One of my favorite movies when I was growing up was the "Wizard of Oz". It was an annual routine in my family, get out the homemade popcorn (no microwaves in those days), gather around the old black and white TV set, and settle down for an evening of fun and fantasy. Once we got past the tornado scene (it still freaks me out to this day, even though I've seen the real thing now, and it isn't anything like the Oz tornado), I could relax. Because I knew tornadoes were real but witches and flying monkeys weren't.
Oz isn't just a story for kids. On the contrary, it's very much a fable for adults--and if you look at it one way, it's a subversive fable. It takes a lot of assumptions about success and faith and turns them on their head. Dorothy knows very much what she wants to do--go home--but she doesn't know how to do it. Neither does anyone else, with the exception of Glinda (the "good" witch). Glinda knows but she ain't telling. She has her own agenda. (And, yes, I have read "Wicked".)
So the Munchkins get together and give Dorothy the only advice they know how to give. Over in the Emerald City, she is told, there is a Wizard that can grant her her desire. All you have to do is follow the yellow brick road. They sing and dance around her, praising this Wizard to the skies. He's good, he's wise, he's wonderful, he can do anything. (Does this sound like someone else we know?) They are so confident in assuring Dorothy that this is the solution to her problem, that she does not stop to ask, "What first-hand experience have you had with this Wizard? Has anyone ever met him?" In other words, do you really know he can do all this and is willing to do all this, or are you just repeating what you have heard?
A few Sundays ago we had a guest speaker who sounded very much like the eager Munchkins. He spoke glowingly about prayer and all the miracles he had seen. You may remember that blog. Last week Pastor preached a sermon that was somewhat of a corrective: sometimes God does not make things smooth for us. Sometimes His will is that we do go through difficulties. Sometimes He says no. We are at the part in Acts where Paul has set his face to go to Jerusalem despite repeated warnings that he will run into difficulty there. One man even took Paul's belt, tied himself up in it and told him, "the man whose belt this is will be tied up in this fashion." People are falling down at his feet and begging, pleading with him not to go. But he is so determined to imitate his Lord that he feels compelled to go to Jerusalem even so. Paul's friends had it only half right, said Pastor, they were correct in foreseeing that going to Jerusalem was not going to turn out well, but where they got it wrong is that they thought that they were doing God's will in telling him not to go.
Anyway, to get back to the "Wizard of Oz", when Dorothy and her companions reach the Emerald City, far from being welcomed with open arms by the Wizard, they are told that he does not want to see them and they are to go home. WTF? This is not what the Munchkins said would happen. This is not what Glinda said would happen. Now what do they do? Eventually the Wizard relents and says he will grant them their requests, but first they have to do something for him. It's just a little matter of killing the Wicked Witch of the West and bringing back her broomstick. No big deal. Again, nobody stops to ask, why are we being recruited into this warfare between you and the Witch? If you are so powerful, why don't you deal with her yourself instead of sending us out?
So off they go on a task they are ill-prepared for, unlike David versus Goliath. The movie doesn't say what the Wizard is doing and thinking all this time but I have a feeling it's not the first time he's sent innocents up against his old enemy. Remember all the praises the Munchkins sang? Would they still be thinking highly of their Wizard if they knew what he was up to? Through simple dumb luck, Dorothy and her companions manage to kill the Witch and bring back the broomstick. Now Oz has to keep his promises.
Well, he manages to satisfy the requests of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion by passing out symbolic trinkets, but Dorothy's request is not so easily brushed off. He's in a real predicament now, so he proposes taking her back to Kansas by balloon. He really hasn't a choice; if word gets out that someone came to him with a request he couldn't fulfill, he's done as a wizard. At the last minute something goes wrong, and he sails off without Dorothy. Probably a good thing, too. That's when Glinda steps in and reveals what she has known all along, that Dorothy had the ability to go home at any time due to the power of the ruby slippers on Dorothy's feet. Why didn't you say so? "Because you wouldn't have believed me if I did," she says smugly. Oh really?
