Groundhog Day and Sanctification
What we can learn from Billy Murray and America's favorite weather forecaster
My son and I have a tradition that we kind of stole from my daughter. Every Thursday night, we Zoom and watch a movie together. My daughter and I started doing this when she went to college. I think watching Stranger Things, and then The Last of Us, and that has continued for my son and me. We’ve watched the classics: Shawshank Redemption, The Lord of the Rings, Godfather One and Two (there is no third film, no matter what you’ve been told), among others. But now we are moving into some lighter fare. Movies that everyone should know and that are just a lot of fun. So that means, at some point, we’ve got to watch Groundhog Day.
I just love this movie. It’s great. Just a great movie, and to me, it still holds up, after all these years. The image above is one of my favorites because it’s so ridiculous. Never drive angry, you know. Not to spoil a movie that’s over thirty years old, but it is the story of Phil, an arrogant, selfish, narcissistic weatherman forced to relive the same day over and over again. At first, the loop seems like a prison, as he has to keep reliving the same interactions with Needlenose Ned and all the other characters in Punxsutawney. When he realizes that he is going to relive the same day over and over again, he begins to see the power in this, as he uses his knowledge of everyone and everything to his advantage to get what he wants. He realizes that he is infatuated with Rita, his television producer, so he relieves every day in the hopes of winning her over. But each time he fails. After this, he feels hopeless and tries to die over and over again, until he realizes he is stuck in this loop.
Then he does something. He finally, finally, looks beyond himself and sees the homeless man that he ignores each morning as someone of worth who he tries to save. He convinces the young couple to get married. He shows an interest in his coworkers. He learns to play piano. He becomes the most beloved man in the town. And then, when he has finally lost all his ego, pride, and desire for power, he finally gains the one thing he truly desired: Rita’s love. Then, the day flips, and he gets to live his life as a changed man.
It’s just a great movie. It’s smart, funny, and relevant. As we were watching it the other night, it hit me. Groundhog Day is about sanctification. Phil doesn’t find peace and happiness until he finds the only true path to peace and happiness. He died to himself and began to live for others. We do not truly know life until we give our lives away.
In my theological tradition of the United Methodist Church, we focus a lot on sanctification. It is part of our very salvation; we are to grow and be made more like Christ. In a nutshell, we, and every human ever born, are made in the image of God (Genesis 1 and 2). We have on us the mark of the divine. We are of a sacred worth. Then, in Genesis 3, sin enters in, and humanity, as well as all of creation (Romans 8:18-23), is corrupted by it. Everything from Genesis 4 through the end of Revelation is about God’s plan to restore us and all of creation through covenant (or relationships). We are saved (or restored) through a relationship with Jesus. We become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) as that image of God is restored. That restoration is called Spiritual Growth by many people, but we Methodists call it sanctification. We are sanctified, made holy, whatever term you want to call it, through grace. Sanctification is as much a part of our Christian walk as justification, or “getting saved.” It is what our entire faith leads to.
That image of God is restored, and we become as God desires us to be. Well then, the question is, what is that? What does God want us to be? I think there are a lot of things in Scripture that can tell us what that is, but I believe the best understanding of sanctification and the Christian life is what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 22: 36-40:
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
What does satisfaction look like? What does the Christian life lead us to? Love God and Love of Neighbor. On this hang all the Law and Prophets. You want a summary of the Ten Commandments? Love God and Love Neighbor. You want a summary of the Christian life should look like? Love God and Love Neighbor. That’s what our faith calls us to do. That’s what it should all be about. That is the practical application of our doctrine and faith. It must drive us to love God and neighbor with all that we are. That is what it is all about. Love of God and Love of Neighbor.
That’s it, that’s the list.
In Groundhog Day, Phil got there, eventually. He finally came to realize the only way his life had meaning was to love others. To care for others. To seek the betterment of others. To be a blessing to this small town. Then he truly lived and began to love living life, even if it was the same day, over and over again. He truly lived. Because he died to his pride and selfishness and began to live for others.
He began to love. Then he began to live.
Friends, that is the path that Jesus calls us to. To die to self. To stop living for ourselves. Our life is not our own. And if we only live for ourselves, our desires, our wants, I can promise you that we will be miserable. But if you and I, if we can look past ourselves, and look around, we can see something truly beautiful. If we can move from living only for ourselves, but to lay down our lives and live for others, then we will, for the first time maybe ever, TRULY LIVE.
If we live only for ourselves, we are not alive. But when we begin to live for others, we find true life. In our theology, that is called sanctification. We are loving God and loving others. God's grace awakens our souls, and we begin to see His beauty in everyone and love Him and each other with all that we are.
It took Phil reliving the same day, over and over again, before he finally began to live. When he did, he looked past himself to others and so their worth, value, and finally loved, truly loved them. My friends, that’s sanctification. That’s our very faith.
We have the same opportunity today. If we can die to our ego and pride, look at ourselves, look to others, and love them, then we can really live and have a life worth living. We can live that life of sanctification, and that is a life truly worth having. Life is calling today, friends. But it will not come from living for ourselves. It will only come in living for God and for others.