Movie Magic
Aysgarth Falls, Yorkshire, image by Unsplash
Do you remember the 1991 film, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman? Robin encounters Little John, the leader of a band of outlaws who make a living by exacting an unofficial toll at a river crossing. Robin refuses to pay and a light-hearted duel ensues, the two men armed with wooden staves. Filmed at the beautiful Aysgarth Falls in Yorkshire, both men are soon drenched. It’s classic movie magic; brain against brawn. Robin takes a battering but eventually outwits John and cries, ‘Do you yield?’
This scene came to mind when I read the phrase, ‘willing to yield’ in the bible’s description of true wisdom.
‘the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.’ James 3:17 (New King James Version)
What a different place the world would be if those who govern us sought divine wisdom and were peaceable and willing to yield!
What a different person I would be if I could govern my thoughts, words and actions with these characteristics. I can’t even lay claim to one, let alone all, of these qualities but for me, ‘willingness to yield’ is the most challenging. It’s so against the grain of the 21st-century culture I’ve imbibed that I positively baulk at the idea.
James says these are characteristics of wisdom ‘from above’, God’s wisdom. Is willingness to yield a quality we readily associate with the Almighty Creator of the universe? But do we need to rethink how we define Him? The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the ‘exact representation’ of God’s being (1:3) and that,
‘During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.’ Hebrews 5:7-10
Jesus submitted to God’s will, learned obedience from his experiences and became our perfect Redeemer. He was willing to yield to God’s purposes so we might be saved, as the prophet Isaiah foretold, 700 years before.
‘he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,…
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;’ Isaiah 53: 7, 10,11
David and I went to see ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves’ on our honeymoon and, after 33 years of marriage, I know David wouldn’t describe me as ‘willing to yield’, but speaking of God’s wisdom, James also tells us, ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.’ So there’s always hope!
