Sermon from November, 17th
The Hunger Games is a three book series written by
Suzanne Collins about a girl named Katniss Everdeen (I love her name) and her
struggle to survive in a future world, in a post-apocalyptic world set in North
America but now called Panem. At some
point, war and environmental disaster destroyed the United States, and out of
the remnants grew the new country of Panem. The nation consists of a wealthy
Capitol city, located in the Rocky Mountain region, with 12 poorer districts
surrounding it. There was at one time a 13th district, but it supposedly was
destroyed by the Capitol during a rebellion some 75 years prior to the events
in the books. Panem is ruled by the
Capitol in a totalitarian regime. The Capitol asserts complete control over the
12 districts, forcing the people there to abide by strict rules and work in
industries that supply the needs of the Capitol. It’s an oppressive situation for those living
in the 12 districts. Those fortunate
enough to live in the Capitol live in luxury and excessiveness. They are overconsumers…so much so that many
of the people are not satisfied with their human beauty, but resort to coloring
their skin and disfiguring their bodies.
The
title The Hunger Games comes from one of the ways the Capitol exerts its
control over the districts. Each year
two children, one male and one female 12-18 years old, are chosen by lottery as
“tributes” (that’s what they are called) to participate in, or more accurately,
be sacrificed in, a reality TV show that where these children are forced to
fight to the death. And the last one
remaining wins that year’s Hunger Games and becomes a celebrity. All citizens in Panem are required to watch
the games. The Capitol set up the games
as retribution for a failed rebellion against the Capitol’s rule. It’s a way to control the citizens and remind
them of who has the power.
We
first meet Katniss on reaping day, the day when the children are chosen from
the districts to compete in the Hunger Games. When her younger sister Prim's
name is drawn in the District 12 reaping, Katniss volunteers to take her place
in the arena. Joining her from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, the baker's son
who had once saved Katniss' life by giving her bread when she was desperately
hungry. With their mentor Haymitch Abernathy, the solitary District 12 victor
from a past Hunger Games, they are taken to the Capitol for complete makeovers,
games training and to be paraded in front of the adoring Capitol crowds eager
to see them get slaughtered.
One
thing we learn about Katniss is that before her father died in a mining
accident, he taught her how to hunt in the woods, which was forbidden by the
Capitol who use trained policemen to make sure that their rules are followed,
these police are ironically called “Peacekeepers.” Katniss would sneak off in the woods and hunt
with a bow and arrow to provide for her family and for some others in the
District 12. Just a side note, much of
the film was shot in Shelby, Asheville and Concord, NC. The sunshine club
actually took a trip to see where District 12 was shot, it was neat.
Katniss proves to be a
formidable tribute in the Hunger Games. She knows how to hunt and how to
survive in the woods. And the reason the games are called the Hunger Games is
because if a child isn’t killed by another contestant then they will probably
starve or thirst to death. The setting of the Hunger Games is a huge arena
where the games could last for days and days and days.
Through a series of
events and really one subversive act of mutual sacrifice, Katniss and Peeta
both win the 74th Hunger Games. By having two victors they have changed the
rules. Katniss becomes a symbol of hope for all the other districts and she
doesn’t even realize it right away.
The
second novel Catching Fire begins with the couple’s Victory Tour six months
after they are named champions. The ruthless government of Panem is not pleased
with the admiration the crowds show for Katniss and Peeta . The President fears
that other people under oppression will follow the couple’s example and defy
the government. The couple must fight again in the 75th Hunger Games. The
second book ends, as Katniss and her allies unleash a revolution, another
rebellion against society’s corrupt rulers, against the Capitol and especially
the president.
In Mockingjay, the
final book of the trilogy, Katniss becomes the face of a nationwide rebellion.
At the end of the book, after many twists and turns, Katniss secures freedom
for her people. After she experiences great personal loss and has been through
just terrible, The Hunger Games have ended and the oppressive regime that was
in power is destroyed. So as dark as it
is, it ends well.
Again, like last week
with How to Train your dragon, there are several themes found in the Bible that
I could use this movie as a platform to explore. There’s the theme of love and sacrifice (of
course there’s a love triangle going on in the book, you can’t a Young Adult
book without that right, but there is the theme of sacrificial love as well),
there’s the theme of how to have hope when you are under oppression, there’s
the theme of grief and loss, there’s the theme of survival and the importance
of family and friends. There’s the theme
of desenzitation towards violence and the role of entertainment in our
lives. There’s the theme of excess and
scarcity, having enough resources to feed all people in Panem, yet some people
are starving and some are living in ridiculous luxury and excess.
