By Scott & Patti Jones

This year we started the Christmas season by watching the Frank Capra classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, which stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. We have seen this movie many times, but this year we were struck by the contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville, and we saw in it a message for times such as ours. Sadly, it seemed to us that our world today looks much like Pottersville. If you have never seen this film, it might be a good idea to stop reading now and to go watch it. We warn you, that we will have more than a few spoilers in this post. 

We will not argue that It’s a Wonderful Life is a “Christian” movie. The characters never name Jesus, the angelology is inconsistent with Chafer’s Systematic Theology, and there is no cheesy conversion scene. Nevertheless, it is a Christmas movie, since the key events take place on Christmas Eve. This was Capra’s intent, since the title frames have a holly motif. The movie acknowledges a good and sovereign God and one of the main characters is an angel named Clarence. Briefly, the story takes place in Bedford Falls and revolves around George Bailey (Stewart). Christmas Eve finds George despondent and contemplating suicide. He appeals to God for help. The answer is Angel Second Class Clarence Oddbody. Clarence reveals to George what the lives of the people in Bedford Falls would be like if George had never lived.

A Tale of Two Cities

Bedford Falls is a charming town that smacks of early 20th century New England. Neighbors know each other and help each other out. The movie theater features the movie, Bells of St. Mary’s. The town police officer, Bert, is always there to help people. Mr. Martini runs a family restaurant that provides for him and his family. Nick the bartender is his employee. Mr. Gower runs a prosperous drug store. The Bailey Building and Loan provides mortgages to working class people who enjoy owning their own homes in Bailey Park. George and his wife, Mary (Donna Reed) live in a refurbished old house that is alive with four bright and lively children. George employs his eccentric Uncle Billy at the Building and Loan. Bedford Falls is not perfect. Henry Potter, the town miser, uses his wealth to try to take advantage of George, Billy, and the working people of the town. 

It is Christmas Eve and George is in deep despair. Standing on a lonely bridge, he laments that it would have been better if he never been born. Clarence reveals to George that had he never lived, Bedford Falls would be a different place. To begin with it is named Pottersville, after Henry Potter, who seems to delight in causing misery to everyone around him. Instead of a movie theater there are peep shows and a sleazy dime dance hall. Bert is disagreeable and suspicious – after all Pottersville is a crime-ridden town. Mr. Martini’s restaurant is now Nick’s Bar. Nick is a surly type that is only interested in selling alcohol and kicks George and Clarence out into the snow. Mr. Gower went to prison for poisoning a customer. There is no Bailey Building and Loan. Instead of owning their own homes, the working class rent hovels from Mr. Potter in “Potter’s Field”. Mary is a spinster librarian. George’s mother runs a seedy boarding house. The Bailey home is an empty, broken-down house. Uncle Billy is in the insane asylum. In the greatest irony of all, in place of Bailey Park there is a cemetery. In the cemetery George finds the grave of his younger brother, Harry. Since George was not there to save him, Harry drowned as a child. As a result, Harry never became a Naval Aviator who won the Congressional Medal of Honor protecting troop transports during World War II and all the men on the transports died. 

The contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville reminded us of Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” In Bedford Falls, under the leadership of moral men like George Bailey, the people rejoiced. They enjoyed their jobs, businesses, homes and families. On the other hand, in Pottersville, under the control of the wicked Potter, they indeed groaned. Although George could not see it, his life made the difference between blessing and despair for many people. 

The Triumph of Evil

“Here is the man who did not make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness.” (Psalm 52:7)

Henry Potter embodies this Proverb: “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). It seems right to him to do whatever he can to make money – even to keeping the $8,000 he found that belonged to the Building and Loan. He likes seeing the people he calls “suckers” working hard at miserable jobs, barely making enough to pay rent on a dump in Potter’s Field. Proverbs 22:7 says “The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.” Henry Potter relishes this arrangement. Ironically, acquiring wealth through the misery of others seems to bring Potter no happiness. The replacement of Bailey Park with a cemetery underscores the point, that the end of man’s selfishness is death. 

