“Wish I had never met you Doctor, I was much better off as a coward.” These words were spoken by Captain Jack as he went to face his death. For those unfamiliar with what I am talking about, this scene occurred at the end of season 1 (of the new seasons) of a show called Dr. Who. The Doctor (that is his name) and his associate Rose travel through time and space encountering aliens and solving problems. The above scene occurs as the Doctor’s mortal enemies, the Daleks are about conquer the earth and then go on to attempt to destroy the universe. Jack dies trying to give the Doctor enough time to save everyone. The Doctor has a plan, but in order to destroy the Daleks, he would have to destroy every living thing on earth as well. The human race would still survive since there are human colonies on other planets, but billions of innocent lives would still be lost. Does he save the universe at the cost of a few billion lives? No. In the end he can’t do it. The biggest reason is that the Doctor loves the human race (he isn’t human). In spite of all the knuckle headed decisions we make, he still believes in us. He has seen all of human history with his time machine and knows that it will turn out good in the end. He believes in humanity’s ability to overcome any obstacle and bounce back. In the end he would rather die than become a killer himself. It is not unlike God’s view of humanity. I laugh at Jack’s parting line, because at times it has seemed so applicable in my life towards God. I can see myself saying “I wish I had never met you Lord, I was much better off as a coward.” I wouldn’t really mean it any more than Jack did. When Jack met the Doctor, he was a con artist. The Doctor ended up saving his life and invited Jack to join him on his journey through space and time. Jack turned from being a selfish con artist into a valuable member of the team due to the Doctor’s influence in his life. The Doctor has that effect on people throughout the series. When he shows up people change for the better. Again, not unlike Christ. A constant story of salvation and change. When we meet the Lord, and I mean really meet Him, our lives are changed forever. We can be like certain characters and try to pretend that nothing ever happened, but we can only lie to ourselves for so long. In the end we are forced to come to grips with the fact that we are no longer who we were before. If we choose to embrace what Christ offers we may one day wonder if we were, in fact, better off as cowards. As we run forward to lay down our lives for a cause greater than ourselves we will know that that is not really true. To live a noble and virtuous life is not always easy, but it is always worth it. This Gaudete Sunday don’t forget to rejoice. Christ not only loves you, but He believes in you. He knows that each one of us has what it takes if we will only trust in Him. We are never alone, even in death.
