The Matrix revisited

Well, actually not the whole film of The Matrix, but just one small scene from it, something that I’ve blogged before, the scene in the dojo where Morpheus tries to raise Neo’s perception of reality by saying, “Stop trying to hit me and hit me!”

This is not just an exercise in raising someone’s consciousness, as a Buddhist might see it. The Matrix (the first movie of three in a series, of which I have chosen to see only the first) provides the viewer with an avalanche of spiritual and metaphysical concepts. What is unique about this film is that it somehow strikes a universal chord in believers or practitioners of many faiths, religions and philosophies. The Wachowski brothers are nothing if they aren’t geniuses when it comes to laying out a multi-dimensional fantasy world which has so many connexions to the real world—not the ‘world of the real’ that Morpheus welcomes Neo to in the ‘desolation scene’ inside the computer. I’ve heard of a Hasidic Jewish boy who on a flight somewhere spent the entire time discoursing to a non-Jewish woman seated next to him (once they’d made acquaintance) how The Matrix reveals and supports the hidden world of Jewish mysticism, the Kabbalah, and the teachings of the Hasidic masters. I’ve read at the blog of an American Buddhist monk studying in South Korea how The Matrix ties into and demonstrates the truths taught by the Buddha. I’ve heard that even in the Orthodox Church, when the first film came out, it was quickly commandeered and put to use in youth Sunday schools in various places as being a metaphor for the Orthodox way of life and spiritual warfare. It is in this last regard that I believe it is most helpful.

Now, back to my topic, the words of Morpheus to Neo in the dojo scene, “Stop trying to hit me and hit me!” In the space of only eight words were spoken a decisive truth about our lives in Christ, not as mere believers but as followers of Jesus.

Did our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ever try to do anything? Or did He just do it? This is the key to understanding these words. No, He didn’t try to preach the good news, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, raise the dead. He didn’t try to die on the Cross, descend into Hades, preach to the souls He found there, or raise them with Him to paradise. He didn’t try to rise from the dead, breathe on His disciples and tell them “Receive the Holy Spirit,” or ascend into the heavens to sit at the right hand of Divine Majesty. No, our Lord Jesus Christ never tried to do anything. And since this is true, why should we?

This idea of “I’ll try to... (you can fill in the blank with anything you wish, just don’t try to!)” has infected all of modern society. It softens the possibility of failure, allows for a gracious rebound after dropping the ball to do something (that most probably one hadn’t the slightest intention of doing anyway). We have all caved into this at some point in our lives, or we’re doing it at this very moment. However, my brothers, this is a simply a beautified disguise for our besetting sin, that built-in law of failure that comes as part of our inheritance in the old Adam.

Christ the Resurrection and the Life, like the movie shadow Morpheus, expects nothing less from us than to do what He commands. He knows nothing of trying. He knows that on our own we will always fall flat on our faces. He knows that we know that He will pick us up and stand us on our feet after every failure, as The Matrix character Trinity commands Neo after he has been killed by a barrage of bullets, “Now, get up!” The command of Christ to us at such moments is even stronger than Trinity’s. All we have to do is follow His instructions and do what He commands.

“Don’t try to... (you can fill in the blank with anything you wish),
just do it!”

Expect the resurrection of the dead, don’t just look for it!
Let your confession be your profession.
Let them call Him your obsession.
Don’t try to follow Jesus,
just follow Him!