Leap of Faith (1992)
"Who wants the Truth?"
Over the years, I've seen how even good, well-meaning, Christ-like people can still completely miss the point of Faith.
Leap of Faith (1992) is a film that highlights the complexities of this question for me. It's a movie I watch every year around Easter because even though it was released in the early 90s, we still live in a reality of spiritual manipulation that God still fights to shine through. The premise of the film follows Jonas Nightingale (Steven Martin), an orphaned con-man turned "faith healer," Jane Larson (Debra Winger), his partner in crime, and their tour bus of choir members and cons traveling from town to town, grifting people out of their money through elaborate tent revivals. The film centers on their last stop in Rustwater, Kansas, a small midwestern town plagued by drought and poverty.
Two scenes highlight how the film handles the question, "Who wants the Truth?
Is Faith a Performance?
There's a scene where our main character, Jonas, talks with the town sheriff (Liam Neeson), who suspects he is a fraud. When the sheriff confronts him one night after the show, Jonas justifies it by saying that there are Broadway shows in New York that cost $60 a pop to enter. He puts on a show that gives people good music, worthwhile sentiments, and hope.
Faith is simply a performance for Jonas. It's nothing more than a collection of fairy tales we tell to make ourselves feel better. How Jonas feels is not far from much of what I've experienced growing up in Christian culture. The Church culture of the early 2000s was presented to me as something that needed to be performed.
If you were a faithful Christian, you would worship a certain way (usually loudly).
If you were a faithful Christian, you wouldn't curse or listen to secular music.
If you were a faithful Christian, you would vote a certain way (at the time George Bush).
True Christians didn't doubt God and certainly never had a crisis of Faith.
Platinum members of this Christian club would dance down the church aisle, speak in other tongues, or be slain in the Spirit altogether.
Don't get me wrong, there are gifts of the Spirit and an action side to Faith. However, when someone is being performative about their Faith, it is more likely rooted in fear and shame than it is anything having to do with the goodness of God. The interior conviction of a person of Faith should never feel pressured to express themselves solely for the approving gaze of others. In this pressure, we find the half-priced delusion Jonas advertises to the townsfolk: a cheapened interpretation of the Bible that condones whatever he has already decided to do.
With that in mind, one of the most compelling aspects of this movie is its use of imagery from the Bible in its cinematography. We have scenes where people travel and camp outside the revival tent, invoking the 5000 who journey to see Jesus preach and are miraculously fed. The themes of drought can be found throughout the Bible, with rain only coming after a display of God's power.
“if Jonas is a fake, but the people’s Faith is genuine, then where is the harm?”
I look forward to when Jane discovers Jonas is gone by his motel door being open and his suit folded on the bed, an allusion to Mary finding the tomb empty on Easter Morn and the grave clothes folded neatly. These details uncover how God works behind the scenes to cut through the phony and still reach people.
This begs the question: if Jonas is a fake, but the people's Faith is genuine, then where is the harm? The harm lies in the comparison between the performance of Faith versus acts of Faith. The townspeople who come genuinely believe in God and his power. However, they need Jonas's performative acrobatics to express this Faith. Through Jonas's "preaching" and "healing" ability, they place their belief in God's power. This is ultimately hollow, not because of God's absence, but because of Jonas's lack of Faith.
Jesus Heals a Crippled Boy
To discuss acts of Faith, let's examine our second scene. At the center of this sacred circus is Boyd (Lucas Haas), a disabled boy Jonas befriends at the local diner. Many traveling preachers had come in before and attempted to heal him. Knowing that he is a fraud and has no real power, Jonas tries to avoid attempting to heal Boyd. Boyd is enraptured by the considerable crucifix hanging center stage. Hobbling with his crutches, the roar of the room quiets. Boyd reaches out to touch the feet of Jesus then stumbles backwards. Suddenly, he notices something strange. Boyd no longer needs the crutches! He can walk!
In this case, Boyd, like the crowd, believes in God's power. He even believes in Jonas's ability. But the difference here is that Boyd doesn't necessarily need Jonas to perform for his Faith to be placed. By moving past Jonas to the foot of the cross, Boyd has enacted an act of Faith. He recognizes that the crowd isn't the Christ.
This scene takes much of its structure from a story found in Mark 5:25-34.
In this Gospel account, we read about a woman who is hemorrhaging constantly. This woman, who was ceremonially not allowed to touch anyone, pushes through the crowd to touch Jesus's garment. She didn't know if it would work. She just believed in her heart that this act of Faith would heal her.
Acts of Faith are acts of trust in the unknown, trust that God is working on your behalf as you move forward determined to participate in your miracle. The townspeople of Rustwater, Kansas, were close to this in the film. Faith was a form of survival for them amidst the drought they were experiencing. By manipulating their faith expression to have to come from Jonas, they are rewarded with his hallow performance.
"Why'd you make so many suckers?" yells Jonas at the plaster vagrant from Nazareth hanging from the cross beneath stage lights. When the delusion's darkness meets God's genuine light, it comes as a shock. What stuck out to me most about Boyd's healing in this film is that everyone is genuinely surprised. They all had been there for days watching "miracles" happen, but this isolated act of Faith stood out from the crowd.
At the heart of Leap of Faith's plot is a God still at work, allowing Jonas's manipulation and egotism to lead him into the unexplainable presence of absolute power. We see a God who is still patient and still working in a redemptive way, even through flawed individuals.