So the moral of the story is, if you are seeking advice or need information, make sure that you go to the right sources and not down the yellow brick road. Otherwise you may end up being manipulated and taken advantage of.
Oz isn't just a story for kids. On the contrary, it's very much a fable for adults--and if you look at it one way, it's a subversive fable. It takes a lot of assumptions about success and faith and turns them on their head. Dorothy knows very much what she wants to do--go home--but she doesn't know how to do it. Neither does anyone else, with the exception of Glinda (the "good" witch). Glinda knows but she ain't telling. She has her own agenda. (And, yes, I have read "Wicked".)
So the Munchkins get together and give Dorothy the only advice they know how to give. Over in the Emerald City, she is told, there is a Wizard that can grant her her desire. All you have to do is follow the yellow brick road. They sing and dance around her, praising this Wizard to the skies. He's good, he's wise, he's wonderful, he can do anything. (Does this sound like someone else we know?) They are so confident in assuring Dorothy that this is the solution to her problem, that she does not stop to ask, "What first-hand experience have you had with this Wizard? Has anyone ever met him?" In other words, do you really know he can do all this and is willing to do all this, or are you just repeating what you have heard?
A few Sundays ago we had a guest speaker who sounded very much like the eager Munchkins. He spoke glowingly about prayer and all the miracles he had seen. You may remember that blog. Last week Pastor preached a sermon that was somewhat of a corrective: sometimes God does not make things smooth for us. Sometimes His will is that we do go through difficulties. Sometimes He says no. We are at the part in Acts where Paul has set his face to go to Jerusalem despite repeated warnings that he will run into difficulty there. One man even took Paul's belt, tied himself up in it and told him, "the man whose belt this is will be tied up in this fashion." People are falling down at his feet and begging, pleading with him not to go. But he is so determined to imitate his Lord that he feels compelled to go to Jerusalem even so. Paul's friends had it only half right, said Pastor, they were correct in foreseeing that going to Jerusalem was not going to turn out well, but where they got it wrong is that they thought that they were doing God's will in telling him not to go.
Anyway, to get back to the "Wizard of Oz", when Dorothy and her companions reach the Emerald City, far from being welcomed with open arms by the Wizard, they are told that he does not want to see them and they are to go home. WTF? This is not what the Munchkins said would happen. This is not what Glinda said would happen. Now what do they do? Eventually the Wizard relents and says he will grant them their requests, but first they have to do something for him. It's just a little matter of killing the Wicked Witch of the West and bringing back her broomstick. No big deal. Again, nobody stops to ask, why are we being recruited into this warfare between you and the Witch? If you are so powerful, why don't you deal with her yourself instead of sending us out?
So off they go on a task they are ill-prepared for, unlike David versus Goliath. The movie doesn't say what the Wizard is doing and thinking all this time but I have a feeling it's not the first time he's sent innocents up against his old enemy. Remember all the praises the Munchkins sang? Would they still be thinking highly of their Wizard if they knew what he was up to? Through simple dumb luck, Dorothy and her companions manage to kill the Witch and bring back the broomstick. Now Oz has to keep his promises.
Well, he manages to satisfy the requests of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion by passing out symbolic trinkets, but Dorothy's request is not so easily brushed off. He's in a real predicament now, so he proposes taking her back to Kansas by balloon. He really hasn't a choice; if word gets out that someone came to him with a request he couldn't fulfill, he's done as a wizard. At the last minute something goes wrong, and he sails off without Dorothy. Probably a good thing, too. That's when Glinda steps in and reveals what she has known all along, that Dorothy had the ability to go home at any time due to the power of the ruby slippers on Dorothy's feet. Why didn't you say so? "Because you wouldn't have believed me if I did," she says smugly. Oh really?
So the moral of the story is, if you are seeking advice or need information, make sure that you go to the right sources and not down the yellow brick road. Otherwise you may end up being manipulated and taken advantage of.
