Some of you may have seen the movie that came out several
years ago called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"(1) the whimsical
retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in Mississippi in 1937. Not a
bad film, but not exactly Academy Award stuff either. The hero
of the piece is a dapper, smooth-talking con man named Ulysses
Everett McGill (played by George Clooney). Everett (he goes by
his middle name) escapes from a chain gang and brings along the
two fellow prisoners chained to him, Pete and Delmar, with the
promise of recovering buried treasure from a heist. In truth, he
wants to get back to his wife and their seven daughters, before
his wife marries another man.
One scene has the three desperados hiding out in the woods,
running from the law. There they encounter a procession of
white-robed faithful going down to the lake to be baptized. As
the ceremony begins, Delmar is overwhelmed by the mystery and
majesty of it all. He runs into the water and is baptized by the
minister. As he returns to his companions, he declares that he
is now saved and "neither God nor man's got nothin' on me now."
He explains that the minister has told him that all his sins have
been washed away. Even, he says, when he stole the pig for which
he had been convicted.
"But you said you were innocent of that," one of his fellow
convicts exclaims.
"I lied," he says, "and that's been washed away too!"
Amen! Yes, that is our understanding of baptism. And that
is why there is some MIS-understanding of the scene from the
gospels that we encounter at the beginning of each year - Jesus'
baptism. Jesus had no sin to be washed away, but he was baptized
anyway. There is an old Eastern Orthodox belief that any two
babies baptized in the same church, on the same day, are as
brother or sister. Perhaps that is the way we should understand
Jesus' baptism. He does not need it for himself, but he does it
to share our humanity, to be our brother. Now let's get on with
our work.
There is indeed something about getting washed clean that
gives a new start and an impetus to get on with the business at
hand. This week, our nation said farewell to a man who may have
understood that better than most, our 38th President, Gerald
Ford.
It was late summer, 1974. America had been struggling with
the quagmire of Vietnam and the political disaster of Watergate.
In August, Richard Nixon resigned the presidency rather than face
certain impeachment and conviction. Gerald Ford, himself
appointed to the office of Vice President less than a year
before, became our nation's leader. In his remarks following his
swearing in, he declared, "Our long national nightmare is over."
But it was not over. There was still palpable anger in the
country over what had occurred, and there seemed to be a thirst
for vengeance on those who had brought us to this point, most
particularly, Richard Nixon. It was ugly.
September 8, 1974. 11:05 AM Sunday morning. President Ford
spoke from the Oval Office and granted Richard Nixon "a full,
free, and absolute pardon" for any crimes he may have committed
while serving as President. The slate was washed clean.
We were not in a very pardoning mood back then. Most of us
were incensed at the idea of Nixon getting off scot free,
incensed at the timing of the announcement with the appearance of
Mr. Ford trying to "sneak it through" while we were off in
church, incensed that this might just be "same ol', same ol',"
Washington with some secret back-room deal having been made to
let the guilty go free. Jerry Ford immediately went from being
the likable Mr. Everyman who made his own breakfast in the White
House to being the central figure in what looked for all the
world like an evil conspiracy. People still remembered it two
years later when they went into the voting booth and elected
Jimmy Carter as President instead of Gerald Ford.
More than thirty-two years have passed now. President Ford
said he did it to help the nation move forward, beyond the
Watergate scandal. He said in his address that day that this "is
an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could
go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have
concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must." And he
did.
They say, "Time heals all wounds," and, in this case, that
is certainly true. Time also brings perspective. I am now
convinced that Gerald Ford's instinct to forgive and move on was
absolutely correct, just as he was right to offer clemency to
Vietnam-era draft evaders and deserters.
Polls show that the majority of Americans now agree. In
2001, President Ford was given the John F. Kennedy Profile in
Courage Award for making that incredibly difficult, and
personally costly, decision. In his acceptance speech, he said
he was "profoundly grateful" for the recognition. Finally, we
had come to understand.
There is something powerful about being washed clean. I
have told you before that my emotions regularly well up as I
perform a baptism. Not because of some warm-fuzzy-isn't-this-a-nice-family picture kind of feeling, but because this is powerful
stuff. This sets someone on a journey that has the potential to
change the world.
In the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" movie, Delmar was not
made perfect by his baptism any more than any of the rest of us
are made perfect by our own. But he was conscious that his
baptism meant a new beginning. Perhaps that is why when the
three of them stole a pie from a kitchen window sill, he went
back later and put a dollar down.
Oprah. One name is all you need to hear and you know who it
is. Oprah is about as successful as anyone these days. TV,
movies, an eponymous magazine, various other huge business
enterprises. My daughter wants to send a copy of my book to her
for her book club. Oprah is fabulously wealthy now and is a
generous philanthropist. Forty miles outside Johannesburg, South
Africa this week, Oprah is opening her new $40-million, 22-acre
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls that will accommodate
152 students to start. She is a public persona and, as such,
regularly the subject of interviews. In one for Newsweek
magazine(2) sometime back, she was asked, "How do you separate
yourself from work?"
Oprah's answer: "I take a hot bath...My bath is my
sanctuary. It's the place where I can wash off all the stuff of
the day." Hmm.
Sounds exactly like what we have been talking about. Washed
clean. Baptism. And now we can get on with life.
Amen!
1. Written & Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, Touchstone Pictures/Universal Pictures,
2000
2. "Oprah on Oprah," 1/8/01
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