I love the movie Kung Fu Panda. It’s hilarious. It’s also well-written.
In Kung-Fu Panda, the key to victory over the great enemy is the mysterious Scroll of Destiny.
No one knows what’s it, just that it holds the great secret of victory. And, it’s only the Dragon Warrior who is worthy to open the Scroll of Destiny.
The unexpected Panda Po (played by Jack Black) turns out to be the long-awaited Dragon Warrior and eventually opens the scroll.
To everyone’s surprise, the scroll is blank. Well, it’s not blank, it’s a mirror. Po looks at the scroll of only sees himself.
What’s the message?
We find something similar in Aladdin. Aladdin believes he must become someone else to be worthy of love, but he ultimately discovers that freedom comes through embracing the truth about who he is.
Rubbing the lamp is the way to seeing yourself. It’s his reflection.
The message is that the key to the eternal life fulfillment is: know thyself.
At first glance, this seems unchristian.
We want to say things like “the key isn’t in you, it’s in Jesus!”
And that, my friends, is a true statement.
However, Jesus does, in fact, reveal the true human.
A part of what Jesus does in his redeeming work is reveal what we were always supposed to be.
One of the fatal, devastating consequences of sin is losing sight of who we are—both vocationally and ontologically—as the divine image bearers.
The question of the serpent in the garden, “Did God really say…?” Has many implications. The big implication is “God is keeping something good from you, he, therefore, cannot be trusted. And, by extension, he doesn’t love you.
Who are you?
What are your origins?
Originally, we are the object of God’s steadfast, holy love.
The serpent undermines that.
The message that brings sin, death, and shame into our hearts is: “You are not the object of God’s love.”
Shameful.
What do Adam and Eve do in response? They cover themselves.
Ah, there it is. They lose their identity. They wear masks to cover their shame. This is the place of brokenness and disorder.
What’s the way back? What’s the road to redemption?
It’s rediscovering who we are as the image-bearers of God—and Jesus accoimoplishes just that.
Wnat to know who you are? Who you were always supposed to be? Look at Jesus hanging on a cross.
We were meant for self-giving, self-sacrificing love.
What Jesus reveals on the cross is the means for rediscovery of who we are.
Rub the lamp. Open the Scroll of Destiny. Know what you were always supposed to be by looking at the cross.
Understanding who we really are—not the shameful sinner or the object of God’s scorn, but the delight of his heart, the beloved, the object of his holy love—is eternal life.
Christianity’s Scroll of Destiny is simply this: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Know and embrace the love of God by grace through faith, and be free.
