At the recent bible study in our parish, I made a reference to an angel getting its wings when someone’s phone rang. I noted that the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, never fails to bring a tear to my eye. This did not add to the discussion of Ephesians in which we were engaged, but later my wife, Lorna, mentioned that the plot of the movie resonated with the story of Job in the bible. I realized that she definitely had a good point (which is not unusual) and decided to explore this idea in this week’s missive.
It is fairly easy to see the similarities
– at least those on the surface – between the two stories. The two
protagonists, Job and George Bailey, both, in effect, suffer the trials of Job,
as the saying goes, and lose everything that they possess. They lose all
their ‘property’ i.e., that which is proper to them. Job is described at
the beginning of the Book of Job in glowing terms:
That man was
blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There
were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand
sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys,
and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of
the east.
George was not as prosperous in material
terms or property as Job, but he was prosperous in terms of what was ‘proper’
to a person. He had established himself in the community and had made a
difference to the people of the community in more ways than he was aware
of. He had enabled people, who would not otherwise be able to live the
American dream of home ownership, to become men and women of property. He
was president of the Savings and Loan, stepping up to succeed his father and
save the S&L by selflessly putting aside his ambitions. He had
married the woman of his dreams and had ‘lassoed the moon’ for her reclaiming
their dream house. He built what could be considered a classic American
family. As one review noted, “George Bailey's
life, full of love and friendship, is as grand as one could
ever wish for.”
These grand lives are taken away from
both Job and George. In both cases this happens through no fault of their
own. Job is the subject of a bet between God and Satan. In George’s
case, “his selfless nature, by this point of the film, has landed him in a
pretty terrible financial situation.” All seem lost for both and, as
noted by Lorna, both wish that they had never been born. This is a
critical similar circumstance for the characters. In Job’s case, “Job
opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ‘Let the day perish on
which I was born,’”. For George, his wish is granted by his guardian angel,
Clarence, who notes, “You’ve been given a great gift George, a chance to see
what the world would be like without you.” Job does not receive this gift
but George and Job each have received the gift of being made aware of what is
to be true to whom he is in his essence beyond the trappings of his possession
and persona. Neither Job nor George stated he wanted to die – rather he
wished he had never been born which is a critical distinction.
I should note that Clarence, who is an
angel, second class, but definitely not a second-class angel, does earn his
wings. As a result, a bell rings at the George’s family Christmas
signifying that Clarence has received his wings – a truly happy ending, if one
with a tinge of Hollywood.
Finally, both George and Job had their
lives restored, or perhaps I should say, redeemed. They were given back
all that had been taken from them and more. The conflict between who the
world saw them to be and how they saw themselves to be, and who they were in
essence, was resolved. This was the gift given to each of them.
As I noted two weeks ago in my first
exploration of Job, I hope that you are blessed on your journey to find the
essence of who you are.
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