Our “Stand-In”

Glenn Duhigg, a stand-in actor for Tom Cruise on the set of the movie Mission Impossible 2, explains, “It sounds very glamorous saying you’re the stand-in for Tom Cruise but I don’t think many people realize the long hours and constant demands that deflate your ego very quickly. The days are long. Whatever scene Tom was in, I would be the one standing there, being him sometimes for ages as the crew set up the shot—getting the lighting just right and the props just so. I’d be standing there for hours out in the weather, getting drenched in the rain or sun stroked out in the heat. And then Tom would just walk on the set from his airconditioned caravan or out of his beautiful sports car once the scene was ready. As one of the other stand-ins said, ‘I realized very quickly the difference between being a star and being a stand-in’” (Bryson Smith, “Standing In,” Perspective 8, no. 4 (2001), from an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Life Section, September 17, 2000, ). In the same way, Jesus was our stand-in, doing the unglamorous work, bearing the brunt of our sins so we could receive forgiveness.