Prior to the Many Saints of Newark being released in theatres, HBO showed all of the episodes of the Sopranos from the beginning. It certainly was a gift to me as I loved watching it back in the early to late 2000s. Watching the episodes was a treat to me two ways. It was a treat to me to see the episodes again but also it reminded me of where I was when they aired originally. I was working and on Monday we would take a few minutes to say to each other, “Omigod, did you see what happened on the Sopranos last night!?!” I was also courting a young lady. It was a special time for me. I was also sad to hear when James Gandolfini passed away.

I rewatched the two episodes which involved Tony being shot by his Uncle Junior (Join the Club and Mayham) and made some interesting observations. These episodes have Tony going to a kind of Purgatory place while he is in a coma. He struggles with a case of mistaken identity (he somehow has the identification of a man named “Kevin Finnety” or somehow, Infinity) at a hotel as he tries to attend a conference in a hotel. He goes to the hotel bar and the bartender says something to the effect of, ‘everyone around here is dead’. Paulie talks to the comatose Tony in the hospital and in Tony’s purgatory, Tony hears it as someone shouting from the other room. This place seems different than the Purgatory-like place that Christopher came back from in From Where to Eternity (2000). For example, there is only one person who has died that greets Tony and that is his cousin, Tony Blundetto (though he is not credited as his Tony Blundetto, but as “the Man”). Chris saw several in an Irish bar. Also for Tony, there were Buddhist and Christian symbols around.

There are two questions that Tony keeps asking, “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?” Those questions haunt him as he wakes up from his coma for a few moments and he asks them out loud. The questions are also asked later in the two episodes. These are probably questions that Tony never really asked himself before. These are also questions that a lot of us do not ask ourselves until something awful happens that reminds us that we are frail, mortal beings with a very short life-span.

Thankfully, we have the Bible, which is all about answering these specific questions. We need to know the answers to these questions so that no matter what happens to us or who we meet on any road, we can tell them.

Who are we?:

we are created in the image of God Genesis 1:27 /Genesis 1:26-27

we are His workmanship Ephesians 2:10 

we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession 1 Peter 2:9

we are children of God 1 John 3:1-2 / Galatians 3:26 /1 Corinthians 12:27 /John 15:5 /Ephesians 1:5 /Romans 8:17 /1 John 3:2

we are a vessel of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 3:16 /1 Corinthians 6:19

we are citizens of Heaven Philippians 3:20 

we are “partakers of the divine nature” 2 Peter 1:4

(THERE ARE MANY MORE VERSES FOR EACH AND OTHER IDENTIFICATIONS–LEARN THEM!)

Where are we going?

to be with the Father Philippians 3:20, Revelation 3:21, Romans 8:18, John 3:16,Psalm 23:4

to be stronger in our world Jeremiah 29:11. James 1:12 , Romans 5:3,2 Timothy 3:16,1 Peter 1:6,Psalm 119:105 , Psalm 46:1

to be like the Lord 2 Corinthians 12:9 , John 14:6 

(THERE ARE MANY OTHER VERSES REGARDING DESTINATIONS IN THE BIBLE–LEARN THEM!)

We CAN have answers through faith in the Lord in the these two questions which plagued Tony Soprano: who am I and where am I going? i sincerely hope that James Gandolfini knew the answers to these questions, even if Tony Soprano did not.

——————————————————————W.