G: the Godfather
I found the character of Vito Corleone pretty interesting.
In the opening scene, he denies one man’s request and tells him, “You never
wanted my friendship. And you were afraid to be in my debt. …You never needed a
friend like me. …[And now] you don’t even think to call me godfather. …What
have I ever done to make you approach me so disrespectfully?” So the man
changes his approach, says, “Will you be my friend?” bows his head, and kisses
the godfather’s hand. That changes everything; the don will now come to his aid
– stand as his ally, his protector…his friend. But no one gets something for
nothing. The trade is unconditional loyalty…up to and including a returned
favor if ever asked.
When not conducting business, the mob leader is quite the
family man. He dances with his wife at their daughter’s wedding, and even
refuses to allow a family photo to be taken at the same event because one of
his sons is absent. He plays with his grandchildren. He cries when he must
identify his son’s murdered body.
The godfather also has an understanding of what justice
means – he refuses to kill a man who only inflicted suffering on someone else…he
only inflicts suffering to that man. And, despite the fact that the “business”
of the film is an outlaw sort of “justice,” including murder, bribery, and
immorality, the whole mob system works on a kind of honor system. The heads of
the “five families” resolve their differences based on their word. The members
of “the family” (blood relatives and close business allies) are loyal to each
other. In fact, the godfather is himself (along with his son and successor
Michael) the protagonist of the story. The audience likes him…respects him.
It strikes me how aptly this represents my old view of God
the Father. He was a God who demanded respect and loyalty and promised judgment
and retribution for every time I slipped. I had to be careful, because the God
I served was temperamental and prone to anger…and He was very powerful and
could strike me down if I did one too many things He didn’t like.
Since then I have discovered that I didn’t really know God
at all.
Brennan Manning puts it well. He says in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel, “Justice says, ‘I
owe you nothing, for you have broken the contract.’ [Sounds like the godfather’s
idea of justice.] But where justice ends, love begins and reveals that God is
not interested merely in the dividends of the covenant.” I don’t believe God
says, “If you scratch My back, I’ll scratch yours,” or “What’s in it for Me?”
His love for us is Selfless. He does not love us merely because we were made in
His image; that would mean He loved His image in us rather than just loving us
for “us,” which would make Him rather narcissistic, don’t you think?
I don’t think God made us because He needed new relationships. He already had community within Himself
(the nature of the Trinity). He created us in a Selfless act of benevolence –
He created beings with whom He could share in relationship purely for their
benefit. “What wondrous love is this?”
One of my favorite Scriptures is 1 John 4:8 which says, “There
is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do
with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
A good relationship with the godfather involved a certain
amount of fear. But God tells us repeatedly to “fear not,” and to “come before
Him boldly” and be “made perfect in love.”
How do you view the God of Christianity? Has He been
described to you as angry or loving…or both? Has He revealed Himself to you in
a certain way?
An excellent post, I thought most thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
I've seen the Godfather many times but I've never thought of tying it to Scripture. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAwesome movie. On my favourite list.
ReplyDeleteAwesome movie. Nice interpretation.
ReplyDeleteHere from the blog hop- totally a classic movie. Good choice and good post about it!
ReplyDelete