In Malick’s “A Hidden Life”, the question that most captured my attention pertains to the importance of words. How important are true or false confessions, and why? The lead character, Franz Jägerstätter, refused to swear loyalty to Hitler, which finally resulted in his execution, and persecution and hardship for his family. Everyone advised and admonished him to consider the consequences – for himself, for his wife and children. He was told that he could regard signing a loyalty statement as a meaningless act; it was just a piece of paper. But if he refused, it would have dire consequences for himself and his family. Furthermore, his refusal would never be publicly known, and would never have any consequence as a political statement. He was told that his refusal was totally a matter of selfish pride.
But he was unmoved by these considerations of consequences. He simply could not voice words contrary to what was in his heart. His over-riding concern was his own integrity.
What shall we say of this? One point to make is that there is always someone who hears and knows what we say or refuse to say. Whatever words we utter within someone’s hearing is a witness, and it is beyond human wisdom and foresight to foresee the consequences.
But what is of utmost importance are the consequences for our own soul. Consider Proverbs 18:20-21 — “With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; he will be satisfied with the product of his lips. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” We must be careful about our words, for the sake of guarding our own personal integrity. When you speak what is truly in your heart, it reinforces and establishes your conviction; it guards your integrity, and it guards your soul. And this is not primarily a self-serving interest; for a Christian, it is a matter of loving and serving one God with all of your heart and soul and might. On the other hand, words or symbolic gestures that deny what is in the heart undermine one’s own being; they undermine whole-hearted love for the Lord, and lead to the loss of one’s own soul. Personal integrity, upheld and guarded by the words of the mouth, is of infinite value, surpassing any external consequences in this life.
Essentially the same issue is addressed in Martin Scorsese’s “Silence”. A Jesuit priest in 17th century Japan is pressured into symbolically denying Christ, as the means of delivering his parishioners from a horrendous torture-execution. The appeal was the same, that a gesture that could be regarded in his heart as meaningless would be the way to save his people from death, and would thus be an act of loving mercy. But to obstinately refuse their demand would be an act of selfish pride. In this case, he finally relented to their demand, and denied his Lord.
The crucial difference between the two cases was the matter of faith and hope. In the latter case, the priest was focusing on the consequences on earth. But Franz, in “A Hidden Life”, was focused on the greater and living hope in the age to come, wherein the destiny of his own soul and the souls of his family took precedence. When one has such an eternal hope, then virtue ethics and consequentialist ethics become one. Malick makes it clear at the end of the film that Franz and his wife were driven by this hope. This is what has always been the crucial factor in Christian witness. The stories of early church martyrs show that they were not driven by an earthly prideful “courage”. They were not driven by a desire to be remembered and honored in future generations, as was the tradition of Greece and Rome. They were rather driven by a love for the Lord and an indomitable hope in the resurrection.