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

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Sin, Penance and Forgiveness in an Age of Scandal

Sin, Penance and Forgiveness in an Age of Scandal

Last updated on: November 11, 2017 at 10:00 am by Paul Asay

Sin, Penance and Forgiveness in an Age of Scandal 2017-11-11T10:00:57-06:00 Paul Asay

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.

My favorite movie? It might be The Mission.

The 1986 movie unpacks the story of Jesuit missionary Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons), who ministers to South America’s Guarani people and trying to protect them from European slavers. Soon he meets with Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), one of the region’s most notorious slavers, in a prison cell: Mendoza, who murdered his own brother, refuses to see anyone, and he’s slowly starving himself to death.

“For me there is no redemption,” Mendoza says. “No penance great enough.”

“There is,” Gabriel insists. “But do you dare to try it?”

I’ve thought of that scene often over the last several weeks.

It seems like our whole fabric has been shaken by allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by powerful, powerful men. Doctors and politicians have been accused. Scandal has torn down Hollywood moguls and talented actors and, most recently, comedian Louis C.K.

Rightly so.

For far too long, these sexual misdeeds in Hollywood were hidden and excused, heinous acts perpetrated by men with blighted consciences. Ruined careers and public shame and even jail time, where warranted, won’t heal the victims’ wounds. But justice demands some form of recompense, as feeble as it might seem.

Our secular culture, perhaps belatedly, is calling out sin for what it is.

But when these men are brought low, what then? What after? How can they, and we, move on?

I don’t know if the secular culture has a great mechanism for moving on. It’s a passionate creature, raging and vehement at moments, lethargic and forgetful at others. It can be really good at righteous fury: Frankly, for all the flak the Christian Church gets for being judgmental and intolerant, we Christians could learn a thing or two about real, righteous intolerance from our current climate: When priests and pastors commit truly despicable acts on children—the most innocent and vulnerable members of their flocks—with few and feeble consequences from the church at large—that signals to me a Church that’s lost its way.

But at the same time, I think there’s something beautiful, if difficult, about how Christianity deals with sin, an element that the secular world doesn’t really have: A mechanism for forgiveness.

Our faith is predicated on forgiveness. Few of us have committed the sins of a Weinstein or a Spacey, but we all sin. Like my pastor used to say, if a news crew came by and pried open our hearts—if they poked around our hidden deeds and secret desires—they, too, would find a story.

Sometimes, perhaps, we make forgiveness too easy. That’s especially true in my evangelical faith tradition, where we acknowledge so freely our need for forgiveness and God’s boundless willingness to forgive. Yes, we still believe that our sins need to be confessed. But once we turn over our lives to Him, I’ve been taught, we’re family. We can’t be kicked out.

But I think that evangelicals, and frankly the culture at large, can find value in the more Catholic discipline (as I understand it) of confession, repentance and penance.

In The Mission, we see that path play out. Mendoza’s penance is indeed difficult—incredibly so. He joins Gabriel’s trek back to the Guarani, dragging a full suit of armor behind him. If he makes it that far, he’ll need to face the very people he spent his career enslaving. They will decide what will be done.

“Father, he’s done this penance long enough,” Father Fielding (played by a young Liam Neeson) says shortly before the scene above.

“But he doesn’t think so, John,” Gabriel tells him. “Until he does, neither do I.”

The completion of Mendoza’s penance makes for one of cinema’s most moving moments.

When it comes to moving past sin, we need to confess. We need to repent. And sometimes, I think we need penance. Not because God needs it: Because we do.

It’s hard to confess sin. Producer Harvey Weinstein’s initial confession felt like a half-measure to many, admitting to some misdeeds while laying the blame on the age he grew up in. If the allegations are true against a certain Alabama politician—a man whose support hinges largely on his “Christian character”—he refuses to take responsibility at all.

But for whatever his other faults, Louis C.K. understands confession. “These stories are true,” he said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. ” … The hardest regret to live with is what you’ve done to hurt someone else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought on them.”

I don’t know what contrition and repentance should look like for Louis C.K., or for any of these men. I don’t know what penance looks like. And should he, and they, reach a point where they can be “forgiven” for their acts, I don’t know if that means they can or should return to their careers. The Christian concept of restoration is about a person’s life, not livelihood.

But I do believe that the way forward—for them, for their victims, for us—is centered in the difficult, painful path of forgiveness.

Not everyone will get there. Not everyone can. But I’m not sure if anyone can truly heal without it.

Previous Post

November 10, 2017

A Spoiler-Free Look at What Murder on the Orient Express Gets Right, and Wrong, About Faith

Next Post

November 14, 2017 Dickens Didn't 'Invent' Christmas. But Here Are Three Ways He Changed It.

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Gospel emphasizes Jesus as the Son of God?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Matthew Mark John Luke

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »