28th Sunday: The Human Experience

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I recently watched “The Human Experience.” This 2008 documentary is about 1½ hours long and follows two brothers named Jeff and Cliff. Ten years previously, both of these boys were removed from their home after the death of their mom. The dad, an abusive alcoholic, was not given custody.

The Human Experience
The boys grew up in a group home in the New York area. Jeff is now a photographer, but when the film was made, he wanted to explore what it meant to be a human being. So the film, is put together from his first hand encounters with people. Some live on the street in New York and others are abandoned children with physical disabilities in Peru. They interview people in Ghana living in a leper and AIDs colony. Jeff was interested in how people with such tremendous problems in life, something like his, experienced being human beings.
 
On the streets in New York he listened to an old woman who remembered the night some people rescued an abandoned dog on the street, but ignored her. She mused about how important it was to still try and stay connected to others. In Peru, the laughter and joy of the children was infectious, although some had no arms or legs and had been abandoned by their parents who could not or would not care for them. In Ghana they talked to a young woman who could not see her children and family because of her AIDs infection. They talked to an older man who was terribly disfigured by leprosy and who spoke of the importance of the community he lived in. Jeff and Cliff felt inspired to try and see their dad after 10 years of separation. It was a respectful but difficult reunion.

 So what does it mean to be a human?
 In the gospel today, the Lord tells a parable about a king who throws a wedding banquet for his son. He invites his subjects, but some refuse to come and others kill the messenger. The king makes the rejection final when he burns their city. Then the king sent his messengers out into the streets to invite others. This second group came to the feast, but one man did not wear a wedding garment. He was not prepared and was thrown out where there is ‘wailing and grinding of teeth.’
 
The parable is about what it means to be a human being. The king gives a big party where there will be a celebration of love. It is a wedding after all. The prophet Isaiah talks about this feast,

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On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. Is. 25

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Death separates us from the ones we love.

Death and the Human Experience
Physical death is just the most profound separation we experience. We experience death in physical afflictions. We experience the separation of death in alienation from one another and indifference towards others human needs. Sin and death are the same realities in scripture.  The Human Experience examines some pretty dire human situations. What it explores so well is our human capacity for and need for connection to one another. The image of God in our life.
 
In the movie, Jeff and Cliff struggle with their abandonment by their dad and their mother’s death. They experience other people struggling with their own emotional wounds. The man who did not bring a wedding garment was unprepared for the feast. We will likewise be unprepared for the feast if we can’t honor the legitimate human needs of others invited to the feast.

Our Connection to one another is the Human Experience
In the movie, no street person was given a home, the orphan without legs did not receive a new pair, the woman with AIDs did not enjoy a tearful reunion with her family and the man with leprosy did not get his eye or feet back. Jeffrey and Cliff did meet their father and it was emotional, but it did not erase the last ten years. When Jesus rose from the dead, his wounds were intact. So are the deep wounds people carry in life. Building marriage, family, relationships and community is a challenge because of all the wounds. It takes great effort to build a community separated by deep wounds.

See the The Human Experience by hitting play:

The human experience from 5oma on Vimeo.