I recently saw a video clip (included below) of an interview with Bradley Cooper concerning his role playing Chris Kyle in the recent film "American Sniper." You might wonder what Cooper and the film "American Sniper" have to do with imitating Christ. Well, it's not so much the content of the film as it is the effect embodying Kyle had on Cooper. Charlie Rose asks Cooper in the clip below: "Is there anything you learned about Chris the man that you take with you?" Cooper responds, "Well, I'm still wearing his shoes today." He mentions that he doesn't want to let go because Kyle "was a real man we don't see much of." Cooper embodied Kyle's life to the point that months after shooting the film he sill wore the type of shoes Kyle wore on tour in Iraq.
I couldn't help but think this is similar to the desired effect the NT has in mind when it exhorts believer's to imitate, embody, or have the same mind as Christ. Cooper struggles to let go of his role as Kyle. When we become followers of Christ we're cast in a new role, the role of Jesus. The habitual embodiment of Jesus transforms us and we should rejoice, if like Cooper, we struggle to live again as the person we were before we were cast in the role of Jesus. Luckily for the follower of Christ, we don't have to return to the person we were before we met and embodied Jesus. Of course, the struggle to revert to that old person is palpable. We feel it when we act or embody that old person again. We feel the tension between the two very different roles we can play. By God's grace and the Spirit's power, we can more faithfully act out or embody our role as Jesus.
BD
I couldn't help but think this is similar to the desired effect the NT has in mind when it exhorts believer's to imitate, embody, or have the same mind as Christ. Cooper struggles to let go of his role as Kyle. When we become followers of Christ we're cast in a new role, the role of Jesus. The habitual embodiment of Jesus transforms us and we should rejoice, if like Cooper, we struggle to live again as the person we were before we were cast in the role of Jesus. Luckily for the follower of Christ, we don't have to return to the person we were before we met and embodied Jesus. Of course, the struggle to revert to that old person is palpable. We feel it when we act or embody that old person again. We feel the tension between the two very different roles we can play. By God's grace and the Spirit's power, we can more faithfully act out or embody our role as Jesus.
BD