What could possibly go wrong when you throw together a beautiful woman, a couple dozen handsome men, a dash of love, and a sprinkle of Christianity?! Well, on Monday night, Bachelor Nation found out as we witnessed the long-anticipated showdown between Bachelorette Hannah and contestant Luke P.—one that certainly will go down in franchise history.
Luke, a 24-year-old “import/export manager” from Gainesville, GA, was a frontrunner from the beginning, receiving the First Impression Rose on the first night of the season. He and Hannah clearly had a *connection*, but by Week Two, Luke started to stand out more for his aggressive behavior and emotional manipulation than for his devotion to the woman he supposedly was falling in love with. He constantly was at the center of the drama among the other men. Exhibit A:
Despite all of the red flags and warnings from the other men, Hannah continues to advance Luke week after week, all the way to hometown dates, making him one of the top four contestants. While in Gainesville, they attend Luke’s Sunday school class where he shares his story about his encounter with God in the shower, which caused him to turn from his wild, party-boy lifestyle to a life of faith. Hannah then meets his family, who sings his praises. After seeing Luke in his element, Hannah, who likewise is open about her Christian faith on the show, continues to fall in love with Luke, giving him a rose at the end of the episode and therefore a ticket to Fantasy Suite Week in Greece.
Luke is Hannah’s last date of the week, and they explore Santorini, apparently genuinely enjoying each other’s company. There’s talk of love and a proposal and a lifetime together. Maybe Luke is redeeming himself!
But we all knew better. Thanks to ABC’s teasers about this week’s episode, we saw fairly early in the season that this peace was fleeting, and everything was about to hit the fan. And keep in mind that it’s Fantasy Suite Week, and it doesn’t take much of an imagination to understand what these dates are for—the only time in the whole season when contestants have a night alone with the Bachelorette without the watchful eye of cameras and producers…
Luke, the master of subtlety, declares, “Let’s talk about sex,” and informs Hannah that if he finds out she’s slept with any of the other remaining contestants, he’s going to send himself home. His judgmental tone as he questioned of her faith, more or less calling her a hypocrite, is the icing on the cake.
At this point, Hannah is fuming (and it has started to thunderstorm—ABC could not have orchestrated a better setting if they tried). She retorts, if sex before marriage were his deal-breaker, then she could have sent him home countless times before for his un-husbandly characteristics, namely his pride, but she had really wanted to give him a chance—causing next-level frustration and screaming at the TV all across the country. She tells Luke that he is attempting to throw the proverbial “first stone”: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (Jn 8:7).
Luke has forgotten—as I do too, all often—that sin is sin, that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That God doesn’t consult a scale where one sin is better or worse than another. Jesus says that anger is equivalent to murder, lust to adultery. And when we look at our condition through that lens, we’re all in trouble.
Which makes Jesus’ next words in John’s Gospel like music to the sinner’s ears: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? … Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Not only does he offer his forgiveness, but in that impossible command, he points us to his cross, where he who knew no sin became sin for us. Where we are made white as snow.
After the episode aired, Luke took to twitter to try to continue the conversation. He and Hannah go back and forth a few times, talking in circles, until Hannah gets the last word:
COMMENTS
11 responses to “A Bachelorette Treatise on Sin”
Leave a Reply
I really struggled with this episode. Love the way she talks about sin and the gospel (which you so beautifully illustrate here), but was SUPER confused about the intentionality with which she slept with Peter (and maybe also Jed?). Like she didn’t just “get caught up in the moment.” She goes into the week with that intent. Then she names sex as a sin in her convo with Luke, but doesn’t own her behavior as such you know? I just struggle with it all. I think she has an opportunity to be vulnerable about uncertainty over her own actions (she’s so quick to call out everybody else), and it would be super cool if she could own it. You know?
Thanks so much for this reflection, Margaret! In response to Charlotte’s comment, I think Hannah makes a good point about how Christians tend to make sex into this sin that is greater than other sins, and no matter how we act it is our sin (overall sin, not specific sins) that separates us, and only through Jesus do we have access to God. Whether she sleeps with all the guys or not, she is making the point that her choices don’t dictate whether she is loved by God, which I appreciated her voicing on national television.
