The Really Good News

I took a large, lethal dose of Surprised by Hope on this mother’s day. It wasn’t anything he said that was lethal – it was the tone. There’s a certain audacity of confidence Brother Wright has that is rare in today’s wishywashy theology. This man reeks confidence and will make any relativists cringe.

Wright blew in with a great analogy that inspired me to write one of my own. This doesn’t shake out 100%, but I think I like it.

Imagine that a well-respected orator was so respected that some people treated him as a Messiah-like figure. This person had real sack and was willing to stand-up in the face of an oppressive system. The tyranical government was so impressive that anyone who appeared to threaten their rule was publicly put to death by caning with the video broadcast on network TV and spread via YouTube. However, the orator’s message began gaining momentum – a message that the oppressor’s system wouldn’t bring peace. That caring for others is the true was to bring what everyone wants.

Threatened, those in power conspired with others that opposed the orator’s message to put an end to his career. They bribed a fake whistleblower to toot a horn of sedition against the orator so they would have ground to have his career killed. He was brought to trial, but instead of being defiant, he was rather respectful publicly and even told some of his few remaining loyalists not to fight the justice system.
The government passed him up the court system until opinion polls within the government dictated that it would be too unpopular to let him go free. He was publicly executed in a brutal caning, causing his distraught followers to decide he really wasn’t the leader they thought he was.

Three days later, out of nowhere, the orator rose from the dead under his own power. This sent shockwaves through the region and caused conspiracy theories, YouTube mania, and a quick spin by the government and the orator’s enemies. He wasn’t around long, as he hung with his friends for a month or two and passed his message onto them. One day, he physically left them, but promised to come back some day.

The orator’s followers were stunned at all that had taken place, but were most enthused that this man’s message and exploits were so powerful that a brutal public caning and death wasn’t powerful enough to keep him down. This orator had a message and a life others could believe in. This man’s resurrection was so unique and powerful that no one could possibly doubt his message if only they would believe he sprung from a coffin under his own power.

The followers went on to spread his message very quickly. However, they faced tremendous opposition because it was difficult for people to imagine a person being able to be raised from the grave under his own power. Fortunately, many eyewitnesses saw Him walking around after the public execution and even wrote letters to others detailing what they saw. They changed their entire religious systems from worshiping Sundays to Tuesdays, the day he rose from the dead, just to commemorate how powerful this change had affected their lives. No longer were they just insiginicant people. This band of people from all different backgrounds, such as doctors, accountants, and hunters were so inspired by the message that they would confess it to the point of their death – and most of them died for proclaiming the orators message at the hands of a government that was threatened by the rebellion. Somehow, despite their death, the message and resurrection story spread like wildfire – faster than those joining the rebellion could kill them. Those men changed the world, but all looked forward to the day when the orator would return and do the unthinkable act he’d promised: raise them from the dead to join him.