Sunday Matinee #159 The Green Knight
If a knight challenges you to a head-chopping contest... don't.
The Green Knight | 2021
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: King Arthur is confronted by the Green Knight, who presents a challenge to all at the round table: you take a swing at me, and I get to take a swing at you. Everyone is wary of this knight and his magical presence. Blinded by his own ambition, young Gawain (Dev Patel) takes up the challenge.
Gawain: Very well… Very well. You lay down your challenge. I accepted it. I accept it, still. Never forget what happened here! Upon this Christmas Day!
Matthew 4:12-23 | EnterTheBible.org
Third Sunday after Epiphany | 01.25.2026
Context: The Gospel of Matthew goes quick with his Nativity in chapters 1-2 and his baptism and temptation in the desert in chapter 3. Now, he is calling his first disciples to join him for the journey of a lifetime.
18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
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Commentary:
Remember that scene in Ghostbusters when Gozer asks the Ghostbusters, “Are you a God?” and when Ray says no, she zaps them with her spectral lightning energy, and then Winston responds, “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god you say YES!”? It’s obvious Sir Gawain didn’t see that movie.
Because when an immensely tall green knight made of trees bursts into your castle and seemingly for no reason at all asks if anyone wants to take a swing at him so he can take an equal swing at you, you say NO!
Then again, if Gawain had done that, we wouldn’t have this amazing movie.
Gawain hears a challenge from a mysterious, otherworldly green knight and mishears him. Thinking it is his ticket to achieve status and favor, fortune and glory, he hears this challenge for what it can bring him rather than what it could cost him. He swipes and his blow is true, and with it his fate is sealed. The green knight returns to his towering status and tells young Gawain:
“One. Year. Hence.”
Man, that’s creepy. I dig it!
Gawain simply doesn’t have a clear sense of who he is in this world. Accepting the Green Knight’s challenge is his way of choosing a radically different path. He may not understand everything that will come his way, but he does understand that he is stepping away from his former way. It was a way of safety, societal expectation and pressure, the creature comforts of his affluent life. All gone, as he steps now into something uncertain, something transformative.
Does he embrace this? Does he yearn from this? By the end of this film, which has an ending slightly deviating from the original tale but is still wholly satisfying nonetheless, Gawain may come to understand the true meaning of “careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”
The disciples hear a challenge from a mysterious, otherworldly great teacher and hear him loud and clear. Thinking it is their ticket to achieve service and outreach, honesty and love, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John may not understand everything that will come their way, but they do understand that they are stepping away from their former way. It was a way of daily labor, sustenance lifestyle, the triple-taxed pit of peasantry. All can be transformed for all who follow, and you will be cared for through the uncertain, through all that is transformative.
Leaving old assumptions behind can be a tremendous challenge. Walking into a new life shaped by circumstances beyond our control is difficult, even within a life shaped by faith and courage. Gawain steps into a new path. The first disciples step into a new path. While Gawain trusted too much in himself and ultimately had to overcome his ego to come to truth, and the disciples would deny the truth before they would finally embrace it fully. Perhaps we can at least meet in the middle, friends? How have you already met in the middle for your own new path into mystery?
Our growth as people can gain depth on our embracement of listening to how life’s challenges call us to faith and courage.
And what the heck? Ghostbusters for the win:
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Glad you’re here today, Dear Reader. God’s peace and good movies to you!