Watch It Again | Bloodline

Norman Maclean once wrote, “The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself.”

A couple of weeks ago, we began for the very first time a brand new series only for the 5pm called “What It Again” based entirely upon the most popular and most influential Netflix series among youth and young adults.

We began with 2 weeks on the Netflix phenomenon, 13 Reasons Why, which garnered more than 100 million viewers based on the premise of a teenage girl who committed suicide and left behind cassette tapes implicating her peers on 13 reasons why she ended her life.

If you missed the prior two messages from the 5pm, then let me encourage you to download the Christ Journey App from any app store on your mobile device, open it, click on the Messages tab, and then click on the message that you missed.

Stories help us find ourselves - they help us rethink our worldview, resolve conflict, develop empathy - and stories can help us do this at any given age and stage of life.

As of the last 5 years with the debut of House of Cards in 2013, the most popular and influential stories shaping our lives as individuals and our society as a whole have been hosted by Netflix.

The viewership between Netflix and other streaming services, such as YouTube, versus cable is increasing dramatically, especially among older adults. 92% of teenagers and 87% of young adults have access to a Netflix membership, while in the last two years, streaming memberships among adults in their 40s and 50s has increased by 20%.

Overall, the way our society consumes stories is changing, which beckons the church to ask the question over and again: How does the Good News of Jesus Christ intersect with the popular stories of our culture?This series is designed to help you do just that, as we apply this question to the most popular visual novels of our day.

We’re calling this series “Watch It Again,” because after we discuss these shows, I want to encourage all of you to watch these shows again - or for the first time - but this time, with the mind of Christ.

For we believe that all truth is God’s truth, but not all truth is saving truth, so how may we as a church not respond with fear to these stories, especially those that raise up difficult or even taboo issues, but instead, how might we engage these stories and help others identify their truth into God’s truth about us?

We’re here at the 5pm so that our church can Help young adults and young families live for God’s Kingdom.

Because "Today is a day of Good News” 2 Kings 7:9, and we must share it with everyone.

Today, we will be asking this question of the series, Bloodline, next week will be Stranger Things, and then the final week, our good friend, Andrew Ling, will discuss Lost in Space.

Last week, after the 5pm ended, a friend of mine, observed that each one of the shows featured in this series are dark expressions of our broken, human condition, and I agreed.

I don’t recommend these shows lightly; in fact, I don’t recommend Bloodline for those struggling with family of origin issues and depression. Your health and well-being matters more than a TV show.

The most popular stories right now plunge us into dark places, and hundreds of millions of us identify with those dark places. Why?

I think because most people can identify with the grim, broken reality posed by these shows. Most of us can’t identify with Superman or with characters who represent pure goodness, but I think many of us can identify with anti-heroes, such as Peter Quill or Clay Jensen or this week’s character, John Rayburn.

These characters are the protagonist, the leading characters. They’re trying to resolve a conflict or reconcile something broken, but they are doing so as broken pieces, themselves, complicated and conflicted.

That sounds more like us. The advent of the anti-hero arose as a prominent figure in story at the turn of the 2000s, and has only continued to dominate story because everybody can identify with the anti-hero.

These shows, including Bloodline, are dark shows, no doubt about it. And though they are extreme and push the bounds more than what most people probably do during their lifetime, I think most of us can identify with the core issues and conflicts with which the characters in these stories deal. All of us fall short, feel broken and imperfect.

There, in those places, at the broken pieces, Jesus meets us and desires to make us whole.

God didn’t forsake us to live amidst our broken pieces alone left to figure how to fix it. And while some believe that God is the culprit for our broken pieces; in fact, God demonstrated the opposite through the work of Jesus on the cross. God intends to restore every broken piece... ever broken.

“Bloodline” shows us how our good intentions can still break pieces. If you haven’t seen this show, then take a look at this preview:

SHOW PREVIEW -

The premise of the series chronicles the dysfunction, and the ultimate demise, of the Rayburn family, when the oldest son, Danny Rayburn, returns home for the 45th anniversary of his parents’ Islamorada hotel.

Leaving his past behind in Miami - of all places - he returns home for a fresh start, assuring his family, his two parents and three younger siblings, that he gave up his former criminal ways. He wants to come home, help with the hotel and reconcile his family debts. In a conversation with his younger brother, John, the second oldest of the family and the next in line to lead the family after his Father passes, Danny asks for John’s permission to come home.

