John Profumo, Matt Hancock & redemption’s scandal

How do you gain redemption and forgiveness in our graceless society?

The world’s answer is that redemption and forgiveness must be earned by works. This has always been the way of religion but is it also the way of our secular culture.

This was demonstrated by the appearance of Matt Hancock on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Hancock entered the jungle widely vilified and hated because of the clinch caught on an office CCTV with his girlfriend in breach of the strict Covid rules he had enacted. His appearance on the show was condemned by the Prime Minister and former colleagues, and he was suspended from the Conservative Party.

It might be wondered why Hancock would submit himself to an ordeal that offered the likelihood of ritual humiliation by the wider public. He apparently took part to seek some measure of redemption or, as he put it, to ‘obtain a little forgiveness’. His eager willingness to participate in bushtucker trials seemed to have the desired effect of eliciting sympathy and transforming public opinion. He eventually came third, triumphing over Mike Tindall and Boy George amongst others who were predicted to outlast him when the show began.

Hancock’s redemption reveals something about our modern culture. In the past, fallen politicians would have had to earn their redemption and rehabilitation by charitable good works. John Profumo, who resigned as War Minister after lying to Parliament about his affair with Christine Keeler, spent decades working amongst the disadvantaged in the East End of London in relative obscurity. Hancock, in contrast, sought redemption through entertainment and emoting on screen. Rather than confessing any guilt about his affair he sought to justify his actions as an ‘affaire de ceour’, as if he had no real choice. The redemption he sought was for the public to rehabilitate him on the grounds that they would have done the same as him.

Whilst the bushtucker trials might have seemed something akin to a medieval penance, he was reportedly paid £400,000 to undertake his redemptive experience. With no prospects of a return to political office he was laying the foundations for a subsequent lucrative career. He had already filmed the forthcoming series of celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Matt Hancock’s decision to enter the jungle in search of some sort of redemption and forgiveness is a reminder that, deep down, this is what we all need. Just as he broke the Covid rules, so we have all broken the law of God and failed to live up to His perfect standards of love and justice. Unless we can gain His forgiveness, we will face His eternal judgment.

The great good news of the gospel is that redemption and forgiveness are available to everyone through Jesus. They do not have to be earned by our works, but are a free gift of God’s mercy and grace. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law mistakenly thought that redemption had to be earned by acts of repentance and works of righteousness, and medieval Roman Catholicism thought it had to be earned by sacraments of penance and indulgences. In contrast, the gospel declares that Jesus has fully paid the penalty for our sin and rebellion by His death on the cross.

Full and free forgiveness is attained by repentance and faith, simply acknowledging the guilt of our sin rather than making excuses or giving self-justification for it, turning away from it, and trusting Jesus as Lord. When we do this, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because He accepts all those who repent and believe without demanding that they earn their forgiveness, we are called to accept them on the same basis.

The appearance of Matt Hancock seemed to many people scandalous and to offer too easy a means of redemption and forgiveness. We need to remember that the gospel we proclaim is even more scandalous in offering free forgiveness without works to the worst of sinners. However, it is the only way in which true redemption can be found. We need to preach it with confidence to the lost people who desperately need to hear. John Stevens is National Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC).