The Gospel in 'Finding Nemo'

Dear reader, 

I have a few letters coming that are gospel perspectives of popular movies. 

I recently made a trip out to Colorado, and in the meantime, I spent the majority of the drive listening to movies and drawing out the gospel perspective. 

If you know the story of Finding Nemo it is about the relationship between a father (Marlin) and his son (Nemo). 

Marlin is overprotective and doesn’t want to let Nemo live his life. 

They fight and Nemo swims away from his dad soon to get snatched up by some nearby divers. 

Marlin then crosses the entire ocean in search of his son, meeting Dory a forgetful fish, and a large array of characters along the way, finally embracing his son at the end. 

The pursuit was worth it. 

You might already know where I’m going with this, but the Gospel truth I’ve pulled out from this story is Marlin’s drive to find his son. 

He is relentless. Crossing the ocean is no small thing. He crosses paths with jellyfish and sharks, and they are eaten by a whale at one point as well. 

The character of Marlin shows (imperfectly) a reflection of God’s desire to chase after us. 

We, His Children, run from him as fast as we can most days. 

We are active in sin and desire no intimacy with our Father, yet he still wants us. He still desires us, he searches for us. 

God knows exactly where we are at all times, and no matter how we treat Him, his love and mercy meet us where we need Him. 

There’s a scene at the very end when Nemo swims over to his dad for a hug. And it was so bittersweet, there are some days I don’t believe God would want to hug me after all the terrible things I’ve done. 

Yet there is no time that God is unwilling to welcome you back into his embrace. 

If you’re running away from God go back to Him, he wants you desperately. 

Let yourself be found by Him. 

Sincerely,

Your Fellow Runaway Son

-Mitchell