Lawrence of Arabia: A man and his journey

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My church offers an event called “gospel and film” night. A film is chosen to view, then after watching the film, we discuss the characters and themes of the film. Particularly we try to focus on how the features of the film reflect theology or give us a bridge to discuss the gospel to those in our community. We recently watched the classic film Lawrence of Arabia (Horizon Pictures, 1962). The film, situated in WW I, is about the historical character T. E. Lawrence. Lawrence is a British officer in the middle east who lead the Arab people against the Turks and in doing so guarded the British flank as they marched to Damascus. The film revealed the complexity of T. E. Lawrence as he vacillates between the British and Arab people. Throughout the film Lawrence spent the majority of his time with the Arab people, seemingly desiring to be one of them. However, this is complicated by the fact that he is not an Arab and has obligations to the British army. T. E. Lawrence returns “home” to Britain, and yet he desired in many ways to be with the Arabs.

At this point some may be thinking, “what could this possibly have to do with the gospel?” Some observations about T. E. Lawrence might help. Laurence began his experience in Arabia as a British officer, in dress and protocol. However, he embraced the culture of the Arab people: fought beside them, dressed like them, lived with them. However, an experience in a Turkish prison reminded him that he was never going to be one of them. He would always be different no matter how much he tried to fit in with them. Lawrence’s experience is sometimes similar to the Christian journey. We become a follower of Jesus (British officer?) but along the journey we try to become something else (in Laurence’s case, an Arab). Sometimes we go great distances and put forth extraneous effort to become something that we can never be. Through this detour, we realize who we really are: a child of the King. Lawrence returned home as a British officer who understood he would never be an Arab. We too take detours in our journey, but once we follow Jesus, we are always a part of his kingdom . . . even when we endeavor cover it with another’s Jalabiyyah.

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