A "Dry Bones Case"

Many of us have been riveted from its beginning to the Casey Anthony murder trial. Even as far back as its inception in the summer of 2008, the media have filled its images on television and in newspapers of the beautiful little two-year-old who was not reported missing until thirty-one long days after her disappearance. The case seemed without a doubt to indicate that her mother either killed her by premeditating her murder or by accident and then covering it up. Most of us were outraged last week to hear a jury of twelve pronounce Casey Anthony not guilty on the three most important charges against her. She was found guilty of merely lying to investigators several times. Afterward, one of the law spokesmen said that the case was difficult to prove because it was a "dry bones case." In other words, the six month period of time between the missing child and the discovery of her body was simply too long to prove definitely the cause of death. "Is there no justice on earth any longer?" we ask.

Unfortunately, we know the answer to the question at the moment it is raised. Thousands of children, young women, and men disappear (or are murdered each year) and become "cold cases" after a few months or years. Among the most notable in recent years include Jonbenet Ramsey, Morgan Nick, Natalee Holloway, Kyron Hormon, among many. As Christians, we often comfort ourselves with Biblical truths: that while justice might not be found on earth, there will be justice in eternity.

One of the passages I thought of when I heard the spokesman's description of the case brought to mind the famous passage in Ezekiel 37, verses 1-14. Ezekiel's vision describes a scene of desolation when he finds himself in a valley full of dry bones. God calls upon the four winds to "breathe on these slain, that they may live." Miraculously, the "dry bones" begin to rise to their feet and represent a "great army." I too believe that the bodies of the slain victims will one day rise again and justice for the murderers will be everlasting. Until then, we wait.

Deconstructing "The Tree of Life"

My friend Jo Ann and I saw the movie The Tree of Life last week. The audience was small since it was an art film but starring two of Hollywood's high profile actors, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. After watching about forty-five minutes of beautiful cinematic scenery of the "big bang" theory, two young women in front of my friend and me turned around and said, "Are you thinking what we are?" I said, "What, leaving the theater to see another movie." They then replied, "This is not the movie we came to see" and promptly left the theater. Several other young people behind us stayed the full length of the film, which had no plot but was just a series of shots of a family with three sons during the nostalgic days of the '50's. Upon the rolling of the film's credits, one young man stood to his feet and shouted, "Did anyone here understand what that movie was about?" I believe I understood the movie.

The premise from the beginning was a choice--that between nature, science, and atheism vs that of grace, faith, and spirituality. The eldest of the three boys, later played by Sean Penn as an adult, illustrated the developmental stages of a Christian's life. The boy, being the firstborn of his parents, is the true center of attention until his two brothers come along. It is at this point that he begins to show some evidence of naughtiness and jealousy in order to get the attention he has lost in the family. As he grows older, he begins to notice that crime is followed by punishment as he witnesses the handcuffing of a criminal in his hometown. He has learned to expect punishment if one is "bad." He prays to be a "good" boy. Later, when a young boy drowns in a swimming pool, he begins to believe the idea that, if good people (and innocent ones) die, perhaps one does not have to be good. If God is not good, he reasons, why should he be either? What follows is a series of cruel acts to his younger brothers. Eventually, he develops a conscience and a sense of right and wrong and apologizes for his actions. As he grows into adulthood, and confronts the death of one of his brothers at age nineteen, he again struggles with the big existential questions of life, "Why am I here? What is my purpose?" By the end of the film, there is a final affirmation of life after death. The director Terrence Malick has simply presented a pictorial portrait of the spiritual struggles most of us encounter as we attempt to deconstruct the tree of life for ourselves.