faithMile

This article contains details about the Dr. Linus episode of LOST. If you haven’t seen the episode and do not wish to be spoiled, please stop reading now.

In the Dr. Linus episode of the television show “LOST” there is wonderful parallel to forgiveness and redemption in Christ. In the show, there is a mysterious, God-like character named Jacob. Jacob appears to several characters in the show, and literally touches them. That touch changes their lives in profound ways. The most dramatic way is that they are drawn to a mysterious island and convinced to do Jacob’s will above all else, making many sacrifices in the process.

Ben Linus makes one such sacrifice, but it proves too much to bear. He unwittingly sacrifices his daughter in order to protect Jacob’s island. Later, when given the chance to kill Jacob – even being told to by Jacob’s enemy – he does the unthinkable. He kills his God. Jacob dies.

But Jacob also has a daughter, Ilana. She is alive and well, and currenlty protecting Jacob’s island as well as all of the people he has touched. Jacob’s daughter finds out that Ben killed Jacob, so she prepares to kill him. To maximize her revenge, she makes him dig his own grave first. While he is digging, he gets a visitor. It’s Jacob’s enemy – the man in black – the one who told Ben to kill Jacob. Jacob’s enemy frees Ben from the shackle that Ilana used to imprison him while he dug. Then, he asks Ben to join him. He walks away – fully expecting Ben to follow. But Jacob’s daughter has noticed that her prey has been loosed and she goes after it. Ben stops her from shootiong him by offering to explain why he killed Jacob. He tells her that he had a daughter and he wathed her die because he chose the island. Jacob’s island. Jacob’s mission. Jacob’swill. He felt that he had lost almost everything. The only thing he had left was his power – and he used it to kill the one who caused him to lose everything else. He regrets this deeply and asks Ilana to let him live.

Ilana, moved, decides not to shoot. Instead, she asks him where he’ll go. He replies that he will join Jacob’s enemy. She asks why. His reply, “Because he’s the only one who’ll have me.” She pauses briefly and then replies: “I’ll have you.” He follows her back into the camp and takes his place as a member.

In our lives, we are also lost, and God provides an answer by telling us to follow him. Follow his lead. Follow his voice. Follow his will. Sacrifice ourselves to his purpose. Hold to nothing. Sacrifice everything. Like Ben, we often experience a crisis of faith. We cry, “We’ve sacrificed, God, but for what?”

In the interim between what we have sacrificed and the “big reveal” that will make it all make sense – that will make our sacrifices and the pain that goes with them, make sense – we doubt. We lose faith. We lose hope. We want to give up and go our own way. To be free. To kill God. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we throw off God’s purpose. We leave the path. We turn. We sin.

But, like Jacob, God has a child, a son, who exists to protect his purpose. God’s son will come to us and confront us with our sin. He reminds that our sin has dug our grave and that we are chanied and deserving death. And when we repent, when we are contrite, when we cry out to be spared and then offer to slink away from the light and join the camp of the enemy because that is where we deserve to be – the one who will have us – we get a similar reaction. The son of God, Jesus, puts away anger. He experiences death for our sake. And, after dying on our behalf, the son of God says to us: “I’ll have you.”