Return with the Elixir

What more could I possibly say about Story? The life of Jesus is Story, and Story is the gospel. God calls out to us in every aspect of creation. The heavens declare the glory of the Lord. God's eternal power and divine nature are seen through the things he has made. He has made the mountains, he has made the oceans, the forests, and he has made Story. In every Story. Every. Single. Story. We can see the power of God if only we are willing to look.

Return with the Elixir

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

Luke 24:51

       We come at last to the final step of the journey.
       The Hero, having come through her final sacrifice, has secured once and for all the treasure. All the conflict that plagued her world is resolved, wrongs made right, all is well. The treasure has changed her world, and the world around her, bringing peace and hope. Where there is no conflict, there is no story. So it's time for this tale to end, and that's okay. Our Hero and her Allies have earned the rest. Now it's time for Dorothy to go back to Kansas, because "There's no place like home."
       Michael Mann's 1992 adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans ends with Hawkeye, his adoptive father, and the woman he loves, looking out over the American wilderness. When we first met Hawkeye, he was a carefree trapper, with obligations to no one but himself. Seeing Cora, however, changes his life. The rest of the story is about him trying to rescue and protect this strong woman. He even offers to sacrifice his life for hers. Instead, another man takes his place.
       Cora isn't the treasure. What she and Hawkeye represent as a couple, their combined fortitude and commitment, is the treasure. The characteristics they bring out of one another are what the American frontier need, and together they will nuture something great. The Love Interest brings out the true essence of the Hero and in the best love stories, the Hero brings out the true essence of the Love Interest. The relationship is the treasure.
       The same is true in the story of Jesus. The relationship is the treasure. For a time, the only way to know God was through religion and the Law. There was no room for a proper relationship. When Jesus came, he followed the Law perfectly. He passed the test! Now we can say, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." Is there any other kind of relationship closer than parent and child?
       But there's more. Jesus' last recorded words on this earth before he returned to heaven, were these: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of earth." God's restored relationship with us extends so far that he, as the Holy Spirit, is with his believers always. Paul tells us that it is "a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
       Finally, after Jesus told his followers that they would tell the whole world about him, and that God would be with them, he returned to heaven. Then two men in white robes (presumably angels) said, "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." The next part of the story is this: Go. I will be with you and give you aid. I will come back.
       Returning to The Last of the Mohicans, we recall the movie's most famous lines: "No! You stay alive... Submit, do you hear? You're strong! You survive! You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you! No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you!" There's a reason this moment resonates so strongly with us. It calls out to the longing we all have deep in our hearts for safety and rescue.
       Where are you right now, right this very moment? Are you safe? Not just from hell (though that is important), but from being overwhelmed by the fears of this world? There can be absolutely no peace in this life without having absolute certainty of where we will spend the next. How do we know? The only way to know for certain that we are safe is say to God, "I believe in you, and accept the work of Jesus on the cross. I want a relationship with you. Not rules and religion, but to know you and your mercy and grace. Please come into my heart. Please come into my life."
       And if we have told God those things, we must live them out by faith. We may not feel power and love and self-control. But God tells us that his Holy Spirit provides. And like everyone who has ever been in a wonderful, exciting relationship, we must tell everyone about him.
       Someday the conflicts of our lives will be resolved. God will write "The End" and all will be well.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:6-7

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

Isaiah 11:6

     

The Resurrection

The Resurrection

But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

       Hollywood screenwriter and story consultant Chris Vogler, who categorized the 12 steps I've used in this series, describes the eleventh step as such:

 At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home. He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level. By the hero's action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved.