So, I’m old, and I need serious help understanding.
A woman is paid by TV show producers to have sex with multiple men in exotic locations, except in this case, the prostitute…er, contestant…is a Christian who doesn’t do that sort of thing, except she does, and when one of her clients (who supposedly is a Christian too, despite consenting to be on this ”show”) calls her on it, she spouts some pseudo-justification for ”putting out” by yelling publicly, “Grace,” and now she’s being held up in this piece as a paragon of virtue. Oh, and the guy’s a villain.
Whatever happened to “Should I sin more so that grace may abound? By no means!”?
Why are Christians watching this for entertainment?
Why is this confused woman being held up as some modern-day Luther in the pages of Mockingbird? Did someone leave out a shark tank, a couple ramps, and a motorcycle?
If we want to know why the Church today has lost its ability to speak truth to this generation, perhaps we could start here.
But then, I’m in my mid-fifties, so, you know, not with it.
I’m unsure about this article too. While I agree that there are no winners here in the sin department, Hannah’s proud declaration of her sin should bother us. Grace is real and ever abounding, but repentance is needed. One wonders what, if anything, Hannah’s God requires of her, or if he is just a heavenly Jeeves.
“You get into heaven by being bad and accepting forgiveness. Now, that does in a way mean you have permission to be bad. If you want to stick your hand in a meat grinder, you are free to do that. It’s stupid, but God isn’t going to run the universe that way. God is not going to punish. He cares more about relationships than behavior.” – robert capon – https://mbird.mystagingwebsite.com/2008/06/interview-with-robert-farrar-capon/
Hmm. Nothing about repentance? Nothing about abiding in and putting on Christ? Nothing about keeping your body under control lest you be disqualified? Nothing about not being your own but having been bought with a price? Really?
I’m one of those Christians that watched this season… and now I have watched the men’s show where they recap the season and try to sort through the blame and justifying and explanations and all the rest. THAT episode (aired 7.22.19) was sort of astounding in what it said about American culture and religion. On that show I wished the guy (the now infamous) “Luke P” would have asked the crowd, “Which of you, just a few days before proposing marriage, if you found out your future spouse had just slept with another person would persist with the proposal?”
Few people in real life would move forward with the proposal. This is an “un-reality show”.
One more point – isn’t this a case of licentiousness vs. legalism? And isn’t the gospel the grand Third Way? The guy was all about how he’d straightened his life out and got a second chance (“secondary virginity”) with no real mention of Gospel and grace (moralism). The woman was all about putting her hand in the meat grinder (see above) and how she is free to welcome 3rd-degree-burns into her heart (Proverbs 6:27) and inflict those same burns on others because, #JesusStillLovesMe. I think the Gospel ThirdWay is, “I’m a wreck. You’re a wreck – Jesus loves me AND YOU – so let’s not wreck each other any more than we have to.”
And… I watched the season.
You’re not a wreck if you’re in Christ. Nor should you aspire to be a wreck or to act like one. The wreck mentality is wrong. Paul addresses his letters to the “saints,” not the wrecks. In fact, once you’re in Christ, you’re not called a sinner either, at least not by the writers of the New Testament.
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I AM the worst.” – paul, in the new testament
Paul, calling himself that to make a point about his past. Not calling others that presently. Do better. 1 Corinthians 6:11. Never, “To the fellow sinners at….” Always saints. Not what we WERE in God’s eyes but what we are.
Anyone and/or everyone,
May I ask you three questions (four, if we include this one)?
Do you love the law of GOD?
Have you read this (below) quoted part of Ms. Pope’s post?
“Luke has forgotten—as I do too, all too often—that sin is sin, that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. That God doesn’t consult a scale where one sin is better or worse than another. Jesus says that anger is equivalent to murder, lust to adultery. And when we look at our condition through that lens, we’re all in trouble.”
Finally, Jesus is recorded declaring something along these lines in Matthew 23, but I will pose it as my final question:
Do you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel?
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…” (Matthew 23:37)
Father, have mercy~ Love us, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.