Chocolat

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Reference

John 8:36; Luke 4:18; Gal. 5:14

Chocolat Feb 11th, 2018

Our apologies, our Sound Crew had trouble recording this week's sermon so all we have to offer is the pastor's manuscript.

We as a church have been talking about discerning the trajectory of God’s Spirit in people’s lives and in culture, or put in another way, the space of grace in people’s lives.

This is just such a story – where we can look for the spaces of grace in people’s lives.

Today we’re going to take a little break from our regular teaching series and do a film review, where we look at the story of a contemporary film and interweave it with the Christian Narrative and hopefully come out the other end more discerning, more loving people.

The Narrator began the movie this way.

Once upon a time there was a quiet little village in the French countryside whose people believed in tranquility. And if you lived in this village you knew what was expected of you, you knew your place in the scheme of things and if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you. If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned to never ask for more.” And so, began the story Chocolat. As the Narrator speaks we see images of a grey town with grey people, trudging past a grey statue, on their way to a very grey church.

Inside the grey church the greyness, lifelessness continues, kids are bored out of their minds, parents are faking that they’re not bored. The Priest speaking on Lent, which is all about abstinence, and what we are to give up, and all about penitence – you could just see the heaviness being laid upon people’s shoulders. There isn’t a whole lot of joy in this little town, as they were on their way to Easter.

But one day the winds of change come upon that little town when this mysterious woman named Vienne and her daughter Anuk drift into that small little village. They were outsiders and seen as a potential threat to that rural village, so the upright, moral mayor, played by Alfred Malina, who’s the guardian of all moral behavior, whose credo was hard work, modesty, and self-discipline.

I loved the one scene where he’s at his desk, obviously trying to practice Lent, abstaining from eating, looks over lustfully at this fresh croissant and cheese, but refrains.

Because he’s a good boy, in the worst sense of the word.

He goes to visit this drifter, Vienne and her daughter Anuk, and the conversation begins with the Mayor inviting this woman to Mass. Wow! There’s some tact eh?

“I’d like to invite you to church this weekend.” She responds, “Sir, we don’t attend, but we love to sing along as we hear the church bells.”

Immediately this man takes a step back. You can see it on his face. Strike I for Vienne and Anuk. As he goes on to address Vienne as Madame, Vienne interrupts him, and kindly says, it’s not Madame, it’s Mademoiselle. “I’ve never been married.”

You can see his wheels turning. This woman, who has a daughter, has never been married. He puts 2 and 2 together and judges her a s this woman of ill repute, lose morals…he gives her Strike II.

Even as he’s encouraged out of her chocolat shop, you can imagine him telling himself Strike III. Opening a Chocolatier during Lent. Who does she think she is?

The mayor is furious at this woman’s insolence, he considers her the enemy, and that she must be stopped. So, he does what many upstanding moral people do – he starts a rumor mill. You first see him walk into the beauty salon and whisper, “calling Anuk this poor illegitimate child.”

Later in a different scene you hear this other woman from town say, “I heard she’s some kind of radical.” Then there’s these two boys peering into her closed Chocolat Shop, whispering these words. “I hear she’s an atheist.” To that the other one responds, “What’s that?” “I don’t know” the other one remarks.

So, village life gets tougher and tougher for these wanders, Vienne and her daughter. People will stare down the end of their noses, at these outsiders, these sinners. And as though these people in the town had it all together, which they definitely didn’t. The story is filled with broken people.

- An abused woman, with no hope stuck in an abusive relationship with an angry out of control alcoholic.

- And a loveless marriage with no passion

- Another marriage which has quietly fractured but no one is talking about it

- A little boy whose passions and life is being stifled by an over-protective mother

- A sick woman who feels isolated and judged; outside the arms of a community who seems to not care

- Lonely people looking for compassion all over the place

This town is filled with all kinds of needs, but no one is opening up.

And it kind of makes sense that the way the director set it up, they portray that the church really brought no answers to all the brokenness. If anything, the church made matters worse for those people.

The religious moralism seemed to suck life, rather than give life. It caused people to snuff out their passions rather than fan them into flame. It was this repressive religious reality; it stole any hope they could have; crushed any redemptive dreams and desires they might dare to acknowledge.

