The three central characters in Hunchback… are Esmeralda who is a
gorgeous, yet poor and marginalized Gypsy “street dancer”; Judge Claude Frollo who
is an exceedingly self-righteous secular judge; and Quasimodo, the
bell-ringer at the Cathedral of Notre Dame who was born with hideous physical
deformities.
The story is driven by two conflicts.
First, Judge Frollo has an extreme prejudice against all gypsies,
including Esmeralda. Frollo believes
that gypsies are impure and evil heathens who should all be exterminated. Frollo
believes that gypsies should be avoided at all costs because they will tempt
and contaminate the pure, faithful French nationals. Although Quasimodo has grown up under Frollo’s
tutelage, he learns to look beyond Frollo’s prejudice and come to see that gypsies—represented
by Esmeralda—are also “children of God.”
In the Bible, there is a story of
Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a village well. (See John 4: 7-30.) The antagonism between Jesus, who was a Jew,
and the woman from Samaria parallels the antagonism between Frollo, a French
national, and Esmeralda, a Gypsy. Although
both Jews and Samaritans shared a similar faith and similar sacred texts, they
disagreed bitterly over how to interpret God’s Holy Word and the implications
of that interpretation for how they lived their lives. For the Samaritans, Mt. Gerizim should be the
center of worship, whereas for the Jews the center of worship was the Temple in
Jerusalem.
The animosity between Jews and
Samaritans was so great that the fear
of becoming ritually impure meant Jews avoided all social contact with Samaritans, even simply talking. In the
Gospel story, Jesus looks beyond the differences dividing Jews and Samaritans
and sees that the Samaritan woman is also a child of God. He asks her for a drink from the well. The Samaritan woman is perplexed. She does not understand why a Jewish man
would contaminate himself by speaking with a Samaritan or by drinking from a
vessel belonging to someone who is ritually unclean.
So, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus, “‘How
is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’”
Jesus' response to her is completely
unexpected. He says, ‘If you knew the
gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “’Give me a drink.” You would
have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” The woman from Samaria is incredulous: How is a man who does not even possess a
bucket able to give “living water”?
Jesus elaborates: “‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be
thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will
never be thirsty. The water that I will
give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’”
Again, the woman at the well
misunderstands what Jesus is saying. She
thinks that he possesses a “living water,” which will quench her
physical thirst forever. So, she asks
Jesus, “‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to
keep coming here to draw water.’”
Of course, Jesus is not speaking of “living
water” that permanently quenches humans’ physical thirst. Instead, Jesus is speaking metaphorically of
a “living water” that heals us and sustains us to eternal life as part of God’s
new creation. There is quite a
difference between physical water and eternal, living water. There is incredible irony in this story. The Samaritan woman has her heart set on
physical water that will quench her physical thirst and make her life
more convenient. Yet, Jesus is offering a “living
water” that will nourish her to eternal life.
The Samaritan woman has grossly underestimated the gift that Jesus
offers her.
Yet, just as the Samaritan woman at
the well, most of us contemporary Christians trivialize and undervalue the gift
that Jesus offers us. Instead of
focusing on being faithful disciples of Christ and the promise of eternal life,
we focus on more everyday requests that will make our current situation more
convenient, but which are trivial in comparison to the promise of eternal life.
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmeralda seeks political asylum from
Frollo in the Cathedral. As she is
walking through the church, she encounters the “faithful” who are saying their
prayers. With the encouragement of the
Archdeacon, Esmeralda begins to pray as well.
In a song, “God Help the Outcasts,” the prayers of the faithful versus the
prayers of Esmeralda are intertwined in a way that dramatically underscores how
diametrically opposed they are.
On the one hand, the “faithful” pray
for things that will make their lives more convenient:
“I ask for
wealth, I ask for fame
I ask for glory to rise on my name
I ask for all I can possess
I ask for God and the angels to bless me”
I ask for glory to rise on my name
I ask for all I can possess
I ask for God and the angels to bless me”
By
contrast, Esmeralda does not pray for herself, but for those in need:
“I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
God help the outcasts
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God”[i]
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
God help the outcasts
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God”[i]
Esmeralda does not undervalue how powerful God
is, nor what God can give to those who ask.
By
the end of her conversation with Jesus, the woman from Samaria has finally
realized that Jesus is using the metaphor of “living water” to talk about
eternal life, rather than physical water.
As she realizes this, she leaves her water jar at the well and goes to
invite all of the villagers to “come and see” Jesus. The Samaritan woman is open to the
possibility that Jesus may indeed be the Messiah. For the Gospel writer, John, there is deep
irony here. Many of the Jews--who are God’s specially chosen
people--have closed themselves off to Jesus and rejected his “living water.” Whereas, it
is the ritually impure Samaritan woman who is open to Jesus and invites all of
her friends and family to “come and see.”
Early
in the film, Hunchback…, Frollo tells
Quasimodo that he should always stay within
the safe walls of the church. Isn’t that
true of many church people today? Aren’t
many Christians happy to stay within the safe walls of the church, praying that
God will give us a convenient life, with all of our physical needs met?
But,
that is not what God calls us to do and be as faithful disciples of Christ. No.
Instead, God calls us to move out beyond the safe walls of our churches. God calls us to reach out and touch the
unclean as Jesus did, when he asked the Samaritan woman for water—or, to kiss
the disfigured, as Esmeralda does with Quasimodo. Christians who have truly tasted the living
water of Jesus no longer worry about “convenient lives,” but they are concerned
to help the “poor and downtrod.”
Christians who have truly tasted the living water of Jesus do not have
their thirst quenched. Instead, they
want to drink even more of Jesus' living water because in the drinking of that
water, we grow closer to God.
Come, join us this Sunday, June 29th , as we explore what it means as a
people of faith to live and minister beyond the safe walls of our church--and to drink the living water offered by Jesus. Our church is located at the corner of
Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.
Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings. We will also watch and discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame on Sunday
afternoon, beginning at 5 pm.
Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
[i]
“God Help the Outcasts” from The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, Walt Disney Pictures, released 21 June 1996. Lyrics obtained at http://www.songlyrics.com/disney/god-help-the-outcasts-lyrics/,
accessed 26 June 2014.
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