Catching Idle Butterflies

Meet John Doe

One of my favorite cable stations is TCM (Turner Classic Movies). In many ways, I like the innocence of them, but also the fearlessness in making a point about war, religion, morality, etc, and without bowing down to current political winds. I also don't have to worry about the gratuitous violence, nudity and profanity.

Last night I watched Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. As summarized at http://www.imdb.com : As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell [Stanwyck] prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby [Cooper] to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement. At last everyone, even Ann, takes her creation seriously...but publisher D.B. Norton has a secret plan.

The truth of who John Doe really is comes out, and everyone who believed in Doe turns on him. Willoughby, believing that individual people can make a difference if they work together, decides the only way for the idea to spark once again is to go through the suicide.

What struck me at the end was something Miller said to convince Willoughby not to jump (paraphrased), "You don't have to kill yourself for others. The idea isn't dead. Someone, another John Doe just like you, already died for us over two thousand years ago, and still His idea is just as strong today."

Jesus came to earth in the most humble way: born to parents history would never have remembered, in a tiny town of little significance, and in a stable. He could have chosen another route; born to a royal family, in a populated and rich city, and in a room where no one would have gone with out all their needs fulfilled.

Why did Jesus choose to be born in such a way?

Because He came for us; all the John and Jane Does who never made or will never make even a single-sentence mention in a history book. He came this way so we don't have to look up in order to see Jesus, but where ever we choose to look for Him, even if it's in a stable.