In the 1938 movie The Amazing Adventure of Ernest Bliss, Cary Grant portrayed a multi-millionaire bachelor who was told by his doctor that his discontent and unhappiness were due entirely to his arrogant, careless lifestyle and isolation from ordinary working people. The movie was filmed in England during the Great Depression, giving our generation a glimpse of life in those hard years.

Ernest made a bet with his doctor that he, Ernest, could disappear, and live entirely by his own labors for one year, or he would pay his doctor $50,000. The jobs Ernest could find included selling stoves, and chauffeuring. One night when he was called to drive the doctor to a patient’s home, the doctor was astonished to recognize his own patient.

Ernest experienced kindness from his landlady, and fellowship with others struggling to support themselves. He fell in love with Frances, a secretary played by Mary Brian, but part of his bet required him not to reveal his real identity, and though she loved him, she was the sole support of her mother and ailing sister, and felt she couldn’t marry someone without a steady income. Ernest came face to face with material shortage, with life lived on the edge of sheer want. It surprised him and deepened him, exactly as the doctor had prescribed. For the first time in his life Ernest was grateful for an offered cup of tea, and for an extension on his rent bill. The layers of reality overlap in the movie in intriguing ways. At one point his landlady says, “Don’t worry, Mr. Bliss. There are those who don’t pay, even when they can, and those who don’t pay because they can’t; and I know the difference.”

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy,” and he also said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:7 &5) From the friendships he made, and the grace that was shown him, Ernest’s adventure was a spiritual trip to humility , and even meekness.

The Bible asserts, “Now Moses was a very meek man, more meek than anyone else on the face of the earth.” ( Numbers12:3) Both the Old and the New Testaments affirm the importance of meekness in the kingdom of God. It is a quality that brings with it God’s own Spirit. The movie ends happily, and in the end, the Beatitudes are in glorious display.

Love in Him,

Prue