “Kingdom of God.”

Disney has influenced generations of people, even to the present day, with its movies and stories. Disney has influenced probably every one of us who is here today. So George and I thought it would be fun, but also meaningful, to look at the messages of Disney and how they address our wisdom understandings of life. How they have added to or challenged our conventional wisdom.

Another reason for utilizing Disney is the realization that stories etch themselves much more deeply into our memories. Jesus utilized stories as a cornerstone of sharing his messages. These stories are called parables. Let us now turn to one of the most well-known of these stories. It is the parable often called “The Prodigal Son.”

Read Luke 15:11-24

I Corinthians 2:9-13:
This passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth reminds us that it is indeed God who shares with us the alternative wisdom, God’s wisdom that leads to the fullness of life. A wisdom that takes us beyond any understandings of life we presently hold, so we may become the fully human people God created us to be.

Read Luke 15:11-24

Sermon:
Today, we want to start with one of the classics, the story of Pinocchio. There are numerous sermon topics in this story, as there is in any story, but I will look at maybe the most overarching in the movie, the question of, “What does it mean to be fully human, to be a real person?” Many of you know the story, but let me review it a little to refresh all of our memories. The story opens with a puppet maker named Gepetto completing the puppet Pinocchio. Gepetto is a kindly, loving man who never had a family. As he is dancing around with his puppet he looks out his window and sees the “Wishing Star.” He stops his dancing and wishes on the star that Pinocchio could be a real boy. Makes you want to stop and sing a chorus of “When You Wish Upon A Star” doesn’t it. He then goes to bed. This is where the film clip begins, just after expressing his heart’s deepest desire.

Show clip: (Blue Fairy comes and gives life to Pinocchio and tells him he is not yet real, even though he can walk and talk. She tells him he must become brave, honest and unselfish if he hopes to be a real boy. She then asks Jimminy to be his conscience. Jimminy tells Pinocchio about temptation)

Reminds me of the story in Genesis where God creates and then breaths life into Adam. The Blue Fairy animates Pinocchio, he can walk and talk and think and learn, but he is not yet fully human. What does this mean to us? What does it mean to be fully human, fully alive? The Blue Fairy suggests that if Pinocchio is brave, and truthful, and loving then he will become a real boy. That being fully human has something to do with our character, with the traits and values that shape our lives. Paul describes this as our spirit, that which is the very core of who we are, for it is our spirit which connects to the Holy Spirit of God helping us become more than we can conceive.

To help Pinocchio in this journey the Blue Fairy knights Jimminy Cricket as his conscience. For us that still small voice within us that tries to help us understand when we may be making a bad choice, or straying from our own life path. Jimminy tells Pinocchio that his biggest challenge will be combating the temptations that come his way. I love how Jimminy tries to explain or define temptation to Pinocchio. “It is doing the wrong thing at the right time. It is trying to be right when you know you are doing wrong. Etc.”

But we all understood Jimminy did we not? And we understood why his attempt at describing temptations was so difficult. Something is a temptation because it looks better than what we are doing at the present moment. It is a belief or life direction that seems at the time to hold more promise, joy or life for us. So we choose to follow it. The temptation is often subtle in nature. “The Tempter” is a name used for the devil in scripture. In fact, as someone said, evil is live spelled backwards. It is a path that leads us away from the fullness of life under the pretense of living a more enriched life. And it works, for the temptation seems to offer us a more palatable and fulfilled life.

We see commercials all the time trying to convince us we need more, we need what they want to sell us to be fully human, fully alive and happy. And they are effective. I still remember such ads from years ago such as, “A Coke and a smile will make you happy.” Or the Virginia Slim cigarette ad that says, “You’ve come a long ways baby” seeking to encourage women to start smoking. These thoughts and images are so well designed they touch us at the deepest recesses of our being. We know that if we do not have the right car, wear the right cologne or perfume or have the right name on our behinds we will not be attractive to others. It is never about who we are, but what we have that makes us human. We need more, we need bigger, we cannot find happiness where we are now, we have to pursue it somewhere else.

It is indeed the orientation of the youngest son in the parable we heard today. I have to get off the farm and go to the city where all the action is to be happy and alive. The parable is called the Prodigal Son, as the word prodigal means spendthrift and extravagant. It is a word that suggests the story is about the lifestyle the son seeks to live.

