Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (2011)

Written by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling. 130 minutes. PG-13. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes.

Hebrews 11 details the lives of some of the Bible’s biggest saints and heroes of the faith, concluding finally by claiming there are too many more to mention in any detail not to mention the countless anonymous martyrs who gave their all for God and for his salvation. Looking back on that chapter, Hebrews 12 opens by talking about that “great cloud of witnesses” that surrounds us and that exists to encourage us as we run the race marked out for us in following Jesus.

Near the end of the final Harry Potter novel—and thus near the end of the final Harry Potter movie—J.K. Rowling wrote a scene that is clearly reminiscent of that cloud of witnesses and the encouragement they provide. It has been revealed to Harry Potter that he must sacrifice himself to save his friends. On the night of a fateful and final battle between the good forces of the wizarding world versus the evil Lord Voldemort and his forces, Harry marches into a deep, dark forest to meet his fate and face his own death. As he goes, he discovers a gift left for him by his former mentor Dumbledore: it is the resurrection stone. As Harry grasps the stone in his palm, suddenly he is surrounded by his own cloud of witnesses. He sees his parents who died defending his infant self some eighteen years earlier. He sees his godfather Sirius Black, who had been slain by one of Voldermort’s minions a couple of years earlier and he sees his teacher, Professor Lupin, who had died battling Voldemort’s army that very night. “Why are you here?” Harry asks. “We never left” his mother replies. “We’re here, you see” Sirius Black says, tapping Harry’s chest. They had been in his heart all along. “You will stay with me?” Harry asks. “Until the end” he is assured by his father.

Seldom has a scene in a movie so closely mirrored the idea of being surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses who cheer us on to the finish line of Christ-likeness in the race marked out for us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwa-CVAcsT0

by Scott Hoezee