Feb 26, 2007

Recently my wife and I went to see Phantom of the Opera. It was a tremendous show. If you haven't seen it you really should. It is easily one of the best musicals of all time and (in my humble opinion) one of the top 20 stories ever written. It is an amazing show.

Like many of you, I thought I had seen it because I had seen the movie. While the movie was good (not great but good), it simply does not do justice to the actual show. I was mesmerized by the show in a way that I never was by the movie.

But as usual, I was thinking. (Warning? Plot spoiler ahead). By the second act I was totally enthralled with the show, barely aware of even my wife's shoulder beneath my arm. I saw nothing but the stage. I felt like a child spying on his family while the drama unfolded before me. And I realized, that I pitied the Phantom. The show ends with him (The Phantom) weeping on the floor as he allows his love (Christine) to flee with her fiancé Raul. As he lays there weeping, Christine comes back. There was a moment of supreme panic as I found myself questing, "Hey! Wait! She doesn't choose him. She goes with Raul. Why is she back?" You see the same look of wild eyed desperation on the face of the Phantom…as she hands him back the ring he forced on her ("Marry me or I kill the one you love!"). This act of kindness (actually treating him as a human being with feelings) only heightens the empty sense of loss that he (and you) feel. And you find yourself feeling pity for the Phantom. Did he not love Christine as much as Raul? Would he not have cared for her as his whole world? Why does the world (the "light" as he calls it) hate him. It isn't his fault that he is ugly.

Then it hits me…why am I feeling pity for this man? Lets go examine the deeds of the man I pity. He is extorting exorbitant amounts of money from the owners of the show and giving them a list of demands that are quite unreasonable. Any time his list of demands was not followed to the letter he arranged for "accidents" to happen to the cast (who are viewed as nothing more than insignificant pawns to him) He has played upon the grief of a young girl (Christine) by pretending to be the "angel of music" that her dead father said he would send to her when he died. He then brain-washed, manipulated and seduced her. He killed at least 2 men (on stage in front of thousands of people) to make a "point." He kidnapped Christine and forced her to live with him in the darkness of the sewers and when Raul came to rescue her he put a rope around Raul's neck and hung Raul until Christine agreed to marry him… only if he would let Raul go. The man is a monster. Not because he is ugly on the outside but because he is ugly on the inside. He is a black hole, sucking all light into himself and turning it into darkness. Maybe the world has been cruel to him (it's cruel to most, especially those that are not it's own.) but that does not justify him in becoming the cruelty that corrupted him.

Why do we pity the bad guys? Why do we romanticize Billy the Kid (A serial killer)? Hannibal Lecter? Al Capone? The Phantom? Why do we cheer for Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger? Why do we sing along with Frank Sinatra who crooned "I did it my way," when we know that "my way" leads away from the only One who really loved us and gave Himself for us so that we could have a life that is truly life (Jn 10:10).

I think (in part) we pity the Phantom because we don't see evil for the absolute repulsiveness that it truly is. We see a little illicit sex on TV (a little premarital sex, a little adultery… whatever) and think, "Well, I could have done without that," when what we should be repulsed and shocked by the pure evil of it. We see our celebrities falling apart (Brittney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith being only the most recent in a long line of self destructing, wounded stars and starlets) and we are fascinated by it; devoting whole television shows to speculation as to what went wrong when we should be devoting whole shows to "How to make sure this doesn't happen to you or the ones you love." We are like moths, who simply cannot help flinging ourselves full speed into the very fire that will destroy us because "it's pretty" or because "I want to" or worst of all, because "it's my life. You can't tell me what to do."

We pity the Phantom because we want to do what he actually does. We live vicariously through the Phantom. We want to punish those who hurt us. We want to remove those who stand in our way. We want…we want…we want.

And worst of all, we forget. We forget that evil is a festering tumor on our society. We forget that there is another way. We forget that, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1 Peter 3:10-12 NIV)

I don't know anyone who wants to suffer as the Phantom did. We all want to have a rich and full life. However, this life is not found doing things our own way (or the Phantom's way). This life is not found anywhere near evil at all. We must become people who completely abhor evil. We have to hate it the way Coke hates Pepsi. We have to hate it the way ice hates salt. We have to hate evil like God hates it. We have to quit flirting with evil and reject it entirely. Not only must we hate evil but we must become people who are enthralled with good and do it… no matter how hard it seems (and I say seems because it is ALWAYS evil that is the harder path).

But we won't do either of things until we see evil for what it truly is…EVIL! Rebellion against our loving God and Father. Whether it's murder, adultery, gossip or a secret little hate or lust that no one will ever know about…there is no such thing as a "little sin." It will all lead to destruction. It is Jesus' way alone that leads to the life that is truly life. John 10:10, "The thief (the Evil One) comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it to the fullest extent possible." (Gabe's translation…emphasis added).

It's time to stop pitying the Phantom and start pitying his victims.