What ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ taught me about confession and grace

Halfway through watching the new Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, I said to my husband, “This film is astonishing!” Christian friends had primed me to expect some pro-Jesus themes, but I was nonetheless stunned to see such a powerful presentation of the Gospel in a secular murder mystery.

The main character is a young Catholic priest, Father Jud, who is sent to a troubled church to assist the fiery Monseigneur Wicks. I won’t spoil the whodunnit (it’s a good one), but beneath the typical search for clues and culprits is a debate between two ways of understanding the Christian story: is the Church called to fight against the unbelieving world, or to love and serve it?

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What struck me most in this exploration of faith was the theme of confession

What struck me most in this exploration of faith was the theme of confession, and its relationship to grace. Father Jud is a priest with a past: he is very aware of the depth of his own sin, and the wonderful forgiveness he’s received - and it’s his personal experience of grace that allows him to minister grace to others.

While Wicks abuses confession as a power play, Jud views it as a blessing and a path to healing. 

While Wicks abuses confession as a power play, Jud views it as a blessing and a path to healing. In my favourite line of the film, Jud declares with conviction: “God loves me when I’m guilty.” It’s not that we’re loved and therefore fine as we are, or that we’re guilty and therefore condemned. It’s Biblical truth: ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8)

In contrast to Father Jud, other characters in the film hide their own sin and judge the sin of others. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, they see themselves on the side of good, and evil as something ‘out there’. Beneath their self-righteousness is fear: they can’t admit their own failures, even to themselves. In one powerful scene, a character finally comes to Father Jud to confess significant sin. He tells them, “I understand”, and we know that he does. He’s a shepherd who can be honest and vulnerable with his flock because he’s been where they are. For this character, repentance brings freedom from a lifetime of hate.

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Most protestant denominations don’t practice regular sacramental confession in the way Catholic churches do. In my experience, confession is emphasised at the point of conversion, but thereafter treated as a mostly private matter between the individual and God. I wonder if we lose something valuable in cutting other people out of the process. James 5:16 urges us, ‘confess your sins to each other’. God designed us to live and worship in community, to guide and assist each other on the path of faith.

Since joining an Anglican church I’ve appreciated saying the general confession together on a Sunday morning. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it as a regular opportunity to recalibrate my heart in community, rather than something I do only when I have something specific to say sorry for.

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I think there are times too when it is helpful or even necessary to name our sin out loud, though this may be hard to do. Where there is no formal process for confession, we must choose wisely who we trust with our moments of failure, but certainly we all need loving relationships in which we can be truly honest and accountable to one another. In the film, Father Jud, like many of us, also carries some false guilt. Wise friends can help us see when we are feeling shame for things that aren’t our fault.

Jud says his purpose as a priest is “not to fight the wicked and bring them to justice, but to serve them and bring them to Christ.” When we’re brought to Christ, we are not rejected as dirty, but washed clean. Confession isn’t beating ourselves up for what we’ve done or failed to do. Rather, it’s humbly kneeling before our Saviour to receive help and healing. This is the Gospel: he loves us when we’re guilty.