Four Gospel Moments from Dunkirk

Justin Karl
Jul 27, 2017 · 5 min read

Christopher Nolan creates brilliant films within a notably godless universe. His films have the realism of humanity coupled with the extraordinariness of characters or circumstances featuring moments which the laws of nature or science bent (i.e his Batman films, Inception, Interstellar, etc.)

However, Dunkirk, feels much more precious and powerful as a historical re-creation of the extra-ordinary. This time the extra-ordinary thing is human courage, hope, mutuality, solidarity, grit, sacrifice and savvy. So here are four moments that were especially moving and ripe for gospel turns. By the way, a gospel turn is the moment in a conversation or sermon where you can make a connection to the life, death, resurrection of Jesus, his message of salvation to the world or theology in general. Warning: fairly serious spoilers from here on out:

1. The fighter pilot running out of fuel. As many times as he chalks his fuel on the dashboard, he knows and we know, he will not be leaving this fight. The stakes are too high. He is seeing the the tragic end of so many fellow soldiers and he must fight on. He wills his machine to its end. The turn here is: ‘the pilot chooses not to go home, chooses not to fly back on final reserves of fuel, to fight onwards on the hope of saving others to bring them home.’ Paralleled to Jesus’ atoning work for us and Paul’s striving for gospel mission in 1 Corinthians 9:22.

2. The young man forgiving the scared crashed-at-sea pilot.

The crashed pilot is struggling with shell shock on the deck of a rescuing boat. He is overcome briefly with fear and in a struggle knocks a teenager down the ladder of the boat into the cabin. The teenager hits his head, eventually resulting his death. The young man (friend of the teenager) is enraged (understandably) at the foolish and now deadly behavior of the pilot. However, during the events of the day the scared pilot seems to come out of his shock and back into helping drowning sailors into the boat and at work for the mission.

Because of this turn of heart, the young man chooses not to burden the pilot when he asks how the teenager he hit is doing. The pilot knows the teenager was injured, but he does not know the teenager has died from his injuries below the deck. The young man assuages his wrath, denies justice (makes the cause of the death obscure to history-authorities), and tells the pilot that the teenager will be alright.

The gospel turn here is tricky. In one way, the young man gives mercy like a merciful God not burdening the struggling pilot with guilt of the death while the massive war effort is still to be fought and also letting his friend (teenager) die a hero over a victim.

In another way, the young man denies justice, be it an accidental manslaughter by a frightened and very much at-war pilot. The pilot is no murderer, yet his actions have resulted in a very real death of an innocent teenager. God goes further than looking away from our sin because we are now getting right (pilot has a cool head helping instead of raging against the boat’s mission). God saves us in our frightened raging, with no signs of life or growth. He isn’t waiting for us to turn it around, grace, God’s grace is what turns frightened men around. God gives grace when we are wrong, not because we are turning our life around or quitting some sin. Grace makes us change, change doesn’t make grace.

Also, don’t miss the parallelism between the two downed pilots rescued by the boat. The first, crashed yet sat alone on his floating airplane. Rescued by the boat, yet lost to himself. The second, is rescued by the boat as he is trapped in his own cockpit. Struggling and near death, he is released from his demise by the oar of the boat crushing the glass and saving him. The first pilot raged, ungrateful for his chance saving (the boat shouldn’t be there on a normal day) and wanted to be safe at all costs now (begging-fighting the captain to go home). Second pilot is grateful after seeing how easily he could perish, an awareness of his mortality and experience of grace, gives him resolve instead of fear. As long as we rely on ourselves (pilot one) we will live in fear, when we realize none of us are nearly in control as we think we can live in faith of a greater purpose / God.

3. The obvious and the perfect: when the men couldn’t get home, home came for them.

It’s on the preview ads more or less for Dunkirk but Sammy Rhodes put it well on Twitter:

Gospel turn: Jesus and his kingdom are unattainable by mankind on our own. Mankind is unable physically and spiritually to turn to God and live (Romans 3:10–23). Yet Jesus comes to seek and save the lost, bringing us home (Luke 19:10).

4. The soldiers feel ashamed like failures for being evacuated from Europe back to Britain. Yet they are welcomed home with joy by the British people.

This is an interesting gospel turn in that, here is our hope for the church. A group of people so bonded together by Christ, so renewed by Christ, and so committed to both love of one another and passion for the mission that our failures, our neediness, and our shame has no place in the deep wells of forgiveness, love, and forgetting what lies behind and pressing on towards what is ahead (Philippians 3:13). A great line is dropped in the midst of this growing awareness among the soldiers that they are loved apart from their works,

“All we did is survive,” a young soldier says “That’s enough,” responds an older man (a probable veteran of WWI a generation earlier).

The church is sojourning. We journey in a country that is not ours, Christ will triumph death, sin, and evil finally one day soon. This will be our final victory. But for now the church must follow Jesus, love another, and strive towards the mission even if it feels like ‘all we did was survive’ sometimes and we must know that will be ‘enough.’


For more on the actual dynamics of the filming, style, and other Christian reflection check out:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-masterful-dunkirk-explores-a-miracle-of-history

Justin Karl

Written by

Lead Pastor / Planter of Citizens Church in Birmingham, AL.

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