Sunday Matinee #29 The Breakfast Club

An iconic scene. No, the other one. No, the other one.

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Quotes with Notes

Genesis 29:25-27
Full Text: Genesis 29:15-28 (Revised Common Lectionary)
9th Sunday after Pentecost (July 30, 2023)
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Context: Jacob loves Rachel. Good for him! Unfortunately, her father, Laban, tricks him into doing a set of tasks to win the hand of… his oldest daughter, Leah!

25 When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 Laban said, “This is not done in our country—giving the younger before the firstborn. 27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”

The Breakfast Club | 1985 Universal Pictures, A&M Films | IMDB
Starring Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Written and directed by John Hughes
Context: Five teens from different social circles are stuck in Saturday detention together. Sometimes they get along, or at least in pairs and trios. Other times, they cut each other down. Do they come to each other's defense? Depends on the situation. Here, Claire has a vulnerable moment and Bender cuts her down.

Bender: I wanna see what Claire can do!
Claire: I can't do anything.
Bender: Now, everybody can do something...
Claire: There's one thing I can do… No, forget it. It's way too embarrassing.
Bender: You ever seen Wild Kingdom? I mean, that guy's been doing that show for thirty years.
Claire: …Okay. But you have to swear to God you won't laugh… I can't believe I'm actually doing this…

Claire takes out a lipstick and places it in her cleavage. She dips her head down to apply her lipstick and when she comes up, it’s perfect. Everyone claps. Everyone but Bender.

Andrew: All right, great!  Where'd you learn to do that?
Claire: Camp, seventh grade…

Bender claps, sarcastic and slow. It wipes the smile off Claire’s face as she wipes off her lipstick.

Bender: That was great, Claire...my image of you is totally blown...
Allison: You're a shit!  Don't do that to her. You swore to God you wouldn't laugh!
Bender: Am I laughing?
Andrew: You fucking prick!

Commentary:

Family is complex. As we’ve seen in recent weeks for Abraham and Sarah and their generations, it is truly complex. Put some of these pieces together:

Sarah doesn’t seem to be able to have children, so she sent her servant Hagar to her husband Abraham. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Then Sarah has Isaac and she sends Hagar and Ishmael away. 

Isaac and Rebekah have sons Jacob and Esau, but they play favorites and the brothers go up against each other. 

Now Jacob tries to marry Rachel, but her father, Laban, tricks him into marrying his oldest daughter, Leah, first.

Oh, and Laban is Jacob’s mother’s brother, so it’s his uncle. So these women are his cousins. 

Today, there are much different societal standards (and a law or two) about the way people come together and what’s appropriate for relationships. But take that aside, the entire situation is complex. For today’s passage, Laban plays the trickster role, conning Jacob out of not just 7 years of servitude but a bonus 7. I’m not sure if Laban is as intimidating as Darth Vadar (“I am altering the deal; pray that I don’t alter it further…”) but Jacob sticks with it so he can marry Rachel. There isn’t anyone who comes to Jacob’s defense here, nor does he put up much of a fight. It won’t be long after this moment in the story that God tells Jacob to leave Laban. Family or not, he can’t trust him. They are together almost twenty years and the trust level just doesn’t get there.

In The Breakfast Club, we watch trust ebb and flow throughout the day-long detention for five teenagers. They don’t know each other, then they find commonalities and connect, then they get distant again. Repeat, but end with closeness and a freeze frame. The key to their trust finally winning out is mutual vulnerability. Each of them share something secret and trust that the others won’t use it against them.

Bender is the most prone to break that trust. He’s a trickster and “the criminal” of the group, using sarcasm and attack as his defense mechanisms. Instead of genuinely being interested in what special talent Claire can do, the entire thing is a setup so when others compliment her, he can knock her down. Unlike Jacob’s situation with Laban, people like Andrew and Allison defend Claire. But Bender doesn’t go down so easy. He uses Andrew’s words against him and he keeps at Claire, eventually exposing more of his terrible home life. At that point, we see just why Bender knocks others down: projection. He’s unhappy, so he has to make others unhappy. 

Many of us make deals that get complex quickly. We set out on a plan with the hope we can trust others and things will go the way we want them to, only to have things blow up in our faces. Or we meet people so unhappy with their own lives they refuse to let us enjoy ours. But others don’t get to do that for us. And, if it’s safe to do so, we can help others and stand up for them. Tricks like we see from Laban and Bender are seldom funny to more than one person, and there’s a lesson in there for any of us tempted to be “funny” without considering why we feel that urge. 

Who stands up for you? Who do you trust? Who are you willing to defend, even if it’s challenging? Have you ever had a moment when you projected your own feelings and realized it either in the moment or later on?

A Word of Encouragement

Have an excellent day Dear Reader. May your life’s journey meet the heart of God in ways you can recognize and that are meaningful. And to today’s preachers, may worship be a blessing for you personally and may your sermon and prayers remind everyone that God loves all people. God’s peace and good movies to you!

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