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)