Sophie Scholl, Human Longings, and an Answer

I believe that most individuals have longings that are universal. Of course, this is a generalization (but can you ever write a set of observations about cultures, groups, or species without generalizations?). These longings within us are so deep that I think most of us do not know how to express them. We long for love, acceptance, justice, peace, freedom, beauty, etc. Now, I understand that I am speaking from within a Western world where these things are commonly accepted and/or embraced, but (at least from my admittedly biased opinion – I am a Christian and have been immersed in Western ideas and traditions), I believe that a majority of human beings have these longings. From the time we are children outside forces are constantly working against these longings. It can be cultural forces, such as a culture that embraces war as the norm and holds onto the belief that men are to show their strength and courage through spreading fear and death. It can be forces from within the family structure, as in situations where child abuse takes place. It can be physical forces, such as chemical imbalances or handicaps. However, I firmly believe that deep down inside these longings still grip us. They grip us at our very core. They grip us at night when we lie in bed, or when we stop to take a breath from all the running around we have been doing. They grip us when we are surrounded by danger and war. They grip us when someone we care deeply for is sick, or when we have lost someone we love. They are always there. Calling us to feel uncomfortable and out of place. Calling us to hear that something is deeply wrong and this is not how things are meant to be.

Tonight, I watched an instant movie on Netflix called “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days”. The movie was based on a true story. For those of you that don’t know (I didn’t until I watched the movie and then read up a little bit on the background) Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans were part of a passive resistance group, named the White Rose during the days of Hitler. The group printed and distributed thousands of pamphlets encouraging Germans to resist the Nazis. As the title suggests, Sophie was put to death for being involved in this group. What was so captivating about her story is her belief in human dignity that was born out of her strong faith in God. Sophie stood against the Nazis because she believed in the dignity of the Germans, the Jews, the handicapped, the elderly… She believed all humanity is valuable because all of humanity has been created in the image of God. I reference this particular movie because it reinvigorated these longings within me. It put them in a historical perspective that is much different from where we are as Americans, but that still deeply touches us. Even without our freedoms and lives being violently ripped from us, we still feel that something is deeply wrong with the world. We still, despite all the books that have been written to the contrary, believe that good and evil exist. We still believe that good should prevail and the evil should be dealt with. I find it interesting that even atheists still want to use the terms “good” and “evil” as if they are somehow still applicable to a worldview that states merely that the entire cosmos exists in and of itself as a series of processes that came from nothing (even more confounding that space itself was born from nothing! – or maybe from something we haven’t discovered yet- how can we discover something outside of space??? ). But that is another conversation for another time. My point here is that these universal longings are pointing us in a direction outside of ourselves. They are pointing us to the actuality of what we are created for. Evil, and death its byproduct, were not meant to be a part of this world.

At one point during the movie, Sophie recalls the last days she was able to spend with her fiancé before he was ordered back to the frontlines of the war. She says, "We'd sing at night and talk about peace. No soldiers anywhere. No planes, no bombs. Just the sea, the sky, the wind, and our dreams.” I loved this line because it revealed those deep longings right in the middle of the raging reality around her. I have had times like that. I can recall specific meals with amazing food, amazing wine, and amazing friends where I’m briefly caught up by the thought, “This is how it’s supposed to be.” It’s happened in beautiful weather during a sunset. It’s happened with my family seated around the dinner table free to be who we are with each other. It’s happened when I have been hiking and reached the peak of a mountain and been overwhelmed with glory reflected by Creation. The tension between how things are and how they are supposed to be is what brings these longings out. It points towards the truth (however hard we fight it) that there is something more than just what is.

When viewed within the Christian framework, all of these longings begin to make sense. The longing for justice and goodness are within us, not because they are an evolutionary byproduct, but rather because humanity was created to reflect the Image of God (where we find true love, justice, peace, etc.). Since the garden in Genesis and the entrance of evil into the world, humans (and all of creation) have become disjointed. Death and decay entered the picture. Evil, it seems, has won the day. However, the Biblical story continues by revealing God’s love for His good creation and His promise to one day reveal that love by bringing His promised One who will reverse the effects of the fall and reconcile humanity to God. Towards the end of “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” as Sophie is facing execution, she is allowed a visit from her mother and father. During this time, her mother says with tears in her eyes, “My little girl, never again will you walk through the door of our house… Sophie, remember Jesus.” Sophie responds, “You too mama.” The answer for Sophie is still the answer for us! It is through Jesus’ death burial and resurrection that God is restoring and will one day fully restore ultimate peace, justice, love, and goodness to His Creation! It is through Jesus Christ that we find redemption (both now and future) and it is in Jesus Christ that we find these longings are not only affirmed, but answered and fulfilled.

If we ignore these longings, or brush them off as just idealistic thoughts that do not have any merit in the real world, we may be missing why they exist; We may be missing why the haunt us, why we feel alone even with so many friends, and why the world just plain does not feel right. I suggest that we at least attempt to discover why these feelings are a part of us, and that we address them head on… Anyone who does may find that the Christian story does indeed fit the reality of human existence a little more than they expected.

After her final words with her parents, Sophie is taken to her cell where she spends the short minutes before her execution. There she prays, “My God, glorious Father, Transform this ground into fertile earth, so that your seeds may not fall in vain. Let the longing grow for You, the Creator, that they so often do not want to see. Amen.”