The Rest of the Story

Before the disciples met Jesus, they all probably knew what to expect from their future, how their lives were going to unfold, and based on what they saw they probably would have laughed or scoffed at anyone who suggested that they would be part of an ongoing creation story that would last for more than 2000 years.   I suspect that Peter and Andrew would never have dreamed of a life where they were not fisherman or where they did not live and die within a few miles of Galilee, unremarked and unrenowned.  Yet that story changed when Jesus walked by the shore one day and simply said “follow me”.

So, follow they did.  Which leads me to my next observation, did they have any idea where they were following, or even who they were really following?  Based on history and the common understanding of the time, it always seemed to me like they expected this Messiah to be like King David; you know chariots, swords, restoring the kingdom of Israel to glory.  I think you see that in the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday and maybe again in the story of Judas.

And then the whole Kingdom thing disappears when their Rabbi is arrested, crucified and buried.  Because that’s the end, right?  I mean it has always been the end before, because the death of the hero has always been the ending point in any story.  An ending point where the apostle’s future must look like that of a simple fisherman once again. 

But wait, the story keeps changing on them.  No matter what evidence they had in front of them, no matter what was expected, something else, something stronger and more beautiful was happening.   Something they never could have expected, because they found themselves swept away into something wholly unexpected, into a new story, God’s story.   A place where grief and death were real enough, it just turns out death isn’t as real as resurrection.

It’s so easy to surrender to grief and death, to surrender to the tragedies, hardship and bad diagnosis that surrounds us as the end of our story. Maybe that makes us a little strange.  Because somehow, we became the people for whom the story is never finished.  We are the people for whom there is always more, the people for whom the creation process never ends.  We are the people of hope, even when life seems hopeless, because we know there is always more.  Because we know that after the suffering of the cross – there was more – after he was laid in a tomb - there was more – and after the resurrection, there was more.

We as Christians do not base our hope on chariots, or power, or riches, because we know that all our hope is based on the God of an empty tomb.  An ongoing creation story of birth, death, resurrection, love, and redemption, which is still as real today as it was 2000 years ago.

And that is not only the rest of the story, but also the best of the story.

Amen

Brad Belke