The Unforgiven

People constantly ask me about what movies I have seen lately. The latest movie I attended was Clint Eastwood’s new film, Unforgiven. I liked it. It is a very violent anti-violence film (figure that one out). The dialogue was very sparse, but pregnant with meaning. I found myself always looking forward to the next line (sometimes you had to wait a while).

One line I’ve pondered a lot. One of Eastwood’s gunfighter colleagues feels some regret after he kills his first man. He tries to comfort and justify himself by saying, "I guess he had it coming."

Eastwood replies, "We’ve all got it coming."

Now what did he mean by those words? Did he mean we are all going to die someday? Or did he mean that we all deserve to die? Or both?

There are definite echoes here of scripture. Scripture proclaims, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

When you think about it, this pairing of sin and death makes sense. The thing they both have in common is that they both cause separation. If one doubts that "sin, when it is finished, brings death" (James 1:15), all they need do is read their newspapers and look at their television screens. The ongoing events in Yugoslavia and Somalia should be proof enough.

The witness of scripture is that this is true for all of us. "We’ve all got it coming."

Fortunately, scripture goes on to say, "Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3). He died our death for us. Through his death and resurrection sin and death were conquered. In Him we need not fear even though "we’ve all got it coming."

C. David Hess