MOCKINGJAY Part 2: An Ever-Present Help In Times Of Trouble | FCC 106

Finding Christ In Cinema

Katniss Everdeen is an ever-present help in times of trouble, and she is on a mission to create a new heaven and a new earth. Join us as we discuss these Christian themes and so much more in HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Part 2 on this episode of the Finding Christ in Cinema podcast.

For your convenience you will find each podcast segment at the time referenced below:

• 00:00:00 – Introduction and Previous Episode Recap
• 00:07:20 – Movie Discussion
• 00:31:36 – Christian Themes in HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2
• 01:08:17 – Listener Challenge and Feedback
• 01:20:11 – Well-mannered Frivolity
• 01:22:39 – Lightning Round
• 01:29:58 – Upcoming

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A New Heavens, a New Earth, and a New Love in MOCKINGJAY Part 2

Peeta Mellark has been through the ringer. Since the Quarter Quell, he’s been imprisoned by the Capitol and hijacked – literally, poisoned by tracker jacker venom – by President Snow. But Peeta doesn’t mind going through all of that if it means saving Katniss from it…at least at first.

But because tracker jacker venom is so powerful, it makes Peeta forget that love as we saw at the end of MOCKINGJAY Part 1. So now in the very beginning of MOCKINGJAY Part 2, Peeta has no kind regard for Katniss at all. He calls her a liar and a murderer and says that he would have been better off giving that burnt bread to the pig instead of Katniss (alluding to their first moment of their meeting as revealed way back in THE HUNGER GAMES).

But over time, as the tracker jacker venom wears off, Peeta comes back to his senses. Most importantly, he starts to remember the love he had and still has for Katniss. It’s a love that Katniss never truly lost, either, even if it was occasionally diverted by Gale. As we hear in the brief conversation between Gale and Peeta while Katniss is asleep, Gale believes she will end up choosing Peeta over himself because Peeta won her over by giving her everything. And he ends up being right.

It reminds us of the love Christ has for his own bride the Church – the love with which Christ laid down his life in order to save the Church. It reminds us of how we can be the Church by loving others in the same way. If we can follow the guidelines for that kind of love in our own lives, other people will know whose disciples we are, and we will have brought honor to our Master.

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Katniss Everdeen, an Ever-Present Help in Times of Trouble

Many things make Katniss a great leader, and one of those things is her determination to be on the front lines with her fellow rebels. Although she may have an ulterior motive for that determination – because being on the front line will get her closer to President Snow – she doesn’t let that keep her from being present with those who need her help.

The love Katniss has for her people is similar to the love with which Jesus cries out against Jerusalem. He says, “Oh, how I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Some scholars believe that Jesus is basing his parallel on a little farmyard wisdom: whenever some catastrophe – like a raging fire – has beset the property, a mother hen will gather her chicks under her wing so as to protect them from the impending wrath.

And after the storm has passed, one can see the handful of baby chicks still alive but underneath that mother hen that has been scorched to death. That’s the kind of proximity Jesus wanted to have with Jerusalem, and it’s the kind of proximity that Katniss wants to have with her people. May it also be the kind of loving closeness we have with our people so we can be that ever-present help for them, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

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Key Texts

John 13: 34-35 NET

I give you a new commandment – to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.

Psalm 46:1 NLT

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

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Finding Christ In Cinema is the show where we discover Christian themes in movies past and present. Join us and together we’ll dig deeper into the silver-screen classics of yesteryear as well as the box-office hits of today. Brought to you by the Great Commission Transmission Network. View the complete show notes – including links to articles discussed – by clicking here.

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