Anything that was good and brought joy to their lives was not considered a gift from God, or a validation of how they were made, but instead as something bad that needed to be denied.

So rather than the Christian Way, being something that instilled joy, fostered passions and dreams, it was portrayed as sin management, behavior modification, rule keeping for the sake of rules. It was boring. Grey and lifeless.

I wonder how many of us identify? I wonder how many in our community, this was their experience as well.

Now into the town this town came a gift. This woman named Vienne and Anuk. Both wearing red dresses and red shows. And little did they know, they came to bring change. But to their surprise, they would undergo change as well. Interesting that Vienne is a Chocolatier, and sets up her Chocolate Shop during Lent, when everyone is supposed to be abstaining.

She believes that there is a mystical power to chocolate; you play this game, spin the plate, and whatever you saw in the plate, helped her discern what your favourite chocolate was, and as a result you would find healing in whatever pain in your life.

So here she is, setting up her chocolate shop during Lent, and bring healing to people’s lives.

She came upon her chocolate mysticism honestly, her father had gone to Central America years before and got a taste of a Mayan Tradition that taught that Ka-Kow (Cocoa), had the power to unlock hidden yearnings ad reveal untapped destinies in people.

So, she believed that if you could connect people to their right chocolate, it would release freedom in their lives. Their passions would be released and they would be able to hope once more.

Now you can just imagine how this practice and belief pushed this town’s buttons. You can just imagine how they deciphered it. How these morally trained people would take her lifestyle; her message.

Here they’re supposed to honor Lent, and not eat any chocolate at all; I mean that’s what LENT is all about right? Abstain from all that brings joy. Along comes this woman who promises that chocolate will unlock something within, that will awaken their passion and hopes once again.

So, they are faced with a dilemma.

- Do you take what Vienne has to offer or do you stick to the moral high ground.

- Do you go for freedom or stay stifled and controlled?

So, you feel the tension early on in the film. Where this abused woman whom I mentioned decides to visit Vienne, get away from her abusive husband, and meet this woman in secret. So, you see the tension in this woman. She wants to stand up for herself and get a taste of hope. But at the same time is struggling with what the church would think her behavior.

Let’s watch this scene. 29:14 – 30:38

You feel the tension. Momentary pleasure – as she takes the chocolate in her mouth – then this voice of reality steps in – through the voice of her husband – and immediately spits out the chocolate. “I can’t go this way…and she shuts it down.”

She comes to the conclusion.

“I can’t go this way. I have to deny myself. A good submissive wife keeps the sacrament of marriage no matter what. No matter what abuses are taking place, there’s no way she can even entertain another way. To do so would just be indulging herself.

The tension. But she gets a taste, that’s there more.

This is one of the scenes that so gets under my skin. Because I’ve seen abused women, who have been part of spiritually abusive churches, or who come from controlling religious family systems, who so revere the sanctity of marriage, they forget about the sanctity of life.

The life of the woman. And I get frustrated when faith is portrayed, instead of offering hope and healing and freedom to people in situations like that, they offer nothing more than what is repressive, depressive, oppressive.

Instead, the church in this film has imprisoned this woman. And it’s all over this film – sub plot after sub-plot, that gives you a glimpse into the lives that are so overly burdened by what the church has brought them.

Breaks my heart b/c I know that’s not at all what Jesus was about. He didn’t come to endorse this; in fact, He came to set the oppressed free. Jesus didn’t come to start another religious system with a bunch of oppressive laws and rules that restrict life.

John’s gospel says this about Jesus. “He who the Son sets free is free indeed.”

Eventually this abused woman finds her freedom – and she finds it through Vienne’s intervention and strength. This woman drew strength from Vienne and leaves her abusive husband, which was good. The right thing to do. She finds freedom. Her voice. Her strength.

Interesting that the people who found their freedom through Vienne were the lonely, the sick, the disenfranchised, the needy and lost. That list sound familiar? Luke 4:18 we read these words about Jesus. The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”

And the whole time this freedom is happening in numerous people’s lives, the church and Mayor are scheming, trying to destroy this woman.

They want to cut short her grace-filled influence. Her freeing influence. And while the church and its legalism keep shunning the broken, we find that Vienne, again and again, welcomes the broken into her life, and world, with open arms.

