In Yesterday, struggling singer-songwriter Jack (Himesh Patel) is hit by a bus during a freak blackout and awakes in a world similar to his in every way except that people have never heard of the Beatles. A few other things are missing too, but I’ll leave those surprises for the movie to reveal.
Jack is a talented singer but he is frustrated, thinking that he just doesn’t have the right stuff to rocket him out of obscurity. With this accident, it seems like the universe has given him the gift of dozens of beautifully crafted songs and all he has to do is play them.
However, doubt creeps in. What if this is all a mistake and the real authors show up and call him a fraud? How will these songs be heard in the 21st century? Jack is not from Liverpool, how can he sing about Liverpool landmarks like Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane when he’s never even seen them and they are dilapidated and destroyed by time.
He must wrestle with the fact that he is not Paul McCartney or John Lennon yet this opportunity is too good to pass up. He has to try it just to see if his level of success has something to do with the songs he’s writing or if the problem is in himself. He knows that many of the Beatles songs are pure masterpiece like the films titular song. If he sings these universally acclaimed poems and isn’t recognized then he will know that the problem lies in the singer, in himself, and not in the songs.
I think we as Christians wrestle with the same story. We have a melody of worship in our heart that the world has often forgotten. We struggle with being accepted by the world, and we wonder whether the message of this good song will be received by a modern populace or if we will be seen as frauds because of our hypocrisy. However, at the end of the day, we have this beautiful melody inside us and all that is left for us to do is sing it.
I’ll let you watch the film to see how things turn out for Jack, but I think that if we will open our mouths and allow the gospel to come out, it will be heard and adored. This has nothing to do with our abilities or talent, but because the message is infinitely powerful and beautiful. I think if we will sing the song of the gospel with will find a world waiting to hear it. We will find that we are not defective or frauds, but that our greatest worth is realized when we are vessels of the infinite.