Notice how many movies are about vocation. For example, consider Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson’s movie about Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector who won the Medal of Honor. A medic, he rescued 75 wounded servicemen in the Battle of Okinawa.
I haven’t seen the film yet, but a review in World Magazine by Sophia Lee quotes a passage that goes to the heart of the doctrine of vocation. Read it and my discussion after the jump.
From Sophia Lee, A pacifist at war | WORLD News Group:
Desmond holds fast to his conviction, refusing to quit or complain even after enduring peer ridicule, brutal hazing, and a court-martial. Still, doubt strikes in the hellhole of smoke, fire, and limbs at what would soon be known as the bloodiest battle in the Pacific, when he cries out to heaven, “What is it You want of me? I don’t understand. I can’t hear You!” Then he hears a man screaming out, “Help!” and he answers, “All right.”
[Keep reading. . .]
Vocation is about how God works through human beings. And God works through human beings to deliver His “calling” (which is what “vocation” literally means). Here too we see the purpose of vocation: to love and serve our neighbors. So God’s calling can be heard in the voice of a neighbor crying “Help!”
UPDATE: Read also Ted Giese’s review of the movie at the LCMS website. (HT: Mary Moerbe)
Photo of Desmond Doss receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Truman, by US Federal Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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