The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Our God Delivers! Ps 72: 11-14

We are now in our third week in our summer sermon series exploring how we can see Biblical themes about who we are as humans and who God is in Disney movies. Last week we looked at Pocahontas and how she chose to live into a different path for her life, mirroring how we are to choose a different path, the ancient path of God, as Christians. This week we will be focusing in on the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The movie is based off of Victor Hugo’s novel bearing the same name, but with Disney twist and flare. The storyline focuses on Quasimodo, a disfigured man who was raised in the bell tower of Notre Dame following the death of his mother. Quasimodo grows into a man with a gentle heart, but he is hidden from the world, being told by Frollo, the man that raised him, he was too ugly to be seen by the outside world - a monster. One day Quasimodo enters the streets of Paris and meets Esmeralda, a gypsy woman who also has a kind heart. The rest of the movie goes on to tell of their affection for one another and struggles against Frollo, who tries to control them both through any means necessary.

This is by far the most explicitly Christian movie that Disney has ever made. It centers around the Norte Dame Cathedral. It has songs that are words of prayer in it, most notably “kiera elisson” - Lord have mercy. It shows people praying, and Esmeralda even sings a song of prayer to God. 

The movie opens with a jester singing a song describing Quasimodo and Frollo’s past. How Frollo killed his mother and was going to throw her infant child away until a priest stopped him, telling him that he must care for the child, providing for him. The first thing Frollo provided was the child with a cerul name - Quasimodo, meaning half formed. During the telling of these two men’s tales, the jester asks the question, “who is the monster and who is the man?” I think this question begs us to not only ask how do we, as humans see each other, but how does God view us. Does God view us monsters, drenched in sin, or as the beloved children of God?

The problem is that there can often be a disconnect between how we see people, how we treat people, and the care that God describes having for them in today’s Psalm. In the narrative, Frollo is a man of the Church, and thus is seen as a man of God, serving God’s purposes in the world. Yet, we have to ask, is he really? Or do other people jump to this conclusion simply because he says that he is Christian? In the opening song, we are told that Frollo saw corruption every where but within. Brothers and sisters, do we pursue to live the Christian life or do we pursue becoming God? We are told in scriptures that only God can judge, yet often the Christian faith is deemed judgmental? How did it get that way? Because of the reputation we carry for each other as we all bear the name of “little Christs” which is what the title Christian means.

This past week at camp we spent time talking about having a radical faith. Tuesday the theme was living radically. As the students shared what it is that makes them fearfully of living radically for Christ, the thing that kept coming up was a fear of being judged. This lead to a discussion about how most of society’s ideas of what it means to be Christian are negative. It did not always used to be this way. But that is where we are at now, because of people choosing to be God instead of representing God. One of my favorite song lyrics puts it this way, “My Father told me people see a preacher preach and assume that the words are the Lord’s”. But this isn’t just true of preachers, its true of all Christians, even if what we do and say is contrary to the heart of God, we are representing our Lord and Savior in the world. 

In contrast to Frollo are those who he is judging, Quasimodo and Esmerelda. People who are kind. When we seen Quasimodo when he gets older he is encouraging a baby bird to fly with words of tender care. When we meet Esmerelda, she is freeing Quasimodo after he is tied down and mocked by the people of Paris under Frollo’s command. These two characters stand up for the down trodden. They work for the redemption of other, and treat them as precious children of God. They truly reflect the heart of God we see in today’s Psalm. 

Of course Disney is simplifying the battle that rages in all of us - this tension between the darkness of Frollo and the light and hope of Quasimodo. For in reality, we all have been both characters at any given time. But who we end up being each and every day really traces back to what our ambitions are and who we are serving. In Psalm 72 we are told that kings fall down before God. Yet, in many of our heart of hearts we are striving to be Kings and Queens. Striving to be people other see as worthy. Striving to be people are precious in the sight of others. So we start to serve our own personal ambitions, instead of God’s. We get swept up in the way of the world instead of acting in a way that reflects the generous love and grace of our Savior. We choose, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, to let the dark monster side of us out because we see these type of people advancing in our world and being labeled as successful, and we want that to.

Yet, it isn’t Kings that the Psalmist speaks of God upholding, but the needy, the poor, those with no helper. These are not labels that we would readily ascribe to ourselves, because they require us humbly admitting that we don’t have it all together, and that we aren’t able to do it all on our own. Another way to describe those that the Psalm describes are the outcasts. 

There is a song in the movie when Esmerelda, this women who Frollo describes as depraved and a vermin, sings a prayer to God entitled, ‘God Help the Outcast’. During her prayer others are seen in the church praying for wealth and fame and other things for themselves and their own glory, while she is pleading with God to show outcasts the mercy that others deprive them of. She asks because she recognizes the outcasts as the children of God.

There is nothing wrong with praying for ourselves. In fact, we should pray for our needs, honestly bringing them before God. But it can’t stop there. Another song lyric says “As long as we say prayers for our children, but do not pray for others there won’t be peace.” We need to also be praying for something more than ourselves. We need to be praying for our heart to reflect God’s heart, that our concerns reflect God’s concern. And then we need to act upon those prayers with the strength and direction of the Holy Spirit. 

God is concerned for the oppressed children of God. Those who are forgotten and abused. Those who are in need of mercy and help. And because God has such concerns, so should we. It’s not a suggestion. Over and over in scripture we are told to stand up for those who are looked down upon. These are the people who Christ is seen dining with and ministering to through his presence. Yet, too often we let our dark side, our monster side, judge other children of God instead of seeing them with the eyes of Christ and responding with the heart of God who delivers the outcasts, who is on the side of the outcasts.

Despite what Frollo says, Quasimodo is not the monster in the movie. In fact, he is the exact opposite, as he sacrificially gives up his own security in order to help others. But we must ask ourselves, are we the monster or are we the man? Can we risk ourselves for the outcast? Can we identify ourselves with the outcast, humble and in need of God in our lives? Who are we praying for? And do our prayers and actions reflect the heart of God? My prayer is that as we leave this place that we take time for serious reflection, in order to see who we represent in this world. May we repent of the times we poorly reflected upon God and may we boldly go and love those whom God has a heart to deliver. No matter what the cost. Amen.