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So I finally took the LOST plunge.  Last week I finished the first season, and I’m beginning to make my way through the second.  In many ways I got a distinct feeling (at least from the first season) that this is one of the most important shows ever created.  I know this is a big statement but the show’s cult like status and popularity begins to suggest that its doing something right.  I want to suggest what it is.

LOST gets at the heart of the human problem.  We suffer from our own experiences and they haunt us like mysterious monsters in the jungle.  We experience life in ways that seem to conspire against us and no matter what we do, we can’t outrun them.  The only way to get rid of them is to face them.  LOST provides the space to wrestle with our own humanity, which takes place in stories.  Each character has a story he/she brings to the island.  We are our stories.

The reason I think this show is one of the most important in television history is because it is giving us a first hand account of the Gospel.  Repentance is the act of changing one’s mind but we cant’ do that unless we are courageous enough to face the evidence that demands a judgment.  Everyone has done something that they want to forget.  But our bodies don’t work like that.  They never forget.  We can’t change the past but we can change the judgments we make about the past.

If we look at the Gospel, its really two events (at least for me): the Garden and the cross.  Something happened in the Garden with a tree that forever changed the trajectory of humanity.  And no matter how much we run from it, it continues to show up uninvited in our lives.  Conflict is inevitable. The only way to reconcile it is by “returning to the scene of the crime”.  So much of the last days of Jesus are a returning to the scene of the crime. But what changes is not the event, which can never change, but our judgment of the event. The space in between is much like purgatory, or the space between heaven and hell that most people live in.

The most important character in the first season to me is the monster in the jungle.  It’s the black smoke that chases us.  It’s the fear of something taking over us.  The more we run, the more empowered it becomes.  Only John Locke stands up to it in the first season.  The smoke is for me the haunting memory of judgment.  It’s more than the events or circumstances.  It’s the ethereal conclusions we make that rattle our brains and captivate us.

I also love the myriad of characters the producers have created.  My favorite is Sawyer.  It’s easy to like Sawyer because he pulls no punches.  He’s the most honest AND at the same time the most dishonest of the characters. Sawyer hides behind a false self that even includes his name.  He’s bent on revenge and the desire has so completely overtaken him that he’s taken on the name of this enemy.  It’s a brilliant move on the part of the writers. I also like Sayid because he’s wrestling with his own redemption.  He’s fighting for his own restoration even if he doesnt’ know how.  I do like Jack, who is arguably the main character of this ensemble.  He’s the wounded healer trying as hard as he can to earn love, but the character resonates with my own sense humanity so I find myself rubbing up against him.  This is the brilliance of the show.  It’s so easy to find someone to resonate with.  Everyone is someone on the island.

As much as God is absent, God is also extremely present.  That anyone survived with little to no harm is obviously a miracle.  I think it was Claire who asked, “Have we done something to deserve this?” It’s easy to see circumstance as a divine punishment for our sins.  Even when we don’t believe in God, we blame God. I don’t really know the producers intent of the show, but I will say this. The show is about how we wrestle with God in our every day lives and the judgments we make in that process.

Note: I know its nitpicking, but I only have one criticism of the show.  Anyone living for over a month on an island would not look like they just stepped out of a Gap store.