So, John speaks with his father, who doesn’t believe his oldest son has changed his ways. But he believes in his other 3 children, so he leaves the decision in their hands to receive Danny home.

That evening, they discuss how to decide what to do. Take a look…

PLAY SCENE 1

John and Meg believe that Danny can change, and so does his mother, who always shows empathy for Danny, even believing in Danny when no one else would.

Kevin and his father, on the other hand, don’t believe any good can come from Danny’s return. He is who he is. As Kevin said, “People can change, but not him.”

Stuck in the middle is John.

Now, at the exact same time this conversation is taking place between the siblings, their brother, Danny, is neck deep in a drug binger with his childhood friend, Eric O’Bannon, who is bashing the Rayburn family and trying to convince Danny to leave them and join his criminal enterprise for some easy cash.

What a juxtaposition. Can Danny change? Some think not, and they may be right.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, John sticks his neck out for Danny. Take a look…

PLAY SCENE 2

"You don’t give up on family,” John says, which ironically, becomes a statement that never comes true for the Rayburn family, even as they all seemingly fight for one another.

“You don’t give up on family,” but in the end, all of them do.

The next morning, after Danny’s binger, he wakes up on their family pier, nude, hungover, and ashamed in front of all of his family’s guests.

His mother’s ashamed. His father’s ashamed. His brother and sister are ashamed. And John’s ashamed.

John's inner-conflict is palpable. It’s like a train wreck in slow motion. John just can’t let Danny go for reasons we come to discover later in the series. John feels indebted to Danny. But more than indebtedness, John loves Danny. They’re brothers.

Yet, thinking as a Detective, John realizes that his brother, Kevin, is right. Some people can change, but not Danny.

And so the question then becomes, how should brotherly love respond? The decision to welcome Danny home is essentially John’s. Does brotherly love keep no records of wrong and welcome home the prodigal son, or does brotherly love speak truth and find help? Or, is there another way? Take a look at how John responds…

PLAY SCENE 3

John does neither. Instead, John lies. He neither welcomes Danny home, nor offers the truth to Danny about how his destructive behavior creates tension and destruction among his family and others. Instead, John chose Door number 3, blame-shifted to his father, and took the easy way out with Danny.

John did wrong, but I feel for him. I even feel for Danny because these guys represent all of us. This show is dark and complicated, but it’s us, right?

Can we get honest for a moment?

I think all of us have stood in John’s position and lied to find an easy way out of a difficult circumstance, haven’t we?

I think all of us have stood in Danny’s position and felt ashamed for our behavior.

All of us have fallen short and taken the easy way out, all of us have felt ashamed, including one of the leading men in the history of the Old Testament, a man named David.

According to the history about this man, he was a tall, dark, and handsome warrior, who courageously battled, expressed his heart through poetry and song, and humbly served under his God and his King named Saul.

After one of the many battles that David fought alongside of King Saul, a chorus of women crowded in the streets to greet King Saul, and sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 1 Samuel 18:7.

Well, as you might imagine, that particular song didn’t sit too well with King Saul. He got jealous of David and soon started a plot to rid David from any women ever giving him praise again, a plot to kill David.

Yet, always with integrity and full of character, David tried to remain with King Saul, even knowing how King Saul felt about David and what King Saul wanted to do to him. Eventually, however, David fled from King Saul without any kind of food or protection to save his own life.

On the run, David formulated a plan to get what he needed to escape King Saul. He decided to visit one of the leading priests of Israel at that time named Ahimelech, who could provide him with food and a weapon. Yet, listen carefully for how David explains why he needs these items:

“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”

“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”

Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.

David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”

1 Samuel 21:1-10

I counted 5 lies told by David in this interaction, revealing that even honest men and women with strong integrity fall short and make unwise, untruthful decisions.

In the end, these 5 seemingly small lies, which some might even justify as ethical because David used them to escape from a man who wanted kill him, these lies in actuality resulted in terrible damage.

That man, Doeg, you heard about, that man with a funny name who serves as King Saul’s chief herdsman, Doeg overheard David's conversation with Ahimelech and immediate tattled to King Saul everything he overheard about that conversation.

How do you think an already jealous, paranoid, and angry King Saul heard those lies?

As a conspiracy against him, between David and Ahimelech, so now King Saul's anger burned not just for David, but now for the entire house of Ahimelech, because David lied about his circumstances.

