The Sound Track

This past week I downloaded the sound track from the movie Gladiator.  Some of you might be thinking, "didn't that movie come out in 2000?"  Yes it did, I have the DVD of it as well, and I like it so much it became one of only three movies that I carry around on my iPad and my iPhone.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, or with only a foggy recollections of it, let me give you the synopsis.  A Roman general refuses to give his allegiance to the new Emperor and is promptly scheduled for execution.  He fights his way out of this only to find himself a slave, sold into the cruel world of the arena where it is kill or be killed.  If that were not enough drama, he ends up fighting in Rome before the very Emperor who had ordered his death and had successfully killed the former general's wife and son.  The best line of the movie is when the general turned Gladiator has won a lopsided contest in the arena and the Emperor wants to meet him.  Up to that point the Emperor has no idea it is his former general, due to the protective helmet he has worn through the contest.  When asked for his name, he says it is simply "Gladiator" and turns to leave.  This is an insult to the Emperor who orders him to remove his helmet and give his name.  "My name is Maximus Decidus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."  The question for the remainder of the movie is, will the Emperor succeed in killing the former general, or will the general, against seemingly impossible odds, have his vengeance?

Ok, so what possible relevance can a popular movie from more than a decade ago have to the life of a pastor today?  Now, please don't assume that I have a blood lust for vengeance, like Maximus, or that I am a power mad egotist, like the Emperor.  No, I just see this as one of the best presentations of an under dog succeeding I have ever encountered.  I identify with the under dog.  No, I don't have an Emperor who is scheming of ways to kill me, but I do have seemingly relentless problems that I have to fight with.  I am not in an arena surrounded by cheering fans who are indifferent to my fate, but I have had the experience of pouring everything into a sermon only to have it greeted with a yawn.  I have a good friend in the ministry who insists that "pastoring is a young man's calling, you just can't stand up to the emotional drain of it as you get older."  He may be right, but I sure hope not, and that brings me back to the movie Gladiator.

It is when I don't think there is a way to win that I watch, think about, or listen to the sound track of Gladiator.  You see the Gladiator was not really alone in his struggle.  He had the friendship of his fellow gladiators as well as help in high places, from his owner to a member of the Senate, to the Emperor's sister.  While it is not a major theme in this picture, the Gladiator is also a man of faith.  He is shown praying more than once.  As a pastor I may be an under dog, but I have friends, friends who are in the arena with me, who live where I live.  Most importantly, I have a personal relationship with God, and believe me, I pray.

When the Gladiator lies dead in the sand of the arena, the Emperor's sister asks, "Is Rome worth one good man's life?"  Perhaps so, perhaps not, but even if my struggle ends with me dead in the arena I already know the answer to the question, "Is the calling of God worth one good man's life?"  Yes it has been, yes it is, and yes it always will be.