Sunday Matinee #87 Zombieland
Is "faith without works is dead" equivalent to "nut up or shut up"?!
James 2:1-10, 14-17 | EnterTheBible.org
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost | 09.08.2024
Context: There is no escaping it for James. Faith is one thing, faith in action is another. The letter writer continues by reminding the young faith community that the right belief is nothing if it is not paired with the right action to help those around them in need.
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Zombieland | 2009
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: A young man using the moniker Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) finds himself traveling with a grizzled warrior of the zombie apocalypse who calls himself Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson). While Columbus has a laundry list of rules that have helped him survive so far, Tallahassee takes more of the direct approach. That’s his attitude as he pulls his truck up to a grocery store in search of the one provision he lacks: a Twinkie.
Columbus (Narrating): In fact the only thing [Tallahassee] was more obsessed to than killing a zombie was finding a Twinkie. Something about the Twinkie reminded him about, time not so long ago. When things were simple and not so fucking psychotic. It was like if he got a taste of that comforting childhood treat, the world would become innocent again and everything would return to normal.
Columbus watches Tallahassee pull out various tools turn instruments of destruction, including a pickaxe.
Columbus: Pretty prospecting. Jesus Christ. You're a dangerous man. You're gonna risk our lives for a Twinkie?!
Tallahassee: There's a box of Twinkies in that grocery store. Not just any box of Twinkie. The last box of Twinkie that anyone will enjoy in the whole universe. Believe it or not, Twinkie have an expiration day. Someday very soon, life's little Twinkle gauge is gonna go empty.
Columbus and Tallahassee stand poised, ready to enter the grocery store.
Tallahassee (grinning ear to ear: Time to nut up or shut up!
Commentary:
This passage in James is, for my money, the crux of the entire letter. It may very well be the crux of Christian faith. At least, when it comes to putting beliefs into action. I spent many years scratching my head over how religious people could purport to have the right beliefs but never seem to really carry them out. Or worse, they would proclaim they have the right beliefs and instead of helping people, those right beliefs were used to help themselves, persecute others, or some combination of the two. I’m not sure how anyone can read James 2 and think that’s the way to do this religion thing.
“Faith without works is dead.”
Have faith? Sure. But it’s not about right beliefs. It’s about right actions. Yeah, the faith is the right motivation for the right action. Yet make no mistake: if you don’t do something with your faith, man, what a waste.
Let’s look at Columbus, the passive protagonist of Zombieland. I call him that because he’s just in survivor mode. It’s not that he makes things happen. Things happen to him. Or rather, he creates his list of rules to ensure things don’t happen to him. Is that living? Man, what a waste. Might as well be dead in an undead world if that’s how you’re going to survive. I don’t dispute any of Columbus’s rules and I’m glad he keeps adding new rules along the way. It will take a man of action to turn that list into life.
Enter Tallahassee. When this man wants a Twinkie, he will risk his life for a Twinkie. And why? Because life without Twinkies is dead. He braves the undead to find what he’s looking for. He gives Columbus a pep talk as only Tallahassee can: “Time to nut up or shut up.”
There’s nothing wrong with healthy boundaries. That’s how we retain safety and sanity. I think the writer of James would agree that we need to know our limitations and act accordingly. Of course, he would say we need to act, right? Columbus has perhaps unhealthy boundaries. His list is a protective barrier, but they also prevent him from fully engaging in life. He’s isolated, he’s hesitant to form deep connections, he’s detached from his true feelings for fellow traveler Wichita and at a loss on how to tell her. Again, an undead life.
Could Tallahassee’s cry to “Nut up for shut up” be the most modern paraphrase of “faith without works is dead” of all time? I’m going to say yeah! Faith is to be actively lived out. Life is to be actively lived out. What really puts this scripture and this saying together is that ultimately Columbus learns surviving isn’t enough. Taking action for others is what transforms mere survival into true living.
I’m a United Methodist and I’ve often heard that James is God’s gift to the Methodists, specifically for this verse. I know others don’t like it because they think it has something to do with “works righteousness” and earning heaven points. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about practical theology, a life spent testing and then developing methods of living faith out loud.
I’m also a zombie movie fan and I’ve loved both Zombieland and Zombieland 2: Double Tap and I hope they keep coming back to these characters. In a mixed genre of science fiction and horror and comedy, these characters grow together. If you haven’t seen these yet and I didn’t take a moment to recommend them to you, man, what a waste. Give them a shot! A double tap, if you will.
What does faith in action look like for you? Do you have rules for life? When have you broken your rules to make something better happen?