When Jack Black Preaches a Sermon

I don’t cry much. Hardly at all, actually. Once a year? Twice if I had an emotional year. So when I do cry, you’ll know that my heart was really touched.

One time I cried at Jack Black. As much as I loved Kung Fu Panda, this wasn’t my favorite Jack Black movie. That honor goes to Shallow Hal. I cried! And I know what you’re thinking. Disbelief. I know this because that’s how everyone feels when I tell them in person. If you don’t remember the movie, Hal (portrayed by Jack Black) was hypnotized to see everyone by his or her inner beauty (or lack thereof). He sees selfish people as ugly, and good-hearted people as handsome or beautiful.

In one scene, Hal is volunteering at a hospital, spending time with children. There is one particular girl, Cadence, which he is particularly fond of. He picks her up in his arms and says, “Hey beautiful.”

Later, in the movie, when Hal’s hypnosis wears off, he is back in the hospital and stopped by a disfigured girl. She says, “Hi Hal.”

“Hi, um, how do you know my name?”

“Its me, Cadence.”

Hal’s eyes scan upward, and he sees the sign ‘Pediatric Burn Unit’. Only then did he realize that this affectionate little girl was a burn victim, utterly unrecognizable with her facial scars. He kneels down to her level and says, “Oh hi, Cadence. How are you beautiful?”

Sniff! Even now, just writing this blog, tears well up in my eyes. I remember one time, I told my friend’s wife that I cried during Shallow Hal, and she made fun of me. Then I reminded her of Cadence’s story, and she replied, “Oh yeah, I cried at that part too…!”

Jesus spoke of this.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

Just as God saw us with worth when we were broken, we are to see the least of these like Cadence as beautiful. The burned, the scarred, the ugly and the abused. Beautiful. Are still hypnotized, and do not see the beauty in the broken. Ask God to heal your eyes, so that you may see the broken as beautiful as God sees them.

So yes. I cried at Jack Black.