What did the Israelites put on their doorposts during Passover?

Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Dude Abides

Home
Progressive Christian

Last updated on: June 8, 2007 at 2:22 pm by Cathleen Falsani

2007-06-08T14:22:00-07:00 Cathleen Falsani

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

GODSTUFF

TONY SOPRANO: HERE’S WHERE THE STORY ENDS

Tony Soprano has 61 minutes left to find redemption.

When the head of the Soprano crime family lay down in an unmade bed alone at the end of last week’s penultimate episode of “The Sopranos,” with an assault rifle across his chest, ostensibly waiting for his executioner to come through the door and wrest him from his (mortal) reverie, perhaps it was already too late.

Judgment Day is nigh for Tony as the modern-day morality play in which he stars as leading man draws to a close after eight years, six seasons and 86 episodes.

All that is left to be resolved, essentially, is whether his story ends with justice, mercy or grace.

That is really what we want to know about ourselves, isn’t it? How our stories will end, whether we’ll be forgiven, condemned, punished or transformed?

As Tony drifted off into what promised to be a dark night of the soul at the end of last Sunday’s episode, a haunting instrumental version of the Tindersticks’ song “Running Wild” began to play.

Music always functions as a kind of Greek chorus on “The Sopranos,” and the song that plays as the credits begin to roll often is a harbinger.

Had the words of the Tindersticks’ song been sung, we would have heard the vocalist mournfully intone, “Running wild through my mind that I can’t sleep tonight/Like a child, like a child I have no place to hide/Running wild, is there no ending. . . . The underside, the underside of my mind/There’ s a cry that I can’t even reach out/There’s a fire, do you feel that, too?/Running through my mind.”

Standing at the gates of hell, Tony has nowhere to run, no place to turn, except inward, face-to-face with his immortal soul.

It’s not the first time — Tony has been analyzed, beaten, shot, nearly died and, most recently, gone on a psychedelic-mushroom-induced spiritual journey — but it surely will be the last. A few episodes ago, as the sun rose over a canyon in the Nevada desert, Tony, on his psychedelic trip, raised his arms to the sky and shouted, “I get it!”

What “it” was has yet to be revealed. Tony yearns to know what the meaning of life is, that much is certain.

“He is a physical portrait of the war that wages in the deep parts of all mankind, the great battle of redemptive good and despairing evil,” Chris Seay wrote in his 2002 televisual exegesis The Gospel According to Tony Soprano.

Seay, founding pastor of Ecclesia Church in Houston, calls Tony Soprano the “neo-Solomon from New Jersey,” comparing the mobster to the biblical King Solomon, a man whose mortal story was even more complicated than the Mafioso’s.

According to Hebrew scripture, King Solomon was the son of King David and Bathsheba. He is renowned as much for his decadence — he had 700 wives, 300 mistresses and unimaginable wealth — as he is for his great wisdom and accomplishments (such as building the first temple in Jerusalem.)

“Tony, like his biblical counterpart, is overwhelmed with a sense of meaninglessness. He has accumulated great wealth and power, yet feels poor and weak. . . . He denies himself nothing, yet continues to live in emptiness and despair,” Seay wrote.

In Ecclesiastes, one of the biblical books attributed to King Solomon, the author expresses his frustration with the human condition.

“It is never enough and that dream of being completely fulfilled now seems pointless; it is fleeting. Tony senses this and agrees with Solomon. ‘I’m like King Midas in reverse. Everything I touch turns to shit,’ ” Seay explains. “The conclusion of Solomon’s journey is that life would be better if man would honor God and obey his teaching. This is a conclusion Tony Soprano has not reached, but is unmistakably journeying toward.”

It’s too late for Tony to undo anything he has done. It’s too late for him to right wrongs, make amends, start again. He’s out of second chances, it would seem.

I’m enough of a rabid Sopranos fan to know it’s as unlikely for a priest offering absolution — particularly Carmela Soprano’s lecherous padre from a few seasons ago — to walk through Tony’s door on Sunday as it is for an angel (unless it’s the Angel of Death) to stroll into the room.

But someone will come knocking.

Maybe Tony will open the door of his heart and ask for forgiveness, as Solomon’s father, King David, did in Psalm 51 when he prayed, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Or maybe he’ll open fire with the AR-10 before finding out who’s on the other side.

Most people would scoff at the idea that someone as morally reprehensible as Tony Soprano could be forgiven. Even further from our grasp is the notion that all he would have to do is to ask.

That makes no sense to our human minds. We’re hard-wired to seek justice (or our limited idea of what that means) and occasionally dole out mercy.

Grace is another story.

It exists outside of sense, reason or karma, maddeningly insisting that 61 minutes is more than enough time to be saved.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE to read a rare and revealing interview with James Gandolfini posted today on CNN.com.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 6, 2007

Next Post

June 8, 2007

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A little happy ARCHIVED COLUMNS BECOMING FAMILY BelieberNess BREAKING NEWS! Disquiet Time DJ JEFF'S SPINTASMS falsani FILM from OCRegister From Sojo.net God Nods GODSTUFF I Take Requests incubatespirit LURKING IN THE NARTHEX On My Nightstand ONEMOMS Polling the Room PONTIFEXCELLENT Thru My Eyes TWO CENTS Uncategorized Upcoming Events VASCO VASCO'S HEART

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 April 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 October 2003 March 2003 December 2002 October 2002 January 2001

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites put on their doorposts during Passover?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Incense Lamb’s blood Olive oil Gold dust