Have you ever watched a television series fr a short while, stopped for a long while and then come back to it again?
That was my experience with the detective drama, Elementary. I would not classify myself as a big follower of Sherlock Holmes, but I’ve found the character interesting and have dabbled in viewing the occasional portrayal. There’s always been something about detectives and the crime procedural – that element of a mystery and someone devoted to solving it – that intrigues me. Don’t get me wrong, not all of them – some of them leave me … well let me leave that alone … for now. But right up there are the likes of Detective Robert Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Lieutenant Columbo and Sherlock Holmes.
I watched both the BBC’s take on Sherlock and the American take – the aforementioned Elementary. I think I initially made it through the first season of Elementary and then it just fell off my radar in terms of programmes I’d watch. Years later, I came across it again and made a start. On this occasion, I was happy to go from one episode to the other. I prefer the episodes about the dynamic of the characters working on the resolution of the mystery – that is the programme at its best. There are key characters in the programme, but the show hinges on the relationship between Holmes and Watson. I was not put off by the idea of Watson being a woman – where on other programmes and works of fiction certain figures and characters would be changed to ‘send a message’, the arrangement of Holmes in New York with a female Watson worked very well. That was also emphasised by the policy in place to keep their relationship totally platonic.
Hard to believe, though it may be, this isn’t here to give a positive review about that programme (although I do recommend it). I was very intrigued by the presentation of the relationship between Watson and Holmes; namely how it is based on the former being the latter’s sober companion. That concept of the sober companion and its application in this scenario was well told.
I was not familiar with such a role beforehand and watching it in action got me intrigued. Here is someone struggling with addiction. He recognises the struggle and he does not want to depend on the source of addiction anymore. He wants to break free. To assist him in this effort is someone who lives sober and who comes alongside him.
You could almost believe that the idea is based on what Jesus reassures His disciples in His final dialogue with them before His crucifixion.
“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
John 14:15-16
That idea is that Jesus takes those who were addicted to sin and then helps them with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The promised Spirit of God lives in us and comes alongside us to help us to stay sober. To stay in the way of the path to life everlasting. He is present to allow us to engage in ways pleasing to the One who set us free. Free from the destructive habits and the depressing mindset and the delusional viewpoint. Free to embrace the truth as the One who made us also is the One who rescues us as we turn to Him.
There is the sense as well that His Spirit lives in us, those who know the rescuing nature of God can be sober companions to others encouraging them to live in agreement with Jesus with the help of the One given. In a sense, every follower of Jesus gets a sober companion when other believers – those who are spiritual as Paul would refer to them in his letter to the Galatians – see their responsibility to help, correct and restore where necessary. God never designed this journey to be one done on our own. It is not a journey where the lone ranger is applauded. This is a journey of love and that requires relationships. Those relationships are not just for when we look good in the gathering of the saints, but when we grapple with those lonely moments and those testing times of struggle.
As we follow Jesus by His Spirit, He presents opportunities to us to share the journey of sobriety, letting the other person know that there is grace and life in Jesus Christ. As we rely on Him, so He gives us what we need to thrive through the day.
Where some might be bemused by that notion, personally, I just think it’s elementary.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 