       Vogler isn't a theologian. I don't know anything about his religious beliefs, or if he even has any. Yet here we have the man who changed the way Hollywood approached story in the 1990's using language familiar to any Christian. You might say that Hollywood is a godless, evil place. I would say that where there is Story, there is the Gospel.
       The seventh installment in the venerable Fast & Furious franchise, Furious 7, is one of the stupidest, most melodramatic movies I love. Since it made over $1.5 billion worldwide, I guess I'm not alone. In the sixth movie, our Hero, Dom (Vin Diesel), had reconnected with his lost love, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), but she still has no memory of him. The throughline of Furious 7 is Dom trying to get Letty to remember her love for him and all that they've shared.
       At the climax, in order to save his friends and save the world, Dom has to throw a backpack of grenades from a collapsing parking structure and onto the landing runners of a distant helicopter. Seriously. Of course he does, but he doesn't quite make it out of the parking structure in time. His friends pull his lifeless body from the cement wreckage. This is his last sacrifice (for now).
       Dom isn't breathing, and doesn't respond to CPR. Taking his head in her lap, Letty tells Dom that she remembers everything, their secret wedding, and all the good times and bad. She gives him a kiss, and he returns to life. Yes, at its heart, Furious 7 is a fairytale for bros. Through Dom's sacrifice, the distance between him and Letty is finally bridged, the conflict between them finally resolved.
       The parallel is obvious.
       Jesus, who had so recently been celebrated, is beaten, mocked and crucified. "So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them." Crucifixion is one of the most hellish means of execution ever designed by man or devil. Yet this was the manner of sacrifice God chose. And Jesus hung there, in pain and fighting for each gasping breath for six agonizing hours. Nothing worthwhile comes without great effort.
       One of Jesus' disciples, the gospel writer Matthew, tells us that near the end Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Never forget, God desires a relationship with us, and a relationship requires relatability. Jesus had undergone a ceremony of confession, just as we must. Jesus had been tempted, just as we are. Jesus had been celebrated, just as we hope to be.
       In his final moments, Jesus experienced separation from God because of the consequences of sin, just as all of humanity has since Eden. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus didn't deserve that experience. But for our sake, he accepted a pain greater than the physical trauma of crucifixion.
       Before bowing his head and giving up his spirit, Jesus' final words were, "It is finished." The last thing he had to do to establish his relationship with creation was to die. And so he did.
       But that's not enough. Story demands not just a death, but a rebirth. If the story ended here, the polarities would remain unchanged. There would be no resolution to the conflict. In 1 Corinthians Paul puts it simply: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve."
       Jesus went through everything we do in order to build a relationship with us. And when that was done, he did one thing we can never do: He beat the consequences of sin.
       What does that mean for us? A Story...

       "For God so loved you..." (Ordinary World)
       "That he sent his one and only son..." (Crossing the First Threshold)
       "That if you believe him..." (The Reward)
       "You will not die..." (The Road Back)
       "But have everlasting life." (The Resurrection)
     

The Road Back

God uses Story. The Bible, his word, is filled with them. Telling stories is how we form relationships. Listen to a couple on an early date. "Really? Oh, that reminds me of the time I..." God desires a relationship with his creation. He could have given us a list of commands to "get right" with him. Instead, he tells us stories (true stories) that show his character, his love, his expectations. The story of Jesus is the original Story, echoing through time, forever redirecting our thoughts to him.  
   

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed
John 17:5

The Road Back

       The Hero has claimed her reward, but that's not enough. She still has to get back home. While she holds the treasure and made her escape, her enemy is still out there and still wants the treasure. Often this is where we find some of my favorite movie moments: the chase scene. Sometimes it's slow and tedious and if we only had a wheelbarrow that'd be something (The Princess Bride). Sometimes it's fast and thrilling and in tiny spaceships (Star Wars).
       In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the treasure is obviously the Ark of the Covenant. The film's central chase scene centers around Indiana Jones trying to get the Ark away from the Nazis. Even after he thinks he has it secured and he and Marion pack it up to take it to England, the Nazis find them and steal it back. Now he has to chase it down all over again. The tug-of-war between positive and negative moments keep us on the edge of our seats, wondering how our Hero is going to reverse this.
       Jesus knew that his disciples were about see what looked like a major reversal. Several years of ministry had led to a king's welcome in Jerusalem. What was coming would look more hopeless than any other moment in recorded history. "Let not your hearts be troubled," he told them. "Believe in God; believe also in me." The disciples didn't know what Jesus was getting at, but the tone was ominous, and they were afraid of losing him. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," Jesus said. Using the phrase "I am" was a not-so-subtle way of claiming to be God. "No one comes to the Father except through me."
       The Road Back is often a chase scene. Everything that has been earned is in danger of being lost.
       Jesus was working hard to restore the relationship between God and man. With his disciples he had formed the closest relationship between the two since Eden. Yet with his impending death, that relationship would be tested.
       He was pursuing their hearts.
       "If you love me, you will keep my commandments," Jesus said. Again, relationship, not religion and rules. "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." Jesus desired for them to be strong in his three day absence, and he wanted them to be even stronger after he ascended to Heaven. Filling the role of Mentor, Jesus promised them all the supplies and information they would need.
       "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." In other words, Jesus said, "You won't be able to see me physically anymore. But I'm not going anywhere."
       The gospel writer John spends several more chapters telling us everything Jesus shared with his disciples. But he closed with this: "Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
        Jesus is still pursuing hearts. He still offers unreasonable love and peace that surpasses all understanding in a world filled with terrible difficulties. As Mentor, Jesus still promises to equip us for good works. The Apostle Paul writes, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
       Where are you today? Are you on the run? No matter what you've done or where you've been, Jesus still desires your heart. If we love him, doing what he asks (while not always easy) is doable. He offers peace. He is love personified. He promises to help us do good works. Why run?

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

John 17:25-26