On a Mission from God

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’” Luke 13:31-33

Jesus is on a mission from God.

And like more recent messianic figures, Jake and Elwood Blues, he’s not going to let anything get in his way.

Jake and Elwood sneer at the Chicago cops. Jesus sneers at King Herod Antipas.

No one can stop them.

They’re on a mission from God.

When director John Landis teamed with John Belushi and Dan Akroyd in 1980 to make The Blues Brothers,  it’s unclear if their intent was to make a Christian morality play.

Probably not.

But if you overlook some of the smarmier moments, which earned the film an R rating, it’s not a bad sermon. It’s a story of being faithful to, well, to a mission from God.

In the case of Jake Blues, who in the opening scene is released from Joliet Prison, it’s also a story of redemption and atonement.

The reunited brothers decide to visit “the Penguin,” who is emphatically not the same diverting character who bedeviled several iterations of Batman. It’s Sister Mary Stigmata, the distinctly unfunny doyenne of the Catholic orphanage where Jake and Elwood grew up.

Played convincingly by veteran character actor Kathleen Freeman, Sister Mary Stigmata reminds parochial school alums of the nun who handed out F’s to anyone who didn’t know Queen Mary I was a good and gentle monarch, and smote with a ruler anyone who asked why they called her Bloody Mary.

Ambivalent as they are about the Penguin, Jake and Elwood are horrified to learn the orphanage will be forced to close unless Sister Mary Stigmata can come up with $5,000 in property taxes.

There is no money, the Penguin tells the boys. Jake and Elwood, larcenous by nature but pure in heart, promise Sister Mary Stigmata they will save the orphanage. They jump into the Bluesmobile, a partially refurbished police cruiser that has seen better days, and turn on the ignition.

“We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark,” Elwood says with resolve, “and we're wearing sunglasses.”

“Hit it,” Jake responds. And the Bluesmobile thunders off into the night. The boys are on a mission from – as they say in Chicagoland – “Gaahd.”

What happens next is a chaotic, picaresque, and dogged pursuit of a righteous goal: $5,000 to keep the holy orphanage open.

Viewers can tell Jake and Elwood have been inspired by a higher power, although it takes a fairly flexible theological mind to see the sermon in the story. There are one or two clearly divine moments, including a solo by Aretha and a cameo appearance by Ray Charles. It’s a blessing when the film introduces 73 year-old Cab Calloway to a newer generation of music lovers.

But it’s during a visit to the Triple Rock Church that Jake has an epiphany as to how the $5,000 can be raised.

James Brown as the Rev. Cleophus James, resplendently robed and glowingly coifed, mounts the pulpit.

“And now, people... And now, people...” Brother James starts low and builds to a crescendo, “When I woke up this mornin’, I heard a distubin’ sound. I said When I woke up this mornin’, I heard a disturbin’ sound! What I heard was the jingle-jangle of a thousand lost souls! I'm talkin’ ‘bout the souls of mortal men and women, departed from this life. Wait a minute! Those lost angry souls roamin’ unseen on the earth, seekin’ to find life they'll not find, because it's too late! Tooooo late, yeah! Too late for they’ll never see again the life they choose not to follow. All right! All right! Don’t be lost when your time comes! For the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night!”

As Jake stands at the rear of the church, a light from above shines in his eyes.

Jake: The band? The band.
Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?
Jake: THE BAND!
Reverend Cleophus James: DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?
Elwood: What light?
Reverend Cleophus James: HAVE YOU SEEEEN THE LIGHT?
Jake: YES! YES! ... I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!

It is revealed unto Jake that he and Elwood must re-unite the widely scattered and motley members of the Blues Brothers’ Band. After one or two lucrative gigs, Jake reasons, the band should be able to raise five K easily. How could it be otherwise? Jake has had a message from Gaahd.

For the rest of the film, Jake and Elwood run rough shod over seemingly insurmountable obstacles and the Illinois State Police, leaving much of Chicago in shambles as they pursue their mission with a single-minded, unalterable purpose.

The 133-minute Blues Brothers film, which went $10 million over budget before Landis brought it in for $77.6 million, is a long and expensive (and, some would say, dubious) sermon.

But it captures a sense of the power of God’s calling, and shows what it’s like when the persons called feel they have no alternative but to pursue their mission to its ultimate conclusion. (It’s also a cool presentation of 1980-vintage Rhythm and Blues music.)

The sense of being on a mission from God is probably the only comparison one could make between the Blues Brothers and Jesus.

Certainly Jesus is less manic when he expresses his resolute commitment to the path he is on. But he makes it clear nothing will deter him: not even death threats from the King.

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’” Luke 13:31-33

In Luke, this took place at a time when Jesus was nearing the end of his ministry. He was on a journey that began several passages earlier in Luke 9:51: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

Jesus is not only on a mission from God; he is aware that his time is growing short. History has taught him that prophets are not killed outside of Jerusalem, but certain death awaits inside the city gates. Until the time comes, Jesus declares, his work must continue. “I must be on my way.”

One of the interesting revelations in this passage from Luke 13 is the introduction of good Pharisees, a breed that is virtually extinct elsewhere in the bible.

The Pharisees who went to Jesus to warn him about Herod’s murderous intentions seem genuinely concerned for his well-being.

Luke, unlike his fellow gospel writers, seems disinclined to condemn the Pharisees as a class. Some commentators observe that some of the Pharisees Luke reports seem relatively open minded about Jesus. In Acts 5, Luke quotes at some length the Pharisee Gamaliel’s defense of Jesus’ apostles when they were hauled before the Council.

Gamaliel advised the Council to let them go.

If the apostles’ mission was of human origin, the Pharisee said, “It will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them – in that case you may even be found fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38b-39)

In the midst of his journey in the last days of his ministry, Jesus is on a mission from God and he will not be stopped.

The warning from the friendly Pharisees gives Jesus a chance to clarify his position: he lives and works under the divine necessity. And neither friend nor homicidal foe will deter him from his destination.

Until the time comes for him to enter Jerusalem, Jesus will stick to his appointed path, casting out demons, healing the blind, making the lame walk, and proclaiming God’s love for all people.

Only when the time comes for him to enter Jerusalem will Jesus’ ministry be consummated.

And as dark as that time will be, it will be followed by Easter dancing, and a celebration that the forces of evil have not prevailed and everybody has somebody to love.

When the time comes, let us all dance.