"Secret Millionaire" - Cue the Tears!

I'm crying and I don't care.


It's not like I don't know I'm being manipulated.  The savvy production people at ABC have performed their TV magic precisely so that I'd weep on cue.  But somehow, I really don't resent the tears spilling down my cheeks.  Despite the TV people's opportunism and my own cynicism, I know there's something very deep and real underneath the showbiz machinery of the television show, "Secret Millionaire."




If there's anything that's double-your-money-back guaranteed about "Secret Millionaire," it's this:  there will be tears.  Not only mine and yours, but also those of the main players in the show.  It happens every time.  Like clockwork, faces get wet at least four or five times every episode.

The premise of the show is pretty simple.  A successful business person--a millionaire-- ventures out, dressed up like an everyday Joe, into a not-so-good neighborhood.  He or she lives on welfare wages and volunteers at a few worthy organizations working hard to help people in need.  Each episode ends with the big reveal:  the millionaire makes him- or herself known, and gives really big donations to the unsuspecting charities.

Even before you've seen a particular episode, you can plot out exactly where the tears will fall.  And I think each batch of tears says something deep about what human beings were designed to be.

First of all, the Millionaire inevitably sheds some tears in the middle of volunteering.  She is usually moved deeply to see how profound are the needs that others face.  He is usually choked up to see the unglamorous,, day-in-day-out dedication shown by those reaching out to care for people who need help.  In other words, the Millionaire is always touched by compassion -- experiencing it himself, and being overwhelmed at seeing it in others.

Second, the people at the Charities always weep a bit when they learn that their new friend has the means and the inclination to give a big contribution to their work.  These people's hearts are set on helping others, and when they receive the encouragement and validation of someone else caring--not to mention the cash to do more good--they are rocked to the core.

Finally, as the Millionaire presents her generous gift to the outreach folks, everyone cries.  Somehow walls and distinctions break down in the act of giving--and everyone, giver and getter alike, is moved at the core of who they are.

Sure, I'm cynical.  I understand that TV is all about advertising and ratings and sales.  I know that somewhere on the checklist for every show is probably a quota of sob scenes.  But in spite of all of that, I'm moved every time.  I come away all the more convinced that humans are made in the image of God, and that ours is a God who radically and beautifully gives himself away.  And when we stumble onto doing what God does, something deep inside of us cries out and says, "Yes, you're getting it right!"   And the tears begin to flow.

This Lent, may God teach me how to jump headlong into the river of his mercy.  May he teach you and me what it is to give ourselves away, more and more, to those in need.  Giving may be a discipline of the desert -- but God's promise is that the desert will burst into bloom when it's watered by God.  And I wouldn't be surprised if God's watering can were filled with tears.

                    I will make rivers flow on barren heights, 
                       and springs within the valleys. 
                    I will turn the desert into pools of water, 
                       and the parched ground into springs.


                                                     (Isaiah 41:18)