Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door

Wednesday, December 4, 2013
"Somebody's Knockin' at Your Door"

I feel as if this post is more deeply inspired by the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who than the chosen hymn for today...but it's a good message.

For an Whovian fans reading this, well, spoilers!

I'll just say that Moffat pulls off Everybody Lives in epic fashion -- and the Doctor pull off the ultimate Life Hack.  They use their suffering and guilt to pull themselves back from the brink in their previous timeline.  They choose to endure the pain of crushing guilt because it helps them figure out how to save everyone.

And there's this great moment, when a terrible thing is about to happen -- when you think that all of this buildup really has been to convince an old man that he must kill billions to save the universe for fairly and annoyingly light justification -- there's that old sound of the TARDIS coming in for a landing.

Of somebody knockin' at the door.

When I sang this song this morning, I used the traditional interpretation -- Jesus is always calling to us, wanting to save us, wanting to show us how to help people, wanting to help us become better people.  And we sit in our little world thinking it's so important when heaven and God are banging to get in through the flimsy little barrier we've created.

I posed a lot of questions today about "The Lady or the Tiger", and I spent a lot of that time trying to get the kids to stop trying to "hack" the story -- figure out cheats around the devilish choice the character must make.

I was wrong.

There's always another way.  Doctor Who already taught me that lesson once.  Whenever you think you're alone, whenever you think a terrible thing must be done, listen for the knock.

I can guarantee you, Somebody's knockin' at the door with a better plan.

And the repetition of "Can't you hear him?" and "Can't you trust him?" just makes it feel all the more true.  We let people tell us that we have only two choices.  That is a lie told by lying liars, even if they're not doing it intentionally.  You have ten thousand choices every second.  Everything you do is a choice, and no one gets to tell you what those are -- or that you have no choice but to do a lesser evil.

It's okay if you can't see the way out.  It's okay if you can't see the better way on your own.  Even the Doctor couldn't, with all of his wisdom.  All I ask is that you listen.

O sinner, why don't you answer?  Somebody's knockin' at your door.