Defying Gravity

Guest Editorial: DJ Comisford

November 11, 2007

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness… Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight… who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.” Isaiah 5:20-23

It is surprising to me how easily we are deceived. How often we miss the obvious. How easily we conform to the majority. How blind we are to our own prejudice and predispositions. How quickly we condemn those who “seem” to be opposing us. Growing up in the denominational world, I know about being deceived all too well. All my life I believed that all one had to do to be saved was believe in Jesus and somehow accept Him into their life. I never questioned this “absolute truth.” I never questioned the salvation of others and my own salvation was such a certainty that the thought that I would somehow “go to hell” for my wicked impurity, drunkenness and lies, honestly, never crossed my mind. I remember, in high school, arguing with a youth minister that said you “had to be baptized” and that somehow it could affect your eternal salvation. He showed me no Scriptures to back up his case and couldn’t answer why the thief on the cross didn’t need baptism. I was amazed and laughed at his complete ignorance about God’s grace … How veiled I was from seeing the truth!

 

The Broadway musical Wicked is a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s classic story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the witches of Oz, set mostly prior to Dorothy’s arrival from Kansas. The story follows the smart, misunderstood, green-skinned witch, Elphaba, who will later become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. At the beginning of the story, Elphaba is sent to boarding school where she meets Glinda (later to become the Good Witch of the North.) Both had dreams of someday working for the Wizard of Oz. Elphaba is constantly made fun of for her green skin and social behavior by all the other kids at her school, but especially by Glinda, who is the “popular” girl. But one night at the school dance, they reconcile and become friends and eventually “best friends.”

Many strange and disturbing things had been going wrong in the Land of Oz. Specifically, animals rights were being taken away and they were slowly losing their ability to speak. When the two witches finally get to meet the Wizard, they want to help. But they find out that the Wizard is to blame for the mysterious happenings! In his desire to please the people of Oz, the Wizard sings,

I’m here
Respected - worshipped, even
Just because the folks in Oz
Needed someone to believe in
Does it surprise you
I got hooked, and all too soon?
What can I say?
I got carried away
And not just by a balloon

The Wizard, in his desire to keep the people happy and unified, gave the people of Oz a common enemy to fight - the animals - though really they were no threat. He offers Elphaba a chance to have power and glory with him because she is the only one who can understand the Grimmerie – the Book of Spells. She is left with a choice to either unify with the Wizard and realize her dreams, or do what is right and oppose him. In friendship, Glinda encourages Elphaba to apologize for Elphaba’s outspokenness for animal rights, so Elphaba can realize her dream to “be with the Wizard.” It is here that the two friends go separate ways as they sing the song, Defying Gravity. Now divided, Glinda goes to be with the Wizard, but Elphaba leaves to save the animals, all alone. At the end of the first act Elphaba triumphantly sings,

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky
As someone told me lately -
Ev’ryone deserves the chance to fly
And if I’m flying solo
At least I’m flying free
To those who’d ground me
Take a message back from me -
Tell them how I
Am defying gravity!
I’m flying high
Defying gravity!
And soon I’ll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

In the second act, the Wizard, now with Glinda at his side, totally twists the truth by spreading rumors and propaganda against Elphaba, saying that she is destroying Oz. Glinda in her desire for glory and power also helps in spreading the propaganda even though she knows it is not true. They even go so far as saying that pure water could melt Elphaba! All of Oz is veiled and turns against Elphaba and that is how she came to be known as wicked – “the Wicked Witch of the West.” However, the truth is Elphaba was the good witch!

To the true disciple, so much of this story should sound familiar. Jesus, like Elphaba, was “…despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3) He was the creator of the universe and the most righteous man ever to live, but people were so “veiled” that they persecuted and even crucified him! The whole world bought into the rumors and propaganda. Even the Sanhedrin, a group of 70 of the most influential Jewish leaders including the high priest, “good men,” were involved in killing him! Seen in these actions is the fulfillment of Isaiah 5:20-23, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness… Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight…who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.”

But it’s not only Jesus who bears so much scorn and hate from “good men.” Jesus tells His disciples that, “all men will hate you because of me.” (Luke 21:17), “…If they persecuted me they will persecute you... for they do not know the One who sent me.” (John 15:19-21) And then again He says, “…the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.” (John 16:2) Yes, even the religious will hate the true disciple! Like, Elphaba, a disciple’s life is under constant criticism and attack, but we must bear up under it, and all too often feeling alone, dare to “defy gravity!”

Sin, anxiety, dissipation, sentimentality and preoccupation are all used by Satan to veil our minds from the truth. But also, like Glinda, we can be veiled because of our selfish ambition and desire for power, glory, money or influence even when we know the truth! These things become too hard to give up and instead of going through the pain to do what is right, we rationalize our wrongdoings, sometimes projecting onto righteous disciples our destructive sin. The world hates sold-out disciples because we refuse to rationalize sin and so our lives testify that, like Jesus tells His brothers, “their deeds are evil!” (John 7:7)

Before being baptized, I was blinded by my religious tradition and religious pride. I saw those like the youth minister who challenged my false doctrine of salvation as the arrogant one. Sin had wreaked havoc on my life, but I couldn’t even see it. But I was lucky. When I was veiled and blind, true disciples came and challenged me, and through love, patience and convictions shown me from the Word, were able to help remove the veil from my eyes. Let us have the same resolve to diligently help all those veiled from seeing the truth because “whenever anyone turns to Lord, the veil is taken away.”
(2 Corinthians 3:16)

Let the pagan world and the religious world scoff at and mock our efforts, whether by labeling us “a destructive cult” or marking us as “sinfully divisive!” Let us, like Elphaba, sacrifice our personal dreams and dream the ultimate dream, to let the whole world hear the good news of Jesus in our generation. Let us “fly high defying gravity!”

DJ Comisford