December 11th, Advent Day 15
What hidden truths might become apparent this year, as we watch, wait, and look for the coming, once again, of our Lord?
Many years ago, a friend took me to see “Wicked,” which was then a brand-new musical playing at the gorgeous Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta. The show tells the other side of the story of Elphaba, whom I knew from my childhood as “The Wicked Witch of the West.”
I thought I knew everything I needed to know about her. So many years in a row, the three little Grace girls sat in front of our tiny black and white TV watching the annual showing of “The Wizard of Oz.” (It was many years before we got a color TV and learned that only the first part of that movie was in black and white!) Every time, along with my sisters, I worried about Dorothy who was being unfairly tormented by that green-faced witch. We all cheered heartily when the witch was undone by a mistake – a bucket of water tossed over her…which caused her to literally melt away to death.
Imagine my surprise at learning “the untold story” as the play claims to tell. The evil witch in one story ends up to be a young girl who was discriminated against because of the color of her skin; a young woman who was an activist on behalf of others; who decides to stand up to The Wizard, who is actually a devious and evil potentate, because he had taken away the rights of animals (superior beings who can talk and teach and lead in Oz) and had placed the Munchkins under house arrest. The woman I had judged as malevolent, murderous, and worthy to be slain, was in fact, a sister, a friend, and probably, if she had been a real person, would have been someone I admired and wanted to be just like!
The effect of this play on me was substantial. Although, of course, both versions of this fable were made up to entertain children, the moral did not escape me. “How could I have been so wrong?” I actually thought to myself. “How could I have not known or asked about both sides of the story?” I wondered about other judgements I had made in my life – about people, about the truth of something; about life, itself.
I learned a lesson sitting in that lovely theater that night. The play was a cautionary tale for me and invitation to stop, listen and look again when I was tempted to jump to a conclusion or form an opinion of someone at first glance.
Advent is that kind of season – a time each year when we are invited to look and listen again, to the ancient story of the coming of Jesus. To look again especially at Jesus, another misunderstood activist, who urged us to look again, judge not and see beyond the surface to the hidden stories of others. What hidden truths might become apparent this year, as we watch, wait, and look for the coming, once again, of our Lord?