And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)

I rented this movie not knowing anything about it, really. All I knew was it was about an IRS agent that was looking to change some people's lives, because of something that had happened to him... something he had done. I didn't expect to be so moved.

What I described above is like saying Titanic is a lot like Gilligan's Island. This story has so many connections with Jesus it's amazing. If you haven't watched it already, I would encourage you to watch it, before I spoil everything.

First, as with anything that is like Jesus, there is much that is not. Namely, Jesus didn't die for just "good" people as Ben Thomas (Will Smith's character) did, and Jesus did not do it to atone for his own sins, but for the world's. Jesus did not commit suicide, but willingly gave up his life to murderers like us. There are many more differences, but I wanted to ease your fear by saying I understand Ben Thomas is not a perfect representation of Jesus... obviously, nobody is.

That said, here are some thoughts from Seven Pounds.

One of the people Ben helped heal was a blind man, Woody Harrelson's character. I'm assuming it was Ben's corneas which went to this man so he could finally see (we're not told, exactly). I'm no theologian, but it sure seemed Jesus liked to heal the blind. He is always spitting in people's eyes or touching them so they can see. I believe Jesus was doing this as a symbol for healing spiritual blindness. For sure, he was doing it to help the people see, but the deeper meaning was that healing from our blindness is available. In fact, one of the greatest evangelists who ever lived was healed of his spiritual (even physical, if temporary!) blindness.

Another person that Ben helped was a woman who needed a heart transplant and had a rare blood type. Ben's blood type. In the Bible, the heart is a symbol for a person's being or in many ways their soul. In Jeremiah it says that the heart is desperately wicked. In the very next book of the Bible, Ezekiel, it says that God wants to give us a new non-desperately wicked heart. This is not mentioned once, but twice (chapters 11 and 36).

Jesus was in the business of healing people physically and spiritually. In Luke's account of Jesus' life he opens his ministry with these words, "He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." If you are in need of a new heart, are captive, spiritually blind, and/or oppressed, Jesus came to heal and set you free.

These are amazing parallels, but not the last. The most amazing one to me is at the end of the movie. You know what the newly healed blind person and the new-heart persons did first thing? They found each other and shared an amazing moment that still moves me a few days after seeing the movie. They were brought together on so many levels by Ben's sacrifice for them. I mentioned already both were healed of their ailments. Both were lonely, but not any more. Both were attracted to each other, because of what Ben did and their gratitude to him.

On the surface, this may seem like a simple twist of Hollywood to make a happy ending or contrived love story. But to me it is powerful, because it is so unlike the Christian Church today. Let me explain; Christians, too, ought be drawn to each other. Our Lord gave us new sight and a new heart so we don't have to live weak lives anymore. Our first reaction ought to be to want to meet together, imperfect as we are but sharing one thing in common... Jesus.

I'm sad to say that it is very fashionable to instead bash Jesus' bride and to shy away from committing to a fellowship. We instead lead our Christian lives alone, shunning others to confess Jesus as Lord. It is heart-breaking, really. How inappropriate it would be for the two in the movie to shun each other rather than embrace, to look at each other with disdain instead of eyes full of understanding and love.

As the verse above states, those in the early Church devoted themselves to each other. Christians, shouldn't we do the same?