Bitter Roots
Ben Roberts

Devotional:
Have you ever been hurt?  Dumb question. We’ve all been hurt one way or another. It might have been a careless word, a harsh rebuke or even an all-out betrayal. When it happens, we often wish for restoration. The problem is as humans we all fall short. Way short. Unresolved hurt can devolve into bitterness. The antidote is kindness.

We all yearn to be treated kindly. We want all our interactions to be loving and neighborly. Throughout the Bible, we are admonished to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” And we see it played out repeatedly in the New Testament in the interactions of Jesus with the public. He healed lepers, welcomed those society rejected, and fed the hungry. Jesus set a high bar. But what can we mere mortals do?

Thankfully there are contemporary examples too, think Mother Theresa with the poor or Fred Rogers with children. The world is full of kind people trying to be kind to others.  

Unfortunately demand far outstrips the supply. We’re surrounded by people in need and people have been hurt. Sometimes, the person who is hurting is us. If unchecked, the seeds of bitterness may be planted.

In this week’s installment of God Goes to the Movies, we explore the character of the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom’s life has been marked by pain, rejection and loneliness. He is a man that has been scarred and ostracized from society. He finds solace in the musical world by lurking in the shadows and making demands of patrons and performers in a Paris opera house, using fear as a tool to enforce his will.

The Phantom is an extreme example of what happens when bitterness goes unchecked. Though his backstory is not thoroughly uncovered, it does not take much imagination to understand what would drive an individual to do terrible things.

Bitterness is toxic. It poisons the soul and taints our relationships. Left unchecked, bitterness can become a destructive force in our lives. It’s so corrosive that the Bible warns us to:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. --Ephesians 4:31-32

In the movie, the Phantom is gripped with bitterness. He lashes out and puts everyone in peril. It would seem that he’s at the point of no return. It is in that moment, when he is pouring out his wrath, that the heroine of the film shows him compassion. She expresses human kindness by kissing him on the cheek. This seemingly simple act breaks through the Phantom’s blood lust and moves him to release his victims. Not a full redemption, but a spark of decency that he seemed unable to access on his own.

There are phantoms all around us. People who have been hurt, sometimes grievously. They may be unable to see God’s grace on their own. Sometimes, a simple act of kindness can open their eyes. The bible says:

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. --Hebrews 12:15

When we encounter people drowning in the depths of bitterness, they may hurt us. Our first inclination may be to retaliate. But like a virus, retaliation grows and replicates bitterness. If instead we show grace in the face of hurt, we can sometimes allow the hurting people to access God’s grace and healing.

The Phantom never has a full redemption arc in the movie. He releases his captives and the movie ends. We are left to assume he perished in the fire.  

The same is true in life. Our act of kindness in the face of bitterness may not bring about ultimate transformation of those who would hurt us. But allowing God’s grace to motivate our actions, we have at the very least prevented the contagion of bitterness from spreading. It creates a spark. And that spark sheds light on a better path for us and those around us.

Prayer:
Father God, help us to feel Your loving kindness that surrounds us. Help us to uproot the seeds of bitterness in our own lives. Help us to find compassion for those ensnared by bitterness. Make us agents of your love in the world. So that we and those around us can live in your kingdom here on Earth both now and continuing into eternity.