Easter’s Theme of Redeeming Love

As faith-based films go, “Redeeming Love” is not your usual family-friendly fare, as it is rated R16 and for good reason.

It is a period romance between a bright-eyed, faithful farmer and the town’s most famous prostitute.

Forget “Pretty Woman.”
Forget “An Officer and A Gentleman.”
This is a love story for the ages.

Our heroine is the spirited, illegitimate child of a prominent man, and was kept a secret to avoid the scandal that came with children borne out of wedlock, especially in those more conservative times.

She witnesses how her father cruelly disowns them and how poverty drives her mother into a life of prostitution as a means to survive.

Later, she is thrust into the same trajectory by life’s harsh circumstances.

Angel, her brothel name, becomes one of the most sought-after prostitutes in town. She couldn’t even take advantage of this financially as her pimp insists she is merely paying off the debt of being provided room and board, and protection.

Angel resigns herself to this life, along with her friends, and lives by her mantra, “Never look back, never look forward.”

Who can blame her after a horrific childhood that grooms her into a career that filled her with shame and seemingly no future?

Unbeknownst to her, somewhere in town, an honest, hardworking farmer is in a chapel, thanking God for his own livelihood, and casually asking for somebody to share it with.

His name is Michael Hosea. In the Bible, Hosea is a prophet in whom God’s steadfast love and faithfulness is modeled in his own marriage, get this, to a prostitute as well.

Now, brothel scenes giving way to church scenes may seem jarring, but while smoothly told, highlights the contrast the film is trying to make. It’s an allegory of the steadfast love of a perfect God towards imperfect mankind, the snow white purity of an unyielding commitment in stark contrast to the darkness of man’s depravity.

The film will come as a shock to many, as faith-based films are typically wholesome and GP-rated, and romances are not usually this dark.

Think of Slumdog Millionaire with its unapologetic portrait of violence and poverty that were difficult to watch, but all in all, beautifully told on the way to a glowing, happy ending that makes everything worth it.

Our charmingly earnest leading man, Michael, spends a day in the town, catches sight of Angel, and he’s history.

He’s immediately smitten with her and pursues her straight into the brothel she works in.
Now, isn’t that just unbelievable? Well, hello, “Pretty Woman.”

The way the story is told will make you curious to see how he will be able to convince Angel to leave her current way of life and marry him. It doesn’t happen in a scene as swoon-worthy as “An Officer and a Gentleman”’s ending, but close. Also, this is just the beginning of the story.

The jaded Angel is predictably unimpressed and could only chuckle sardonically at his sincerity. 

So he does what any man in love with a prostitute would do.
He pays double to enter the brothel just to talk to her, day in and day out.

Later on, after a violent incident with her employer, Michael finally convinces her to come with him to safety. He pays her pimp an amount much larger than her debt and takes her out of the brothel.

They finally get married in an unseen, unceremonious fashion, and move to his farm.

Michael teaches Angel about farm life, which she adjusts to surprisingly well.

What she finds difficult to adjust to, is what seems to be a genuine love for her.

While the world has hardened Angel to her core, Michael patiently shows her how wonderful life could still be.

Angel is up front with him about just living in his house to pay off her debt, which to her seemed had just been transferred from her pimp to her now husband, and told him she’d be out of his hair as soon as possible.

Angel tries to leave him by escaping to town, several times.
Michael came after her, not to force her to come home, but to bring her water or serve her in some way. 

Angel left because she couldn’t leave behind her old identity.
She didn’t know how to respond to his love.
Eventually, she realized he would be better off with someone else.

After already having pursued her several times, Michael relents, knowing that if she was ever to return, it would be out of her own free will, after everything she had already seen and known of what could be her new life.

If the story of this kind of relentless, sacrificial love seems unbelievable, it’s because it is.

The only One who has proved He is capable of such love of somebody the world deems unworthy, is Jesus.  

This Easter, let’s reflect on a love that is so steadfast, unfailing, that it brought our Redeemer to pour Himself out for us in an excruciating, humiliating death on the cross, in the ultimate display of love that makes every other romance pale in comparison.

Have a meaningful Easter!