Xena

My friend who visited last week and I have a mutual friend who is a Xena fan. My first friend happens to enjoy the series and while we were at the used bookstore, he bought season 1 on DVD. I had never seen an episode so he said that before he left, I would need to see one episode. Heh. Why not? Thus, one night we sat down to watch one episode of Xena.

I honestly have no desire to get interested in another TV show at this point, but I could honestly understand why someone would enjoy watching Xena. I happen to enjoy a lot of action when I watch something. My father is more into Westerns, but if I can, I want to see the hand-to-hand action. I don’t mind melee weaponry of course and I like projectile weapons that really require skill. Anyone can shoot a gun, but I like to see a bow and arrow in action.

<> The action is definitely worth it along with the comic twists. I enjoyed seeing Xena jump on the men on horseback who were following her and silently dispatching them one by one until she got up to the leader. The final battle in this episode is incredible as well and I will leave it for the viewer to get to watch it.I grew up reading Greek mythology, so I was familiar with a lot of the references even if I had never seen the show before. I  recognized also the name of the hometown of Amphipolis. This is a city mentioned just once I believe in Scripture. Paul went there on one of his missionary journeys. This kind of talk in the series immediately made me feel at home with my interest in biblical studies and my interest in Greek history, particularly the philosophical thought.

<>I have been told that Xena is the story of redemption also and I can see that. I felt the pain of her going home to her mother and being told that her mother has no daughter. The one who comes home is an outcast and has no haven. True, you may be a warrior who can beat anyone that comes across your path, but what comfort is that to you if you wander the world alone?

While Xena wins the battle then, the greatest victory no doubt would be that she gets accepted at home again. Even though she hits the road again on the path of greater adventures, she does have a place that she can call home. In many ways, isn’t that what the story of redemption is?

Aren’t we all looking for a home? Aren’t we all looking for someone who will accept us as we are? Do we not all have as the episode is titled “Sins of the Past” that we would like to see forgotten? I seriously doubt anyone would disagree with that? Is there anyone who looks back on life and says “I am proud of everything I’ve done and if I had it to do again, I’d do it all again!”

Even as I write that, I look back on my life and see many mistakes and think that I would love to change them. I’m the kind of person also that many times I’ll recover another memory somehow that adds to the pile and I want to throw it all away. When I think about the so-called problem of evil, it is not the evil that happened to me that troubles me the most. It is the evil I’ve committed in the past that troubles me the most.

Xena’s story gives hope. What she did in the past isn’t explained entirely in the first episode, but it is told that it involved the death of several people as one man says he buried two sons because of Xena. How does it end though? Xena fights for those who will not accept her who are her own hometown even, and in the end she is welcomed back and her mother hugs her. What a powerful scene!

Xena overcomes her past. I don’t know how the series ends, but I know if the beginning is any indication, there is hope. However, this is a TV show and we must remember that we have something Xena doesn’t have. We have Christ. How much more can we look forward to the future with him?