The previous episode ends with the news of Mrs. Laningham's death in an automobile accident. She has been with President Bartlet as his personal secretary, but also has been part of his life for several decades...first as a teacher in a private boarding school that Bartlet's father ran. Flashbacks take us to the tension and pain of his relationship with his father. Father was not a great word for Jeb Bartlet. His father was stern, unfair, unloving, demanding, and just a jerk. Some people relate to God as Father in that way also. But Jeb Bartlet grows up, becomes a Govenor, and then President of the United States. All the time, Mrs. Laningham accompanies his journey up the ladder. She is the voice of reason. The "I'll tell you the truth whether you want to hear it or not" woman in Jeb's life. She is a voice saying "I can't answer all of your questions...but I also will not diminish your desire to ask more". In witty dialog she is one person Jeb Bartlet loves and trusts...and so her death crushes him at the core.
The following is the words President Bartlet speaks in the Cathedral as he vents his anger at God following her death. It’s more than anger at her death, it’s also the pent up emotions of years struggling to comes to grips with his relationship with his own Father. It's the most powerful scene I've ever witnessed in my 50+ years of TV watching.
gratias tibi ago, domine.
Thank you, Lord.
“The first line is just a sarcastic, "Thanks a lot, buddy!"
haec credam a deo pio, a deo justo, a deo scito?
Am I to believe these things from a righteous God, a just God, a wise God?
cruciatus in crucem
To hell with your punishments! (literally "(put/send) punishments onto a cross")
tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui; officium perfeci.
I was your servant, your messenger on the earth; I did my duty.
cruciatus in crucem -- (with a dismissive wave of the hand) eas in crucem
To hell with your punishments! And to hell with you! (literally, "may you go to a cross")”
The words are so hollow...the scene is full of tension and emotion...just watch it sometime. What it highlights is this struggle we all have at times with the problem of God as both Father and Almighty. Someone once point blank labeled the issue: “If God is good, then he is not all-powerful, and if he is all-powerful, then he is not good.” We struggle, like Job did, with the mystery of God’s silence about “Why?”. We, as humans, want an explanation, and there is none. I struggled with my Mom's Alzheimers and with the countless deaths and diseases I encountered, along with the selfish sinfulness in humans over 35+ years of ministering.
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence which is not seen.” I’m cornered by one thought…Do I trust? Most of the time, Yes; but then there are times when I shake my head and cannot make the transition to real faith. I am struck by the words of the disciples when Jesus asked them if they were also going to walk away: “Where else do we go, you alone have the words of life.”
In this dialog, and our pondering there is something deeper: our feelings are real and they are ours. They cannot be glossed over with platitudes, even biblical platitudes such as “God has a plan.” President Bartlet confidently takes on a conservative radio talk show psychologist on her haphazard takes on Old Testament laws in one episode. He can wax eloquently about the true context and application of a homily from Ephesians (“be subject to one another”). He can take the church to task for not decrying the acts of those who bomb abortion clinics in the name of life and the Lord. But even he cannot resolve the seeming injustice that comes from Mrs. Laningham’s death.
It is my all-time favorite TV show…not just the whole series…but this one particular episode. It captures so wonderfully – and emotionally – the nature of our dilemma when it comes to knowing God as Father and as Almighty. It is class curriculum tonight