The parallels to Jesus, and the religious teachers of His day are painfully clear. And Vienne’s embracing the broken of the town becomes most clear when she eventually meets up with a band of River Rats. The Dregs of Society, led by Johnny Depp – this gypsy type people who live on river boats, going up and down rivers, making home wherever the current might lead them.

And you thought the Mayor’s response to Vienne was intense, that was nothing. These gypsies come into town and immediately the town, rather than embrace them, they try to drive them out. Signs on storefronts saying, “Boycott Immortality.”

Johnny Depp says to Vienne, “You make friends with us, you’ll make enemies of others.”

So as if this town wasn’t having enough trouble with just Vienne, but now we see these other folks introduced.

And while the town responds one way, again we see Vienne respond quite the opposite. While the church is abhorred, and doesn’t want to get their hands dirty, we see Vienne quite open.

While the church is running away – Vienne did the exact opposite. While the church boycotted them, Vienne greeted them, opened her store, her life to them.

Now so far you can see that the church is getting a real bad wrap. But then, in fairness to the producer and director, and the writers of the story, we see an unexpected twist in the story. Something I wasn’t expecting.

I’ve seen lots of movies slam abusive church, for its tradition, irrelevance and oppressiveness it puts on people. But this is where the film takes a delightful turn.

Not only does the church get judged, but the spot-light begins to shift from the church, to Vienne’s and the Gypsy’s. They get judged as well.

The church is judged for its extremes and abuses; it’s moral legalism, it’s fundamentalism, but it also begins to highlight that excessive freedom is also problematic, and unhealthy. Fundamentalism doesn’t bring freedom, but nor do the excesses of Vienne’s choices and mysticism.

She had travelled throughout her whole life, traveling from village to village, never ever living up to anyone’s expectations – not allowing herself to be tied down, committed to anyone, she would take her daughter and uproot her again and again, and move to the next place.

The ultimate value that governed her life was safety, it’s about me, my comfort, no ties, no expectations, don’t have to live for anyone…but this belief is beginning to show its flaws as well.

She meets Johnny Depp’s character, this 60’s kind of freedom guy, where no one is going to oppress my life, or put any restrictions or boundaries on me, but like I said, their value system is beginning to show its flaws.

Watch this scene 1:25:25 – 1:26:54

The truth of her unfettered freedom comes out in that scene. Vienne and her daughter long to belong – they want a home – and all the beauty and sense of identity that comes from belonging.

You get this sense that all the wandering freedom, that this life of excess wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

She’s beginning to understand that lasting relationships do require some rules of engagement, some healthy expectations; that to plant roots, commitment were some of the things she was truly desiring, and she’s beginning to pay attention.

Vienne is coming to terms with a life where there are no boundaries, no give and take relationship, mutual submission, excessive freedom comes with a heavy cost.

But she’s longing for more.

The scene where her mother’s urn, and ashes crash and break all over the floor, that it’s a metaphor. She’s beginning to show her own cracks and brokenness. But the change it was ushering in was going to be good.

And if you’ve ever gone too far with freedom and understand the cost of a boundary-less life, you understand.

Like we’re all free to have a drink – the bible doesn’t say we shouldn’t have a drink once in a while – but if we drink too much, or become dependent upon alcohol, that drink now imprisons us. And we’re not in a place of freedom anymore.

We’re also free to eat whatever we want – all kinds of food – but if we eat too much, eat high fat, high cholesterol, lots of sugar, we’re going to pay the price.

Blood pressure issues, heart issues, clogged arteries, possible diabetes – fact is, there are consequences. I can’t eat what I used to pull off when I was 18. If I do, I’ll pay.

The same thing goes with sex. Sex within healthy boundaries is the greatest gift of intimacy that any of us could ever hope for or imagine – it’s beautiful.

But throw away the boundaries we quickly run into problems. We can become disheartened, disengaged, diseased and sometimes divorced.

The real lie in the system is to think that we can violate the sacred boundaries that God has set, and that in that violation you’ll find fulfillment – happiness – is simply not true.

Fact is God has given us these boundaries, out of love for us.

GK Chesterton said, “Whenever you remove a fence, pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.

We just watched the Superbowl. Can you imagine any game, whether it be soccer, or Olympic hockey without borders or boundaries? It would be chaos. Anarchy. The beauty and the grace of the game would be lost.