Potter embodies the rich of James 2:6 - “But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?” Potter sees the law as a means to his end, but not for justice. He uses the bank examiners and the courts to bring hardship on George Bailey at every turn. Finally driving him to despair when Uncle Billy inadvertently delivers $8,000 from the Building and Loan into Potter’s lap. As executive director, George is responsible for the missing $8,000 and faces scandal, jail, and financial ruin. His despair leads him to the bridge where he contemplates jumping into the river, until Clarence intervenes. George’s lament is like that of the Psalmist who writes: “Lord, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?” (Psalms 94: 3) On Christmas Eve in Bedford Falls, it seems to George that Potter has triumphed and will always triumph. 

One Man’s Life

What George does not see is the power of God through a man committed to Biblical principles. George is not a perfect man. He is prone to despair and to anger – even lashing out at his children. Nevertheless, he tries to be a moral man in his own strength. Young George Bailey dreams of leaving Bedford Falls. He wants to travel and explore the world, get a college degree, and to build great things. Nevertheless, George chooses the best for other people, even when it costs him dearly – his travels, his education, and even his honeymoon. Although his brother Harry was supposed to take over the Building and Loan to let George go to college, George releases him to move and to work for his father-in-law. George’s decisions are examples of agape love – the kind of love that our Lord Jesus showed when he went to the cross to die the death we deserved. It is the love that gives for others, even if it costs the giver. But unlike Jesus, George does not give freely. Over the years his resentment builds, especially when it seems like all was for nothing. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says that “God loves a cheerful giver.” George is not truly a cheerful giver. Whenever things don’t work out, he is prone to complain and grumble. When Billy loses the $8,000, it is just too much for George and he lashes out in his despair, ending up on the bridge preparing to jump. 

Ephesians 2:10 says that “God has prepared works beforehand for each one of us so that we would walk in them.” Clarence shows George the impact of the things he did on the lives of others, even when he was unaware of it. To recap some of the achievements of George Bailey:

• George saved Harry’s life and Harry saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers.

• George confronted Mr. Gower about an incorrect prescription and saved the life of the customer and kept Gower out of prison.

• George never traveled, but his management of the Building and Loan, enabled the working class of Bedford Falls to own their own homes.

• George never got to college, but he married Mary Hatch, and raised four beautiful children. 

• George gave his college money to Harry, and then released Harry to work for his father-in-law. 

• George and Mary gave up their honeymoon to stop a run on the bank and preserved the savings of his customers, protecting them from Potter. 

After seeing Pottersville, George regards his life in a new way. He begins by repenting and seeking forgiveness from Mary and his children. George’s new viewpoint is validated when he learns that the entire town has turned out to raise the missing $8,000. Potter’s scheme is thwarted by an outpouring of generosity by the people of Bedford Falls, for whom George gave so much of his life. As the Psalmist says: “A little that a righteous man has Is better than the riches of many wicked.” (Psalm 37:16) The townspeople show their love for George by keeping him from scandal, jail, and ruin.

Conclusions

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

Bedford Falls illustrates a civil society, in which people, who are not perfect, adhere to a common, Biblical moral code. The result is peace, prosperity, harmony, and success for all the citizens. By contrast, Pottersville is ruled by the wicked corporatist, Henry Potter, and there is nothing there but discord, crime, poverty, misery, and death. American society today is closer to Pottersville than to Bedford Falls. As people have forsaken God and pursued their own fleshly and material desires, the result is not Utopia, but an increasingly vulgar, miserable, corrupt society, that embraces a culture of death.  Our people need to repent of their deeds and return to God in humble submission to His laws. Like the father of the prodigal son, He is waiting to welcome us home and to prepare for us a feast of the fatted calf. 

Despite not being a “Christian” movie, It’s a Wonderful Life illustrates a number of principles that are consistent with a Biblical worldview. 

• Righteous leadership produces a society where people can flourish. 

• Wicked leaders produce poverty, misery, and death. 

• The wicked appear to triumph for a time, but the righteous enjoy God’s blessings. 

• Love calls us to sacrifice our own desires for the benefit of others. We choose sacrificial agape love because we are grateful for Jesus, who gave His life for us. (1 John 3:16)

• God has prepared works for us to do. When we fail to do them, people around us suffer. 

• It is never too late to repent. 

A final note

The Bible has much to say about economics. To learn more about what the Bible says about Economics, check out the Christians Engaged course: Biblical Economics, Answers for Difficult Days.

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