Remember reading Beowulf in high school English? I don’t ask if you remember the story but the actual experience of having to read it. For most students it’s not the highlight of their studies. It’s just something you get through. The kids at Master’s Academy where I teach are reading it now.
But now there is the movie. It’s quite the show. The animation is worth the see. And animating real life actors like Angelina Jolie and Ray Winstone is a unique twist. (I guess the director found a way to make even great bodies look greater!!!)
The epic poem depicts the age old theme that heroes who risk all to do and dare are rewarded with the unique temptations of power, sex and money. And they all fall and live out haunted lives. Such a story can’t be told often enough. You would think we would get it. But we don’t. Beowulf rescues a king whose town is haunted by the demon who is actually the offspring of the king’s lustful moment with the demon’s mother. As a reward for his victory the king give to Beowulf the crown and then commits suicide, glad to be rid of the burden of defending a town that has been haunted by the very acts of the king who now must defend it. Beowulf destroys the demon Grendel only to be seduced by the demon’s mother as the previous king also had been. He, too, produces an offspring that will haunt the town and brings Beowulf to an ultimate battle with the results of his on ambition, lusts and greed. In fact, the demon we face is the product of our own doing. What we face is “us.” Once Beowulf dies in battle, the demon’s mother appears to seduce the next king – the cycle goes on.
All heroes fall. This is the lesson of the Old Testament. The five big men of the Old Testament – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David – all fall. Blessed and given all, they end up seeking self and losing all. The Old Testament leaves us with the question: is there a hero who does not fail us? Will there be one man who will face the demon and live?
And that is the story of the New Testament. One hero refused the temptations of lust, money and power. Led to the wilderness to face the demone he emerges in the power of the Holy Spirit to do the will of God. He will live forever and rescue the city of the world. The demon will be cast in hell forever.
Christianity is the myth of Beowulf come true. It is a true myth as CS Lewis comments. Christ is the greater Beowulf.
Go see the movie and think. And then worship. A true hero has come.
