The Story of Easter
During the long winter months, Friday night has traditionally been ‘pizza and a movie’ night for Lori and I. We enjoy a good movie and subscribe to a streaming service which offers us a choice from hundreds of movie selections. I’ve noticed as Lori and I work through the movie choices – more often than not – we pick a movie we’ve already seen. For some reason, having a good story retold is satisfying to us. A couple of researchers at the University of California, San Diego actually did a study on the satisfaction on watching a movie or reading a novel and whether knowing or not knowing the story adds or takes away satisfaction. The researchers ran a number of experiments and found that most of the study participants preferred the versions of suspenseful stories they’ve already read or seen. One of the researchers had an interesting theory about why people liked re-watching and re-reading a story. He said, “It could be that once you know how the story turns out …. you’re more comfortable processing the information and you can focus on a deeper understanding of the story.”
Reading the findings of the researchers, I thought about the Story of Easter. I think the researchers are on to something when they suggest knowing how the story turns out we can allow one to ‘focus on the deeper understanding of the story.’ In the same way, knowing the Gospel Story of Jesus dying on the cross for our sin only to rise from the dead in power and great glory allows us believe that Jesus is who He said He was and did what He said He would do. We can now believe – the Scriptures are true, the promise of eternal life is real. The Apostle Paul wrote,
“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith .… But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man …. Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14,20-21,57-58)
It’s only in knowing how The Greatest Story Ever Told turns out can we live in the supreme confidence of knowing life is far more than an earthly existence. Paul tells us to ‘stand firm’ because we know how life will turn out. He says further to ‘give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord’ again because we know how life will turn out. Knowing how the story ends even while we’re still in our story gives us a confidence to ‘let nothing move (us)’ knowing that our ‘labor in the Lord is not in vain.’.
Winston Churchill made this fine quote in a speech after a battle was won in WWII, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Churchill wanted the British people to realize this victory could very well be a turning point in the war – the end of the beginning.
Let me take Churchill’s quote and because of Easter restated it to every Christian believer as thus: “Life in this world is not the end. It’s not even the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning.”
Such is the Easter promise of eternal life.
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