King Saul and his men, including Doeg, confronted Ahimelech and sentenced to death all of Ahimelech and his household, along with every other priest and their households.

Though when King Saul gave the order of execution, his men refused to kill them because they obviously had done no wrong.

Doeg, however, in order to impress King Saul, carried out the death sentence against and hundreds died that day - all because David lied about his circumstances.

Why did David lie? Perhaps to save face in front of Ahimelech, a respected priest? Perhaps thinking he could escape quicker? Perhaps thinking that he didn’t want to involve Ahimelech? Yet, the irony is that David's lie involved everyone of these men and resulted in their death.

What we think are just minor indiscretions can have devastating affects on the lives of others, especially those closest to us.

David’s son, Solomon, who knew this history about his Father, wrote the book of Proverbs, containing wisdom about life, saying:

There are six things the Lord hates—

no, seven things he detests:

17 haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that kill the innocent,

18 a heart that plots evil,

feet that race to do wrong,

19 a false witness who pours out lies,

a person who sows discord in a family.

Proverbs 6:16-19

God hates lying, but a different way to say the same thing is God loves truth. God lives on the side of truth, embodying truth through his Son, Jesus, who said:

“You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

A few chapters later, the Apostle John recorded Jesus also saying:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Because God lives on the side of truth. Jesus embodied truth, and those who place their trust in Jesus, live into the truth.

Quite the opposite for the Rayburn family. They chose lying and deceit, even small and seemingly unsubstantial lying and deceit, but nonetheless, lying and deceit that eventually resulted in major consequences. Take a look…

SCENE 4 -

What started as John Rayburn's blame shifting resulted in their brother’s death. At least once in every episode, I shouted, “Just tell the truth!” Each of them wanted to do so at some point along their destructive path, but they feared whatever consequence might come their way.

And don’t we all?! Fear creeps on us and steals, kills, and destroys all of that which God promised to give to us: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Fear tempts us away from satisfaction and into self-preservation in the same way that it did for the Rayburn family.

Yet, James, the brother of Jesus says of temptation:

"God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death." James 1:12-15

So what is the anecdote? James gives it to us at the end of his letter:

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16

The anecdote is honest, truthful speak. James’ idea of confession isn’t about a priest hidden in a booth. It’s about honest, truthful speak with a trusted friend who can listen, pray, provide feedback, and remind you of the one to whom you belong.

Confession is like good medicine the soul. Fear says that confession leads to shame, but that itself it a lie. Confession leads to forgiveness and restoration from the cancerous junk that gnaws on your soul.

The truth will set you free, even if telling the truth leads to consequences. I knew a young man who once confessed his sin against another person and incurred great consequence for doing so, but he said to me that even in the pain of consequence, he had never felt more free.

Friends, the Rayburn family shows us how lying ends. David showed us how lying ends. It steals, kills, and destroys from everyone.

As a result of David’s lie, he hid in a cave filled with other discontent men for the next 4 years of his life in order to hide from King Saul. Yet, during that time, David wrote some of his greatest Psalms and those men in the cave later became his greatest warriors during David’s reign as King.

Friends, God's in the redemption business. This week, for your sake, for freedom’s sake, get honest. Confess what needs healing and take responsibility for making those wrongs, right. Find a trusted a friend, someone who won’t shame you for telling the truth, but support you for doing so. On the card you received as you walked-in tonight, write down the names of those who need you to reconcile with them. Your freedom and theirs is on the other side of that conversation. You know what conversation needs to happen, do do it. And as you right those wrongs this week, be prepared to receive God’s good grace and mercy come upon your life right then, as it is in Heaven.

To our truthful and trustworthy, Heavenly Father...

1. Norman Maclean wrote, “The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself.”

2. How does the Good News of Jesus Christ intersect with the popular stories of our culture?

3. Help young adults and young families live for God’s Kingdom.

4. "Today is a day of Good News” 2 Kings 7:9

5. SHOW PREVIEW -

6. PLAY SCENE 1

7. PLAY SCENE 2

8. PLAY SCENE 3

9. “The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”

“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”

Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the Lord.

David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”

1 Samuel 21:1-10

10. There are six things the Lord hates—

no, seven things he detests:

haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that kill the innocent,

a heart that plots evil,

feet that race to do wrong,

a false witness who pours out lies,

a person who sows discord in a family.

Proverbs 6:16-19

11. “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

12. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

13. SCENE 4 -

14. "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death." James 1:12-15

15. "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." James 5:16