THE EMPEROR'S CLUB (2002)

Directed by: Michael Hoffman
Written by: Neil Tolkin
Studio: Fine Line Pictures
Starring: Kevin Kline, Emile Hirsch, Embeth Davidtz
Rated: PG-13

About the film:
A prep school teacher with idealistic beliefs and high moral principles locks horns with a new headstrong student who comes from privileged means but does not share the teacher’s morality.

Movie Quote:
“Aristophanes once wrote, roughly translated; ‘Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.’”
William Hundert (Kevin Kline) in The Emperor’s Club (2002)

Bible Quote:
“The fear (respect) of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”
Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)

Commentary:
No one is perfect. But we all share a saving grace… we can improve. If we have the desire and the willingness to perfect ourselves there is an unlimited amount of personal growth which we can experience and enjoy.

Not that we are able to will ourselves to grow. Our physical and our mental growth are built into our bodies. As we nourish them, the growth comes automatically. The same can be said of our spiritual lives. Just as our physical growth requires nourishment, our spiritual growth requires the nourishment of a spiritual diet that can be found through the study of God’s Word.

It is readily available to us but it requires an effort on our part. If we choose not to avail ourselves of the spiritual knowledge that God has revealed, He describes us as being “foolish.” It is the kind of “stupidity that lasts forever” to which Aristophanes alluded.

Without the willingness to learn and the readiness to receive the nourishment of the Word, one is resigned to remain in a permanent state of ignorance – a state of non-growth.

Questions to consider while watching the film:
1. God often uses plant life as an analogy to our spiritual development. What comparisons can be made to further our understanding of how we are to grow spiritually?
2. Hundert broke his own rules at one point in the film. Why did he do this? What was the end result? Would you have done the same? Why or why not?

Michael Elliott
http://screensermon.blogspot.com