So, it is with life isn’t it?

I like how Ravi Zacharias put it. “Pleasure without the sacred boundary will actually leave you emptier then you ever were before.”

I think Vienne came to terms with this reality.

So, the film to its credit engages the fallacy of this kind of excessive freedom; the Mayan rule of unfettered, unlimited freedom, which is a lot like secular humanism of our day, is found wanting.

So, what’s the answer? If repressing moralism and legalism isn’t the answer, in whatever religion, and if unfettered freedom and a boundary less life is also not the answer…what is the answer?

Well before we go there, I want to show you what happened in the rest of the story.

Let’s look at what happened to the Mayor. He’s been the judgmental one, he’s the one for getting down on people for not following Lent, for not modeling self-discipline, working hard, obeying the rules – he’s the one wasting his life on sin management, trying to manage everyone’s sin.

How tiring!!

And he does have one of those moments where it all comes crashing down on him. Where he comes to the end of himself. He doesn’t just come to the edge, he falls off the edge.

Let’s look at that moment Scene 1:45:45 – 1:49:10

And you can try to guess what happens next. Maybe you guessed it…he falls asleep in the showcase of the Chocolat Shop. And what do you know. He finds freedom Easter Morning!!!

He awakes to a new day, on Resurrection morning.

He’s caught by the Priest, and by Vienne. And can you imagine what they did to this highly judgmental man? This legalist. Working so hard to obey the rules. The one holding everyone under scrutiny. Who had hurt so many people in the process.

Can you imagine how they treated him?

Let’s take a look Scene 1:49:30 –

It’s in that scene we find the answer to the question.

It’s not in the religious moralism, a repressive religiosity, following some moral code; and it’s not in living an excessive freedom, no connection, no commitment, boundaries or expectations – that’s not life either.

The answer is GRACE!

Grace is what happened when Vienne, even though she had every reason to be angry and hold a grudge, she instead extended this man a drink.

A drink that brought healing to his aching stomach!

The Mayor, realizing how wrong he had been is now able to finally say, realizing his own shortfall, his own infallibility, and say sorry.

And he’s able to accept this cup from this woman he tried for so long to destroy and receive the gift of forgiveness and in so doing, finding freedom.

Grace is not about keeping laws; it’s not about making the grade, it’s not about KARMA, hoping you’ve done enough in this life, to get you to the next; it’s about simply accepting the forgiveness and grace of God found in Jesus.

The Priest had it right. We can’t measure our goodness by what we don’t do, who we exclude…but modeling our lives after Jesus.

Jesus taught us that grace. Jesus was that grace.

Just as we heard last week. This woman in John’s gospel is caught in adultery, and she’s about to be stoned by the religious rulers around her.

And Jesus is standing there – in-between this ill-repute woman and these religious try-hards ready to kill her.

And what does Jesus say?

How does he respond? “He who’s without sin, cast the first stone.” And one by one they drop their stones, and leave the scene. Jesus then turns to the woman and says these words. “Go and sin no more.”

Life can’t be found in excess, living a boundary less life; nor can it be found in sin management – work hard – do better.

The better way is knowing grace. Allowing the grace of God to touch your life.

He offers the same thing to each of us, the freedom of forgiveness and grace.

The invitation is to surrender to love. To realize that Jesus was perfect, so we wouldn’t have to be. The invitation of grace is for us to accept this grander reality that Jesus was perfect for us – in our place.

You don’t have to worry about what other people think about you – all you need to think about is what God thinks about you. It’s an audience of One.

The cool thing is that if I am training my ear to hear what God is saying to me; and I am listening to His voice of love and affirmation – then it won’t matter so much what others are saying.

You can also be passionate about life. God made you certain way, with certain passions, likes and dreams. And He encourages you and I to get in touch with those things.

There’s this Psalm. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

You can hope big hopes. Dream big dreams. Reach for something more.

But you need to ask yourself, as Vienne had to ask herself…if these dreams come at a huge cost to the ones I love, I need to reconsider why I am holding so tightly onto this dream.

The church should never be known as someone who will stifle or repress that!

That’s why we the River want to be all about helping you discover those God given dreams and live those things out.