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The Lone Ranger And The Cross of Christ

Colossians 2:13-15
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us,
which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them,
having triumphed over them through Him.

My wife says that I am terrible "movie-picker-outer". It's not that the movies that I choose are full of violence or nudity or anything of that sort, it is just that some of my favorites movies tend to lack a few key elements; such as plot, direction, good actors, and so on and so forth. So I was greatly dismayed this week as I did some research on one of the films that I loved as a child.

In 1981 there was a remake of the 1952 classic The Legend of The Lone Ranger. This movie held a great place in my heart. I was 9 years old when I saw it for the first time and one particular scene stuck fast in my mind. But since it had been so long since I saw the film, I decided to go on line to get my facts straight. What I discovered was less than encouraging.

In 1981, the year in which The Legend of The Lone Ranger was released, the movie received two awards. First, it received Worst Actor, for the man who played The Lone Ranger and secondly, it received Worst Film of The Year. This is not the movie I remembered as a nine year old. To me the film was magnificent, one scene in particular.

At one point in the movie Tonto has been captured by the "bad guys" (on false charges I'm sure) and is slated to be hung on the gallows at noon. The day of his trial comes and his best friend, his sidekick, Kemosabe - is no where to be found. Tonto is taken in hand-cuffs to the gallows- still no Lone Ranger. The noose is put around his neck - still no Lone Ranger. And right before the lever is pulled to drop the floor out from under him one gunshot rings out loud as a cannon blast - the silver bullet snaps the rope above Tonto's head- The William Tell Overture starts -The Lone Ranger and Silver come flying into town as fast as lightening - Tonto leaps from the gallows onto the back of Silver and the two heroes go blazing into the distance! And all the bad guys are standing there, jaws dropped open - saying "Who was that masked man?"

And this is exactly the picture the Apostle Paul paints for us in the book of Colossians. As he writes to the church at Colossae he explains that all of mankind is in the same hopeless situation, with death imminent, as they had been for thousands of years. Until one weekend in A.D 30, when the Son of God who has come from heaven dies on a cross one Friday afternoon and then early that Sunday morning - POW!- all of heaven and earth shake as sin and death are ripped from the clutches of a defeated and humiliated devil.

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