MESSAGE FROM
Rev. Deacon NIKO BEKRIS
February 2010
Metropolis Youth and Family Ministries Director
“Avatar
-- The Latest Messianic Metaphor?”
One billion dollars??? When I was in
high school, a movie directed by James
Cameron came out that had amazing special
effects, and had teenagers everywhere
running to see its epic love story (and
frankly, not much else). I still
can’t believe it was the first movie in
history to ever make over $1 billion
worldwide, and to this day no movie has made
more. The movie was “Titanic,” and
since 1997, I guess James Cameron spent the
12 years that followed making his current
mega-blockbuster, “Avatar.” At the
time I’m writing this, “Avatar” has
been the #1 movie at the box office for four
weeks in a row and has officially made James
Cameron the only moviemaker ever to direct
TWO movies that have made over $1 billion
worldwide.
I’ve already written about how popular
heroes have become in Hollywood these days,
and I guess you could put Jake Sully in that
category, as well. There’s something
riveting and inspiring about someone
defending someone who can’t defend
themselves, and making great sacrifices to
do it. Especially when the story
refers to how the person has been chosen to
be the hero by forces we don’t understand,
instead of random happenings, or merely his
own choosing. In fiction, this kind of
character is called a “messiah figure,”
the one chosen to save his people.
Even though messiah figures go back
millennia, stories about them are very
captivating for an audience in a Christian
culture, because we know the story of Jesus
Christ, the true Messiah, the One Who came
to save us from our sins.
Just a month ago, we celebrated the feast of
the Epiphany, Christ’s baptism by John in
the River Jordan. While this feast of
our Church is called “Epiphany,” or
“Theophany” because the Holy Trinity was
revealed to humankind- the Holy Spirit came
down in the form of a dove, and the
Father’s voice was heard from heaven
(Matthew 3:16-17)- it was also significant
because this was the moment during which the
Lord was beginning His ministry as the
Messiah on earth. As we all know, this
was the moment in which Jesus began going
into the country and all the different towns
teaching and preaching the Good News to all
people, and the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew
4: 1, 17, 23). It was this fervent
proclamation of the truth that led others to
eventually crucify Him, only to discover
that He had risen after three days,
destroying death. This, my brothers
and sisters, is the ultimate Messiah story.
God came to earth out of His love for us,
and He did not want to see us, who, like the
Na’vi, had little to defend ourselves,
destroyed by the power of Satan.
We love movies that have metaphoric
messiahs because it strikes a chord deep
within us, a part of our soul that is
sensitive and open to this message. My
hope and my prayer is that from now on,
whenever we see a movie about a hero with
messianic metaphors like Jake Sully in
Avatar, Neo in The Matrix, Anakin Skywalker
in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, or any
other character in popular culture, know
that our Messiah has truly already come, and
greater than any hero in any movie, has
rescued us from destruction. Let us
always strive to follow Him, so that we may
have eternal life with Him. Amen.
