Strong Enough to be Weak

Spirituality Column #198
August 24, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Strong Enough to be Weak
By Bob Walters

There is a weekly CBS TV drama called “The Good Wife” where a female lawyer more or less “stands by her man.”

The adulterous husband is a formerly high-powered public official convicted in a complex political scandal. He lives in 24-7 ankle-bracelet home detention at their trendy downtown apartment.

It’s mainly a lawyer and law-firm show, but the disgraced husband – philandering, yes, but is he wrongly convicted? – provides an interesting layer of moral dilemma.

I tend to watch cable news, history and movies, not “TV shows.” My wife … a good wife … DVRs programs to “watch” while she is sewing or scrapbooking since we rarely have the time or the inclination to watch weeknight TV dramas.

My attention was grabbed by a DVR’ed rerun of “The Good Wife” when it introduced a Christian spin in the “bad husband’s” rehabilitation.

In a nutshell, the bad husband, Peter, has a loyal private investigator / public image consultant named Eli Gold who advises him to start going to church as a public relations tactic.

Gold picks out a nearby urban evangelical church pastored by a very devout and savvy black preacher who tells Peter – who is white and grew up Episcopalian – to get out of his church. He felt Gold and Peter were using him and mocking Christ, which of course, they were.

But Peter is struck by the preacher’s sincerity and directness, tells Gold to leave, and Peter accepts Christ. Peter wants to change, confesses his sin, wades into Bible study and prayer, and the preacher begins mentoring Peter in twice-weekly home visits.

Neither “The Good Wife” nor Gold can understand Peter’s conversion, much less take it seriously. There is much eye-rolling, sarcasm, and skepticism. Peter’s mother, a formidable, smart, matriarchal, old-money type, insists Peter see the family’s long-time Episcopal priest to “put his (Peter’s) religion in perspective.”

Her final decree against Peter’s deepening faith in Christ, belief in salvation, understanding of his sin and desire for change is – irony of scriptural ironies – “I will not allow my son to be made weak.”

Weak? In Christ?

I don’t know a single Christian who believes Christ makes them weak. Christ is about humility and strength; He is man and God. But we all know, sadly, that much of the world seeks power anywhere but in Christ.

The TV show got that right.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) hasn’t regularly watched a network TV show since “The West Wing.”