Easter Legend

On Easter Sunday I watched the movie I Am Legend with some of my family. The story has a messianic theme in which one man dedicates his life to finding the cure to a virus that has devastated the entire human population - creating creatures called the "dark seekers." Themes of butterflies and Bob Marley culminate in a message from God in the end with the epitaph of "light up the darkness." The world is quieter now, all you need to do is listen. You can hear God.

This past year I've watched a few movies with the similar virus causing cannibalistic hunger
theme including 28 Days Later and the three Resident Evil. The novel "I am Legend" was made into two previous movies: The Last Man on Earth in 1964 and The Omega Man in 1971. This post-apocalyptic fiction proposes a vampire/zombie existence caused by a virus. The protagonist, Robert Neville, comes to the conclusion at the end of the book that he is the extinct form of humanity and must surrender his life so that the new society of vampire existence may become what it must. The 2007 movie has a more optimistic ending with a possible cure in sight. Apocalyptic novels have existed since the days of Shelley in the 19th century but grew in popularity around World War II. I've always been a fan of these doomsday novels and films. The possiblity of what could happen...unless, has a prophetic nature to it. Whether it is atomic or viral warfare, ecological destruction, or political fascism, these movies and novels remind us of our sinful nature. There is a depth to evil that is not going away no matter how pretty we try to keep things.
I'm writing a sermon for this weekend and speaking of God being in our midst. Often in these apocalyptic stories God is just as vacant as the dead world. There is this sense that the survivors have been abandoned by God. Yet somehow, there is hope in the midst of all this tragedy and loss. Many of these stories deal with the question of what "makes us human?" It is the qualities of God that we are the image of that are our distinction, though this may not be named as the "image of God." God is still in our midst...that was a final message of "I am Legend" and Easter turned out to be the perfect day to watch this movie.