Michael Jackson -- Great American Tragedy

The King of Pop lay in a golden coffin today, eulogized by the stars. Video montages, press coverage, metallic gold brochures, and mourners who won a ticket lottery all combined to create a memorial service like none other. Hours before the service, the circus quite literally came to town. But the lumbering elephants in downtown LA were upstaged in the days leading up to the funeral. Ring masters of the media circus analyzed, hailed, and hashed Jackson's life and career, calling him everything from a genius to a pervert. The adults were caught up in the frenzy. It took a broken-hearted little girl to Get Real! about the true importance of Jackson's life.

Paris-Michael Jackson, a child consistently shielded from media eyes, finally took the stage. "Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," sobbed the-eleven-year-old. "And I just wanted to say I love him."

God created people to love and enjoy Him forever. We are intended to be a reflection of his glory and a celebration of his personality. All of us are created in his image. Jackson's talent and creative genius were a reflection of that image.

Review the media coverage since his death and you'll see an often repeated phrase: God-given talent. People, even those who don't often talk publicly about God, recognize that when extraordinary talent is all bottled up in one person, something supernatural has taken place.
Herein, lies the glory and the tragedy.

Talent, creativity, beauty, inspiration, and "star quality" are meant to draw attention to the Creator. All too often, we worship the creature instead.

When we use the word "idol" to describe a pop star (or any other kind of star), we are more correct than we realize. The problem is, human beings are not created to be idols. And when they step into that role, they crumble from the inside out.

Consider Jackson's life. His parents saw the star quality in their children from the start. Instead of nurturing the family by building healthy relationships, molding character, and drawing the children to a vibrant relationship with God, the Jacksons sacrificed the talented siblings upon the altar of show business. All else took second place. Fame and fortune were the goals, and the goals were realized. But what was the cost?

Michael Jackson may be buried in a golden coffin, but even that didn't go with him beyond the grave. Fame and fortune are past now. What does his future hold?

We are eternal beings. We do not end when our life is over. We face our God. The only treasures we take with us are the ones we send on ahead. (See Randy Alcorn's book The Treasure Principle.)

Talk like this seems rather old fashioned, I suppose. People often think that if we emphasize living for Heaven, we somehow minimize the abundant life God promises for the here and now. However, I'm beginning to realize that a rock solid faith in God's promised eternal rewards is the path to today's abundant life. If I know that every heart ache has eternal pay off, that every sacrifice for the higher good is not really a sacrifice at all (because it brings a great reward later), that every loss is actually a gain, it's hard to be less than joyful. The challenge is learning to live out that kind of faith on a daily basis.

How would Jackson's life have been different if his parents had put more emphasis upon building for eternal reward than in clamoring for fame? How would it have been different if Jackson himself had stopped looking backward for a lost childhood and inward at an empty heart and started looking upward toward the God who always had a hand of love stretched out toward him.

The image of God was still in Michael Jackson, however distorted it may have been. Somehow he managed to shine some of God's Father-image upon his daughter. She knows that the real value of Jackson's life was bound up in his relationships. At least she knows in part. I pray that she and his other children discover the rest of the truth: relationship with God is the ultimate source of life's value.

Whatever suffering this life brings can be endured with joy if we are connected in vital union with our Creator. Whatever treasures we send ahead will be enjoyed forever with the Father who never dies.

Gettin' Real!
Melodie