An Elephant and an Angry Kangaroo

Sometimes teachable moments come when you least expect them. Like the last time we went to free kid movie day at the theater.

I loaded up all 4 kids on a day Cliff was working and headed over. The movie was Horton Hears a Who. I had seen parts of the movie before, but I guess not all of it. It was a cute movie about an elephant who hears a tiny voice on a speck of dust on top of a flower.

The only problem was, he was the only one in the whole jungle who could hear it.

He spends almost the whole movie trying to communicate to Whoville to watch out because they are in great danger (being on a speck and all). In the process he starts to worry the animals of the jungle that he is going crazy talking to a flower. Almost everyone is OK with it, just thinking he is a little nuts, but one character (the kangaroo queen mother) makes it her mission to destroy the speck and stop all the nonsense Horton is involved in.

The language and actions toward the end started to get a little violent as the kangaroo turned everyone against Horton and caused a riot of anger. Horton doesn't let go of the speck the whole time knowing he heard a voice and vowing to protect the speck at all costs.

The mob corners him and pushes him into a cage and gives him one last chance to give up the flower and deny that he ever heard anything.

He refuses. He was convinced he heard something! And he wasn't about to let them harm them.

Of course, the speck is saved just in the nick of time when the Who's are able to muster up enough noise for someone else to hear him as well.

It was a little bit scary for the kids to see the anger that the animals had against Horton. So, seeing a teachable moment at hand, I turned the music down in the car and had a heart to heart with them.

I explained that Horton could be seen as an example of a believer in Christ. They heard Him speak to them in ways that other people in the world (jungle) have not yet heard. And that there are people even today who try to make Christians deny they ever heard anything. They give them a chance to deny Christ and go free. But that there are also people even today who sacrifice their own safety and comfort to stand up for their convictions. Occasionally, these people are tortured and/or killed for their faith. Would they put up with this if they hadn't really heard HIM? I think not. This is one of the best arguments for the faith. This is one of the reasons Christianity spreads so rapidly in times of tribulation and persecution. The only thing worth suffering for would have to be real...

Peter, to save his own skin, chose the easy way out when put to the test after Jesus was arrested. He denied knowing him three times. Jesus had predicted it. And when the rooster crowed, he realized the huge mistake he had made and went outside and wept bitterly.

But Jesus, after rising again and appearing to many people, restored Peter. Peter realized that there was no other way to go and no one more worthy of following than Christ. He never looked back and became a powerful witness for Christ. And tradition has it that he too was tortured to death on a cross. He didn't back down that time. And I'm sure he and every other martyr are enjoying great benefits in heaven as a result.

Joseph and Moses are also examples of men who sacrificed their own well-beings to save many. And that was many who may not have realized or even cared about being saved. (Another correlation- many of the Who's didn't think they needed saving either)

But Jesus is the ultimate picture of sacrifice. He came to save. He was given chance after chance to deny his authority and position. He was loved by friends and then betrayed by them. He was chased by an angry mob. He was captured and brutally tortured. Only unlike Horton, he did have the power to escape. He was hung on the cross and died an agonizing death.

Why??

Because he loved the people he came to save. He gave up his life because He wanted to protect us and give us a chance at an abundant life for all eternity and to have an awesome relationship with Him until we finally get there.

In the movie, the people all heard the voices of Whoville and they accepted Horton back into the jungle. The were so surprised to find out they had been wrong. One of the most poignant real life examples of this right came right after Jesus took His last breath. The sky went black, there was an earthquake. People came out of their graves and the thick, heavy curtain in the temple ripped from top to bottom signifying that a way had been finally made straight to the throne of God! When a Roman guard that had just gotten done hanging him there realized who Jesus was immediately. He changed his mind and said, "Surely this must be the Son of God!"

Now go ahead and laugh. I turned Horton into a picture of Christ! Is that sacrilegious? I saw some powerful correlations and hope to help the kids see the truths of Christ all around us...

Even in a secular movie about an elephant and an angry Kangaroo.