SPOILER ALERT--THE REASON FOR MUSTAFA'S OWNERSHIP OF THE HOTEL IS REVEALED.
About two years ago, I was reading the parables of the Kingdom in my Scofield Bible, and I had a breakthrough. My current pastor has preached that, if we think we have Jesus figured out, then we are worshipping the wrong Jesus/God. Thankfully, he's right. The depths of the Gospel can never be completely plumbed. I will get to the Scriptures in a moment, but first Wes Anderson's take on one of these parables.
At the beginning of the movie, the pre-war luxury and extravagance of the Hotel is revealed to have been dissipated. Now, the Hotel is but a shell of its former self. The once fine furnishings are now shabby. The once fanatical level of service has been replaced by lackluster service. The once full Hotel is now relegated to having just a few guests. One of these guests is the current owner of the Hotel--an elderly gentleman named Mustafa. Interestingly, Mustafa stays in one tiny room--no larger than a servant's quarters--we later learn it was the servant's quarters that he occupied when he was Lobby Boy.
At the end of the movie, Mustafa is questioned why he still owns the Hotel. Mustafa had inherited a vast empire--two magnificent estates (castles, really) and endless factories. Now, he owns only this run-down hotel. Mustafa (paraphrasing): "Once the new government took over, I struck a deal to relinquish my castles and factories in exchange for keeping the Hotel." Query to Mustafa: "Did you do that because of your fondness for Monsieur Gustav." Mustafa: "No, I did it because of Agatha." At this point, I got choked up and began digging my nails into my palms so I wouldn't sob in the middle of the theater.
Later, Debbie asked why that part of the movie made me so emotional. Here's why.
Agatha and Mustafa married at a very young age. She was the one love of his life. He sold everything (his vast empire) to hold onto his least valuable asset--but it was a treasure to Mustafa because of its connection to Agatha. Agatha was Mustafa's "treasure in the field."
Which brings us to Scofield's explanation of the "treasure in the field" parable. The parable is used to explain the characteristics of the kingdom. How better to understand the kingdom than to understand the character of the king.
I've always been taught that the "treasure in the field" is the Kingdom--that once we find Jesus, we view Jesus/Kingdom as a treasure and sell everything to buy the field so that we can have the treasure located there. Is this good news--that we have to sell everything?
Scofield says that we are the treasure. That's right--the treasure is us. God views us as a treasure. God sells everything (His Son) to buy the field in which we are buried. Jesus gives His life for us, because we are like a treasure to Him. If you look at the other "seeking the lost" parables, God is the actor and we are the "lost" item. So, it seems clear that we are the treasure--that the creator of the Universe--of trillions of galaxies containing trillions of solar systems--views each of us individually as treasures.
In viewing each of us as treasures, God does so with full knowledge of our brokenness, our selfishness, our pride, and our pious religiosity or irreligiosity. God sees into the darkest corners of our hearts. Jesus attached the idea of sin to thoughts (going radically beyond the concept of sin held by the Pharisees), so our thoughts should condemn us time and again before God. But rather than judging us, God forgives our sins and views us as treasures. This view of the Gospel seems too radical to be true. Yet, if Mustafa could love Agatha that much, then maybe, just maybe, God can love us that much. This is truly good news.
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