In Clint Eastwood’s gritty film Gran Torino, a war veteran named Walt befriends a teenager named Thao, after catching him trying to steal his classic car under duress from a local gang.
Seeing that Thao has no future while the gangs are around, Walt tries to get rid of them using violence, but the plan backfires badly.
Realizing a different approach is needed, Walt walks to the gang’s house one night. The thugs aim their guns as he slowly reaches into his coat. And then, as if pulling out a weapon, Walt rips his hand from his jacket, prompting a shower of gun fire. He falls to the ground, his arms outstretched in crosslike fashion.
The police arrive, the thugs are arrested, and Thao is saved from their tyranny.
Walt’s action vividly portrays one aspect of the cross. Like Thao, we were at the mercy of evil forces (EPHESIANS 6:12). But when Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, those powers were disarmed and arrested (COLOSSIANS 2:15), as God “rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (1:13).
Jesus didn’t free us by using violence, but by submitting to evil in our place. Now we can become who we’re meant to be (VV. 10-11).
Walt is far from perfect character. But his final sacrificial act reflects what the sinless Jesus did for us on the cross—self-sacrificially rescuing us from the dominion of darkness.
