I’ve been in the ministry for 14 years and I’ve known Jesus for 16 years. I’ve loved fiction, fantasy, alternate realties, and stories for longer than I’ve known Jesus or ministry.
It wasn’t until I understood the Gospel (that Jesus died and rose again to rescue the perishing) that I realized that in our desire for a good story, lies the elementary seedling of the Gospel.
Let me explain this in parts.
Every good story has a hero. The Gospel shows Jesus as the God-man who is as meek and innocent as he is powerful and omniscient. We get tingles when we see a superhero discover his/her powers. Likewise, we get excited when we see the God-man exercise his powers over creation, healing the sick, feeding the multitude, and even giving death a much-needed holiday as He raises deceased souls back to life.
That’s a hero. That’s someone you root for.
Every good story has conflict. Conflict drives the plot, right? After all, if we read about utopia and idealism, we’re on the highway to boring with no rest stops en route. But Jesus’ life is filled with drama. From his conception, his mother receives a reputation of a whore, he lives in poverty, he selects a diverse group of people to follow him – some of them have ill tempers and are impetuous, some of them doubt, and one of them is possessed by the devil. On top of this, there is a meta conflict of the established religious system demanding that Jesus either be silenced or executed.
Conflict. Everywhere. Check!
Then, there is the “All is Lost” moment. Yes, we need that in a story. Where you are reading and your heart aches for the characters and loses itself to that pivotal scene of discouragement. This is the part where you almost throw the book down, and the story of Jesus is no exception. How can the God who controls weather, sickness, wine and even the effects of death just go and die? How? This is such a twist. But it lends itself to another great part of a story.
An act of sacrifice.
Yeah, you got the chill bumps when Katniss Everdeen volunteered as Tribute in The Hunger Games, or when Tom Hanks grabbed Matt Damon’s arm in Saving Private Ryan and demanded that he “earn this” with regards to the loss of life of the soldiers to save Damon’s. Spoiler alert: even if you don’t care for the side-story, the concept of the Rogue One team in the Star Wars universe being martyred for the cause of delivering the Death Star plans was pretty gripping.
How about God Himself dying? Giving Himself over to death as a ransom? Pretty sure that trumps all, and that’s why when we see those scenes from our favorite movie, the Gospel echoes in the plot line.
Oh, and how about the villain. This is of utmost importance. This is where two paths may diverge with regards to reading the Gospel. We want to think of the villain as the Devil, maniacal, standing there tapping his fingers on an ornate oak desk and being told by some low-level demon that the Son of God died. We want to see him laughing and rejoicing. We want him to be the bad guy. And we’ll even extend that antagonist spirit to the good old Pharisees for that religious fervor of theirs that was just a little too enthusiastic to be graceful.
However, the Bible puts us often in the seat of the villain. Us having our own desire that brings harm to the hero. In the Gospel, it’s our desire to live for ourselves, live out of concert with the God who made us, and inevitably bring destruction that provides the need for the hero’s sacrifice. This is what makes the Gospel uncomfortable, but if you remove us from the picture, there is enough villainy in this story to keep those parchment pages turning one after another.
Which brings me to my final and most favorite part of observation with regards to the Gospel and storytelling. The surprise ending. Yes. That beautiful magic bullet which delivers to the reader a payoff that’s worth the price of the book alone and demands more work from that author. This, my friends, is better than good. A surprise ending that stops the heart of even the strongest supporters of the protagonist is the worth the time invested reading.
In this case, a resurrection.
Yep. A bonafide “This hero is so strong that even death cannot touch him” moment. The raising of Jesus from the grave is the piece de resistance of the Gospel story.
And the core foundation of the Christian faith.
And mankind’s only hope.
And the ultimate proof of victory.
I could go on, but I think you get it.
All that to say, I think that I spent years and years loving those stories, because God was preparing my heart to hear the most important story. I also think that now, since I’m a fantasy writer, it’s my job to bring those central themes to the forefront of my storytelling. The Gospel is the story beyond any ever written. And it’s powerful enough to provide a backdrop for every good narrative ever.
And to save your soul.