Hopefully you can
already see some of the parallels with modern society and hopefully you can see
how some of these themes are important to God and should be important to
us. I want us to look at the theme of
thirst and hunger. Afterall, it’s title
is the Hunger Games and the Bible has quite a bit to say regarding thirst and
hunger.
There are two types of
thirst and hunger in the Bible. There’s the literally thirst and hunger that
was a matter of physical life or death. We tend to forget that the entire Bible
is set in a time when they did not have indoor or outdoor plumbing. The people of the Bible, all of them, could
not just turn on a faucet for water. So
if you were thirsty and you had run out of water that you had gathered from the
rain or from the river or from the lake, if your family is out of water, you
have to walk miles to get the water and bring it back. And what happens if you don’t make it back in
time? So when we think of being thirsty,
it is not a thirsty like, oh I would like some water because I’m thirsty, it
was more like, if I don’t get a drink of water today I will die. It was a
matter of life and death.
In Jesus’ day, poverty was not like what it is
today. There were no social institutions, or local soup kitchens or warm places
to stay overnight, people that were poor, had no options except to beg if you
were a man or be a prostitute if you were a woman. It was sell yourself or die. And that’s why Jesus talked so strongly about
feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty, those who needed were in
poverty and had no way to live.
So
we come to a parable Jesus is telling like in Matthew 25 and we see how
important feeding the hungry and giving water to the thirsty is: Read 34-46.
The assumption Jesus is making in these verses is that if you are truly my
disciple, this is what it looks like, feeding the hungry and giving water to
the thirsty and clothing the naked.
Because in this culture, it was literally a matter of life and
death. The only options for survival was
begging or prostitution, that was it. While poverty looks different today then
it did back then our country, we are still called to be generous and selfless
and helpful and we are still called to be a blessing to people who aren’t as
fortunate as we are. When I read these
verses I am convicted, I hope you are too.
That’s
the literal, physical thirst and hunger. Lets talk about the spiritual thirst
and hunger. When is the last time you thirsted for God the way you do when you
are thirsty for water? When is the last time you sought God with the same conviction
you seek food for your family if you and the ones you loved were starving?
Jesus said in John 6:32-35. The psalmist wrote in 42:1-2. Jesus said in Matthew
5:6. When is the last time you took time to seek God because you were hungry
and thirsty for Him? If you don’t think you have a spiritual hunger and thirst
for God, try living without him. Try it, say no and see how your life turns
out. See how your eternity turns out. God doesn’t force himself on anyone, yet,
he has placed within each of us a spiritual hunger that only He can
fulfill…both on this earth and for all eternity.
There’s
a part in the book towards the beginning of the first Hunger Games that Katniss
is in and she has gotten far into the woods but she’s thirsty. And she knows if she doesn’t find water soon
that she will die of dehydration. And so
she wonders why her mentor, her trainer, Haymitch hasn’t sent her any
water. Because he can do that...he could
pay the people who run the Hunger Games to send her a bottle of water from the sky. But he doesn’t. And at this point she is so dehydrated that
she is crawling and feeling dizzy and she knows the symptoms. And she wonders is my mentor, the one that is
supposed to be helping me, is he going to just let me die. Then she realizes that the reason he’s not
sending water is because she must be close to a water source. And it turns out to be true. He didn’t want to use the precious resources
he had to send her water when she was so close to it already. And she finds water and ends up being
okay. By the way, the movie does not do
a good job of portraying scene, that I thought was so powerful.
Unlike
Haymitch who was limited by how much he could help Katniss, we have a God of
unlimited resources. In fact we have a God who is our source of satisfying our
spiritual thirsts and hungers. The only question is…are you seeking after
him? Are seeking after
righteousness? Are you hungry for
justice to be done in this world? Do you
thirst after being more like God so that you can overcome the forces of
wickedness in this world? Just like in the world of the Hunger Games, there is
evil in this world…what are you doing about it? Are you a beacon of hope and
life and truth and justice and faith…or are you a contributor to the evils? We have a God who desires to overcome the
evils in this with love, with forgiveness, with joy, with hope, with grace,
with mercy…how are you doing with those things?
May
we be the kind of people that thirst and hunger after God so that we can make a
difference in this world. Katniss
becomes a symbol of hope. Jesus is our
symbol of hope…are you pointing people to him?
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