The Greatest Story Ever Told

Posted by Laura

When I was in a particularly rough patch of my life, Rachel, Sarah, and Jordy used to "kidnap" me regularly to go to the movie theater. We would watch whatever was playing as an escape from my problems and a bonding experience together. We'd go late at night, and there were rarely other people in the theater. We'd laugh loudly and have all kinds of fun - except for the time Jordy and I thought it would be a good idea to hide from Sarah and Rach while they were in the bathroom. Just imagine two of the biggest germaphobes on the planet laying down on a dirty theater floor for five minutes. The moment we touched the floor we realized it was a bad idea, but it was too late. We waited until our friends came back and laughed at our stupidity then we had to wait another two hours till the movie ended and we could shower - multiple times. As dirty as we felt through that particular film, we sat it out. We wanted to watch the movie.

We love the stories.

Everyone does; it's part of the human experience. C. S. Lewis said, "we demand windows" because we are so desperate to see the world through someone else's eyes and feel it with someone else's heart. Our imaginations are limited, and we long for great stories to take us away and return us to our lives with riches of understanding and empathy to live better in our bleak existences. Bear with me on my super nerdy lit major tangent for another sentence. Northrop Frye theorized that there are only four basic stories that are ever told. Everything is some combination or varied telling of one of these four archetypes.

When I watch movies or read books now, I can see loads of connections and allusions as they take different spins on staple plots. I can see the comedy or tragedy they borrowed from to make something new and interesting. Some creators are more successful than others. I had a great conversation with a student one day at lunch about this.

I'd told this kid before how much I love my job because I'm passionate about what I teach. She'd told me before it shows - which is the highest compliment I can receive from my students. I was helping her complete her study guide for an upcoming test, and one of the points on the study guide is "be able to experience the grandeur of God's grace" (I didn't write this, but I love this curriculum). Her initial response was something along the lines that God's grace is good because we can't follow the rules, so God helps us so we can follow the rules better.

"Wow, you make Christianity sound so boring," I responded.

She was a little put off, but I pushed her to notice the whole grandeur of God's grace is the relationship element. The story of Christianity is all about how God was so intent on finding a way to restore relationship with people that Love came down - the Word became flesh - self sacrificing Love conquered over death and made a way to restore relationship. This is absolutely the greatest story ever told. I couldn't help but spill to this student that lots of other stories try to imitate this greatest story. "Have you read Harry Potter?" "I've seen the movies," she replied. That's probably the most well known one these days - love conquers over death. Harry wouldn't have survived without self sacrificing love - twice. The other one that comes to my mind most readily is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon; I think he's a brilliant creator, but this storyline comes nowhere near the awesomeness of Christianity. At the end of season five, Buffy sacrifices herself to save the world (really she's mostly concerned with saving her sister). It's a nice gesture - and successful. However, Buffy is stuck in the grave at the start of season six. Her friends pull her out of an unknown dimension and put her back in her body so she can keep saving the world a couple more seasons. Not nearly as exciting as Jesus conquering death and the grave on his own just to unite humanity to the ultimate Creator.

I love that story. And I love that I get to teach it every day. I have the best job ever.