Ethan and Jesus

Ethan Hawke isn’t Jesus. However in Training Day. Denzel Washington’s character tells his new protégé that the only way he can change the corrupt system is to get inside the world and blow it up. Trying to change the state of affairs from the outside is futile.

When approaching the Christian culture debate about how to effectively minister to the current culture, Ethan is a literal filmic picture of Christ. Ethan penetrates the underworld without falling to its corruption and malignant lifestyles. Though surrounded by the evil world, he maintained, not his naivety, but his pure desire to see to see a cruel world transformed.

Being surrounded by sin doesn’t make one a sinner as long as the desire and grounding enough to withstand the pressures of crooked, debased moral standards are maintained. He engaged culture enough to transform it. When the purpose of strategic cultural engagement is transformation, one can navigate within the world as a distinctly separate yet involved entity. On the other side of engagement is wanted to be a part of culture so much that you want to become married to it, becoming one flesh.

Engage with, without being engaged to, our culture.