My wife and I recently watched Forrest Gump. Since I had seen the film many times I was paying close attention to the relationship between Forrest and Jenny this time around. A friend of mine argues that Jenny is the worst character in movie history, and I think he makes some valid points. She led Forrest on. She constantly abandoned him for guys who used and abused her. She only came back to him when she felt like she had nowhere else to go, rejected his marriage proposal, had sex with him and left the next morning before he woke up. A few years after this Jenny invited Forrest to visit and said, “I want to apologize for anything that I ever did to you, cause I was messed up for a long time, and . . . ” This half apology was right before shattering his universe by telling him that he had a son. She then asked Forrest to marry her mere months before dying of AIDs, resulting in Forrest raising their child alone. In so many ways, Jenny is just the worst. But I think the love story between Forrest and Jenny closely parallels another love story: the one between Christ and his church.

A Brief Defense of Jenny

I’m not condoning or excusing any of Jenny’s behavior, but if we consider her past, her future makes sense. In Jenny’s experience, all love with men had a sexual component to it. She learned from her father that she was only desirable as a sex object. There was no warmth, kindness, or safety from the man who was supposed to give that to her. It’s no wonder that she kept picking the wrong guy and felt undeserving of Forrest’s love for her. I imagine that it was uncomfortable for her that Forrest saw her as perfect when she was filled with shame and self-hatred (to the point of contemplating suicide). None of this justifies how she treated Forrest, but maybe we can show her kindness as we critique.

Forrest’s Love for Jenny

Forrest’s love for Jenny is both beautiful and heartbreaking. Their friendship started when Jenny showed kindness to him when others were cruel. She looked past his simple mind and the braces on his legs to see a good heart and a true friend. Forrest was a safe place for Jenny to get away from her sexually abusive father. Forrest and Jenny were like “peas and carrots” until they went to college. Then things got complicated. Forrest and Jenny had one intimate encounter that ended . . . abruptly. Jenny then had various relationships with men, worked as a nude model/stripper, then traveled around the country getting high sleeping around with various partners.

Forrest, on the other hand, protected Jenny from abusive men, thought about her constantly, wrote her dozens of letters that all went unread. He even named his shrimp boats after her. When Jenny showed up at Forrest’s house out of the blue, he took care of her, picked flowers for her, and was a wonderful host. To Forrest, Jenny was perfect. He didn’t see her as damaged goods at all. Jenny once asked him, “Why are you so good to me?” To which Forrest simply responded, “You’re my girl.”

As cynical adults we might look at Forrest and Jenny and conclude that Forrest didn’t have the intelligence to understand that Jenny was taking advantage of him and that he was worth being in a relationship with somebody who reciprocated his feelings and the effort he put in. We might even say that Jenny is toxic and he should have cut her out of his life for good. However, I wonder if we struggle to understand Forrest because his love looks more like God’s love than human love?

Love Like Christ

Romans 5:6-8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were weak and powerless, Christ died for us. Like Jenny, we run after idols, lovers who promise us the world only to leave us feeling empty. God promises that there is abundant joy and eternal pleasures in his presence (Psalm 16:11), yet we constantly turn our backs on him.

Sometimes, like Jenny, I ask God, “Why are you so good to me? You know where I’ve been and all that I’ve done. You see the depths of my heart and soul and still you pursue me and give me good things? Why?”

“Because you are mine. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is my faithful love for you. As far as the east is from the west is how far I removed your transgressions. What can separate you from my love? Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate you from my love. I don’t see you as trash but as glorious.”

Forrest was Jenny’s faithful protector. Quick to forgive and overflowing with love for her, even when it wasn’t reciprocated. He never asked Jenny for anything except her presence. That love looks a lot like God’s.

Sally Lloyd Jones writes in the Jesus Storybook Bible, “You see no matter what, in spite of everything, God would love his children with a Never-Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. And though they would forget him, and run from Him, deep in their hearts God’s children would miss Him always, and long for Him — lost children yearning for their home.”

Jenny didn’t know it at the time, but in all of her travels and searching, she was really looking for Forrest’s unconditional love. You might not know it, but in all of your striving and searching, you are really looking for the unconditional love of Christ. Everyone and everything else will let you down, but Jesus never will. Don’t feel ashamed. Just come home.

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