Sunday Matinee #122 The Contender
A Washington DC "scandal" that feels tame 25 years later!
John 10:22-30 | EnterTheBible.org
Fourth Sunday of Easter | 05.11.2025
Context: In the midst of performing miracles and proclaiming identity, Jesus once again comes across those who question him. Here, the crowds want to hear if he will plainly proclaim himself the Messiah. And if so, they are ready to stone him at such a proclamation. Who will listen to who?
22 At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the crowds gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Lord’s name testify to me, 26 but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”
The Contender | 2000
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges in an Oscar-nominated role) seeks confirmation of his nominee for Vice President, Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen in an Oscar-nominated role). One person stands in the way: Senator Shelly Runyon, who will give her anything but an easy hearing. Relying on rumors of her college sex life to bring down her nomination, the pair have lunch and size each other up.
Sen. Shelly Runyon: What do you have to say for yourself?
Sen. Laine Hanson: With all due respect… um, Senator… It doesn't matter what I have to say for myself.
Runyon: Oh, it doesn't?
Hanson: It seems to me, Mr. Chairman, all you can claim about me— claim, is that I had sex—
Runyon: Deviant sex.
Hanson: Who says it was deviant?
Runyon: I do. And what I say, the people will believe. And you know why? Because I'll have a very big microphone in front of me.
Hanson: Wow, you must really hate me, Shelly.
Runyon: I don't hate you. It's not possible to hate you. You're… What the hell was it that Reynolds called you the other day? ‘Groovy.’ You're a ‘groovy’ chick. No, what I, um, do detest is your selfishness.
Hanson: I have served this nation without regard for personal income for over ten years.
Runyon: You are selfish because you want to take on a job that positions you to assume… a mantle of gigantic responsibility… and you do it full well with the knowledge—
Hanson: Of what? What?
Runyon: Greatness is the orphan of urgency, Laine. Greatness only emerges when we need it most... in times of war or calamity. I can't ask somebody to be a Kennedy or a Lincoln. They were men created by their times. What I can ask for is the promise of greatness. And that, Madam Senator… you don't have.
Hanson: Well, then… I just wouldn't be using sex as leverage… if I were you, Sheldon. Because there 's one thing you don't want, it's a woman with her finger on the button who isn't getting laid.
Runyon: Will that be the argument the senator offers up before the committee?
Commentary:
Once again, more questions for Jesus. Rather than deep dive on his responses that are tied to the overall sheep and shepherd themes of the entire chapter, this time around I’m most intrigued by the question itself. Not the words, but the “why.” I am a huge proponent of questions as part of one’s faith journey. I’ve asked a lot of questions and I still do to this day. It’s healthy to turn to wonder. This question, however, is different. It doesn’t turn to wonder so much as run, Jesus, it’s a trap!
We’ve all faced disingenuine questioning by people who don’t want to hear the real answer. Not unless it’s to prove their point or assert power over you or a bit of both. Jesus gets these kinds of questions over and again. Gladly, modern ministry leaders don’t get this treatment! I’ll expand that joke by adding that gladly, we’re simply past that entire phase as the human race, right? I mean, why ask a question if it’s just a trap? Likely, it’s because it’s simpler to trap someone into proving themselves wrong than amassing your own evidence. Not only have we all faced this, I’m just as certain we’ve all done it at least once. Smug satisfaction can sadly be a tempting cookie.
It doesn’t really matter what Jesus says back, and his response signals this. What they want is an excuse to say, “Gotcha!” In this case, saying “Gotcha!” comes in the form of stoning him to death. If we go through life locked and loaded for “Gotcha!” responses, maybe it’s time to reexamine life. Trapping people isn’t the way to right relationship; it’s a pathetic attempt at domination. We’re all better off without it.
There is a certain place in hell for those who knowingly use their power to bury another person. That isn’t how God wants us to live. I’m not talking about an afterlife hell of eternal conscious torment. I’m talking about the hell deep down inside of power mongers who know what they are doing is wrong. It’s awful. I think that’s the case for Senator Sheldon Runyon in The Contender.
Listening to him participate in politics is to listen to him play a game. He revels in being the gatekeeper with his mighty questions, ready to embarrass anyone he doesn’t care for. What a slimy thing to do, can we agree? If so, then we have to ask again: why have we each asked a disingenuous question and what did we hope to gain? Or put another way, what were we afraid to lose?
Layne is a woman of principles. Grilled by a hearing committee on allegations of her sex life, she stands her ground by not responding. They push and nevertheless, she will resist. Why? Because responding would make it okay for the questions to be asked in the first place. She refuses the trap. Jesus recognizes a trap for what it is and responds in kind. Can we? Better yet, can we resist laying traps for others?
Questions about faith are excellent if we come from a place of wonder. I’m grateful for all of the questions that people ask Jesus in the Bible because he demonstrates how to receive a question from wonder and how to rebuke a question that’s a trap.
The Contender didn’t blow up the box office but it is well-acted and raises powerful questions about politics (and from a place of wonder, I might add). Sadly, the conceit of this film feels tame compared to how committees operate in Washington DC today, and how officials — both elected and not elected — create and/or respond to scandals. Layne Hanson, we sure could use your principles today!
All of that said, wow is it a treat to watch Gary Oldman disappear into Sen. Sheldon Runyon and set traps the whole movie long! Wait, let me shorten that sentence: “Wow, it is a treat to watch Gary Oldman!”
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Glad you were here today. God’s peace and good movies to you!