Sunday Matinee #119 Run Lola Run
Lola runs. Simon Peter runs. Do WE run to resurrection?
Luke 24:1-12 | EnterTheBible.org
Easter Sunday | 04.20.2025
Context: He is risen, indeed! Jesus is resurrected, though no one knows it yet. His friends went to the tomb and learned he is still alive, but when these women tell the men, they don’t believe them. But one man runs off to see for himself.
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) | 1998
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Lola (Franka Potente) gets a disturbing call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). He lost a mobster’s money and if he doesn’t get it back he’s dead. She has twenty minutes to figure out what to do. She thinks of where to get the money and then… she runs.
Commentary:
Toward the end of his epic “Song of Myself,” poet Walt Whitman writes a wonderful verse that I think of quite often: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” I think about that with Simon Peter. In one gospel story, he is the most attentive and receptive of the disciples, understanding exactly what Jesus is trying to do. In the next, he is the first to blunder his way into misinterpretation or fearful hesitancy. Back and forth goes this young person, all the while we read of his life and shake our heads at poor Peter, as if we don’t do the same thing in our own lives.
Simon Peter figuratively ran away from Jesus in the midst of his trial. Jesus told him you will deny me. No way, he said, I’d never do that! But he did. Three times. And he wept when Jesus was right. All of us have wanted to believe that when things get tough, we’d run toward the right thing to do. But I also think that if we were completely honest with ourselves, all of us - yes, all of us - have run away when something got too tough to do the right thing. It happens. All we can do is try to run toward doing the right thing the next time. Maybe that’s what Peter is doing here.
While he and his buddies don’t believe women (draw your own modern parallel on that one…), there is something in their so-called “idle tale” that compels him to follow-up. He has run away from Jesus, from the right thing to do. Here, he runs toward Jesus, toward bravery, toward a hopeful truth. What will he find? He really doesn’t know. But he longs to find all three. That’s what running forward is all about.
It’s not easy to find official clips of Run Lola Run online and even the clips I can find and included with this Sunday Matinee are ultimately lacking for this venue because they lack subtitles, HD clarity, and/or the precise moments I’m looking to show you. Instead, I suggest you find the right streaming platform on Justwatch, gift yourself 81 minutes for a $3.99 digital rental and give it a spin.
Lola runs toward what she hopes is the right thing to do. She wants to stop Manni from doing the wrong thing, from robbing a store to get the money (if only she’d stopped him from throwing in with these kill-you-for-the-money baddies in the first place). We see her run - and run and run - with bravery and hope. What will she find? She really doesn’t know. But she longs to find a way forward for Manni and for their relationship.
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt in German, because this is German cinema) is far too fun to spoil with the results of the running and running and running. Instead, I’ll say that like Simon Peter’s run, both stories are about hearing unbelievable news and responding to it with hope. Both of these young people’s running stories are about potential, possibility, and passion. Simon Peter ran away during what is often called “the Passion narrative” of Jesus’s trial, torture, and murder. Now he runs with passion for the hope of resurrection. Lola didn’t tell Manni to run away from these mobster types. Now she runs with passion for the hope of salvation. Jesus isn’t Peter’s responsibility and Manni certainly isn’t Lola’s. I do delight that, however, that they both feel far too connected to the one they love to do nothing. Instead, they do the very opposite of nothing: run.
Run toward resurrection. Run toward new life and bravery and hopeful truth. Run with potential, possibility, and passion. Run toward the right thing to do because far too many run the opposite direction.
And as both Simon Peter and Lola teach us: it’s never too late to run. To try again. To contradict yourself. To be large and contain multitudes, including that part of you who knows life conquers death, kindness kills hate, and running overcomes apathy. That is Easter! Run to it!
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