A bunch of jackasses running the galaxy? but these are such endearing characters, zany as they are. Talk about a bunch of mis-fits, Guardians of the Galaxy has it all - a thief, two thugs, an assassin and a maniac, as described by the hero himself. But the beauty of it all is the pathos behind the wise-cracks. So whilst you are laughing at them, your heart-strings are tugged along.
How can you not relate to a smart talking raccoon aptly named Rocket who never asked to be "torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some little monster", thanks to something called science, variously insulted as vermin, rat, rodent, hamster....indeed which one of us has not been misunderstood, despised, looked down upon and mocked at one point or another in our lives?
Surely we sympathize with the tough guy who has so much pent-up unresolved anger, bitterness and hate that revenge has become his goal in life. How many of us live refusing or unable to forgive those who have hurt us intentionally or unintentionally, to the detriment of our own souls? We stew in the poisonous juice of a bitter spirit whilst our target walks by blithely unaware and totally not bothered by our pain.
And doesn't your heart feel for a heroine who has never known what it is to dance because she has been raised all her life as a killing machine? What delights we all have missed along the path of life because we only know how to live for our jobs, always in a hurry to climb the ladder of success. The roses we didn't get to smell because we didn't stop long enough, the sun-sets we never saw because we were stuck in the office every day of every week. Our bank account may be full, but life sure ain't much fun.
How not to root for the unlikely hero himself....a trained con who hides his childhood hurt of losing a mother to cancer by playing 80s hits on an antiquated Walkman? (Ok, I admit of course the songs got to me since I am from that era.) I wonder about an absentee alien-father and how bad was it being forcibly abducted and raised by a bunch of renegade crooks? What about our own 'lost' generation...who grow up in seemingly normal but really dysfunctional families, broken homes, moulded by a culture that teaches I, Me and Mine is all that matters?
And who won't be touched by a talking tree named Groot who can only say 3 words (I am Groot) but who demonstrates love so effectively by cocooning up the whole gang with its branches, willing to be blown to pieces itself? 1 life sacrificed to save all. Reminds me straight away of Jesus - supreme love expressed in supreme sacrifice on a cross.
Yes, I laughed at the jokes. But my heart recognized bits of humanity and divinity in them all. That's always how I rate movies - their ability to be real in spite of their being make-believe. Plus of course a handsome hunk and lots of ooh-n-ahh action scenes. Which Guardians deliver up most satisfactorily. Like all movies (and life for that matter) , there's the inevitable fight between good and evil. And of course the world will always look to super-heroes to save the day and planet Earth. Yet what's so refreshingly different about these super-heroes are their perspectives.
When asked "Why would you want to save the galaxy?" the erstwhile hero replies "Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!" Everybody stands up one by one in a gesture of camaraderie, agreeing if they had to, they would die to stop evil from wiping out the universe, because they recognize that though they are all 'losers' in one way or another, they are stuck together as partners and more importantly as friends. So the reluctant raccoon finally hops onto a chair and declares "Well now I'm standing. Happy? We're all standing now. Bunch of jackasses, standing in a circle." Priceless.
They all start out as a motley crew drawn together in a quest for a magic orb which guarantees the holder virtually such great power as to control the entire galaxy. Each is selfishly intent on using the others to get the orb for their own advantage. But they end up united in their willingness to sacrifice their own lives to save the world instead. As Gamora the green-skinned beauty who kills puts it, "I would be grateful to die surrounded by friends." A cause greater than self. That always moves the heart. And what greater cause can there be but to die for the world?
Which is precisely what happened in real life 2000 years ago when Jesus chose to let Himself be hung on the cross of Calvary. Even if objectively speaking the world really doesn't deserve saving. Why should God go to such an extent to save a world that's already so steeped in wilful sin? Why bother about mankind when mankind doesn't want to bother about Him? As it was then, so it is now; we not only don't bother - we insult, deride, mock and reject God. But He still wants to save us. For no reason other than because He loves us.
I can never understand why. There is very little that's 'lovable' about mankind actually, if we care to rate ourselves according to God's standards, whose passing mark for 'good' is nothing less than 100%; even 99.99% still doesn't cut it. Yet, He still loves us despite all of us failing His entrance exam to heaven. He doesn't require us to hunt for a magic orb that will make us numero uno. No self-effort no matter how grandiose can earn us a ticket to get into that most beautiful eternal place called heaven, where the God of the universe makes His abode. Nothing qualifies us to sit at and partake of His never-ending buffet-spread of good and perfect gifts except through and in a certain Name. I call it a pass-word. But unlike most pass-words, this one isn't meant to be the secret of a select few.
This Name above all names is to be shouted out all over the world, so that those who have ears to hear will listen, and those whose hearts are willing, get to receive the love of a faithful Friend who will never leave nor forsake us; even and especially unto death. That's what real friends are about. In fact, Jesus my Friend went one step further than death for me. He resurrected from the grave, like a dead root taken from the fallen Groot sprouted into a new tree.
Likewise so will I be, made alive with the motley crew of mankind who choose to stand trusting that Jesus is worth believing in, because He thinks the world is worth saving, no matter what kind of 'idiots' are living in it...... Is this love or what??
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.. We love because He first loved us" - 1 John 4:10, 19.
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