But it is not just the son in the story is it? Is this not somewhat the conventional wisdom we receive? I knew what the process was to be happy growing up, so I followed it. I went to college, got my degree, had a good entry level position, got married, bought a house and had children. Then I sat back waiting to be happy, but I wasn’t. So then I began to wonder what was missing. Maybe I needed more, a better paying job, a bigger house. I was sure it wasn’t more children. This is what conventional wisdom was telling me I needed. Fortunately, I asked myself one more important question. “Was there a time in my life when I was truly happy, and there was a resounding yes that came to me. It was when I was active as a younger boy in the church. I had left home and I realized I needed to come back.

In the movie, Pinocchio meets a pair of tempters that continually try to lead Pinocchio down the wrong path trying to convince him their way is more fun. A fox named “Honest John” is one of them. Even the tempter’s name is tempting. “Why go to school when you can play hooky? It is more fun to go play.” Gepetto and Jimminy continually try to put Pinocchio back on the right path, but the temptations for this young puppet are too strong and he continually makes bad choices. Ultimately, Pinocchio runs away from home just like the Prodigal Son, believing he is going to a wonderful, fun place. Here he discovers the real truth about temptation and tempters. They are only looking out for themselves, and have no concern for you or your well being. That these supposed friends have only been using Pinocchio for what they can gain from him. How do you know something is a temptation? Ask the question, “Who is really benefiting from my decision?” To remind ourselves of Paul’s words, “Is this decision helping me to grow more in my humanity? Is it from the Spirit of God helping us to know what is truly human? “

Pinocchio is sold to a man who takes him to Temptation Island with lots of other misled boys, where they are transformed into donkeys and then sold into slavery as beast of burdens. Fortunately, Jimminy is able to get Pinocchio away before he fully changes. He has ears and a tail, signifying that he had begun to lose what humanity he possessed. Again, in the parable we see the son sleeping with the pigs, animals that were seen as unclean in his culture. He had fully begun to lose the essence of who he was. Both now realize that real life is at home with those who love them.

This is the real essence of the parable. Most biblical scholars believe it should be called the “Parable of the Prodigal Father” for what is extravagant in the parable is the father’s love. A love so strong he runs out to meet his son even before he returns home. In Gepetto, we see that same love that pursues Pinocchio into the world, seeking a son that was lost. But when Pinocchio returns home he learns that Geppeto has left trying to find him, and in that quest became swallowed by the whale “Monstro.” Pinocchio sets out to now rescue his father by following Gepetto even into the belly of the whale. I was going to show the clip of Pinocchio and Gepetto escaping, but time does not permit. Let me simply say that Pinocchio comes up with a plan that allows them to escape the whale’s belly, but only to be pursued yet again by Monstro. Because of Pinocchio’s bravery, they escape the whale, but Pinocchio drowns in the rescue. This is where we enter the story, where Gepetto has brought the body of Pinocchio home and lays it to rest while he cries in deep grief over the loss of his son.

Show clip: (Pinocchio is lying on the bed with Gepetto crying. A blue light comes and turns him into a real boy, and Gepetto dances for joy.)

In his love Pinocchio has shown a deep commitment to his father. I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “No greater love has anyone than this but that a person lay down their lives for another.” Pinocchio had achieved what the Blue Fairy had asked of him, and he is transformed into a real boy. To quote the parable, “A son who was lost, a son who I believed dead, is now alive.”

I do not believe Pinocchio had to pass a test to become human, I believe ha had to live a journey that allowed it to happen. To develop a character that taps the essence of who we are created to be. It was a journey where Pinocchio learned about tempters and temptations and how they try to detour our lives. He experienced life’s hurts and disappointments, which I believe were all necessary for him to understand what it means to have people in your life that love you by truly seeking to help you become who God created you to be. Helping you to discover what your eyes have not yet seen or your ears heard, or your human heart conceived. Gepetto’s love did not change, only Pinocchio’s understanding of how precious and life-giving that love truly is.

It is our journey as Christians, is it not? To live our journey with all of its detours, road bumps and disappointments, and even grief, only to discover the extravagant love of God that is always seeking to be a part of our lives. To become fully human, we, too, take similar journeys. And the joy is we learn we can always come home to a God who is so excited to see us that God runs to meet us before we can change our minds.

The journey becomes complete when we, too, are able to have that same prodigal love, that same extravagant grace for each other, and for all of God’s children. It is the realization that we become fully human, when we become humane in our love and care for each other. It is a risky journey, but one we all face as we seek to become the real human beings God created us to be.

Sermon delived by Rev. George Cushman on July 15, 2007.