Drops of Living Water

Read John 12:2-14



I got to go on a date with my husband last night. It was a rare and wonderful treat. We even got to go to a movie. We picked a man movie because going to movies is not his favorite thing. He’d rather talk. He’s a keeper. The movie makers were kind enough to throw a love story in for the wives and girlfriends in the audience.



In the end, I liked the movie. The special effects were dazzling. The plot different enough to keep me on my toes, but not as hard to get past as some I’ve seen.



The hero has to leave the woman he loves to go save the world. The music swells as he pulls her close. He longs to be with her, but his mind is elsewhere. “I promise I will come back for you,” he tells her with fierce intensity. It’s the kind of vow he will move heaven and earth to keep.



And my romantic heart goes pitter pat.



He takes care of the bad guy and saves the world, but in doing so has to sacrifice the only way back to his love. An act of supreme sacrifice borne out of duty, love and humility.


I look forward to the sequel. Hollywood can't resist a good sequel these days. Maybe in the next round, he will find a way back to her. maybe they will have a chance. Maybe the bad guys who got away will get his comeuppance for good in the next one.


But the plot reminded me of something I had read before. The hero reminded me of one I had seen before. That intense line there at the beginning of the end reminded me of something too.


Jesus.


Try as they might, even Hollywood can’t avoid it. It all comes back to Jesus.



Take any story you have ever heard or read, epic, mystery, romance… It all comes back to Jesus.



For you see, in the beginning, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, spun a story as he formed the world. As he spoke light into existence from nothing and formed man out of dirt and breathed animation into his limbs, he was also crafting the first and best story.



The story on which all others for all time would draw their inspiration.



In the beginning, God walked and talked in the garden with the ones he loved. He was devoted to them, and they were devoted to him. Until they betrayed him by believing the lies of his enemy.



This enemy had once been a cherished friend. They worked together, side by side orchestrating some of the most beautiful music of heaven. But the Lucifer sought to glorify himself. He instigated a rebellion and was tossed out of his heavenly home.



He would rule the earth and be known as Satan.He would be the prince of this world. On earth. But in heaven, God still reigns. In the garden, Satan tricks the ones God so dearly loves into betraying him, and with that, severs the relationship between God and man.



Victorious, Satan stole, killed and destroyed. He took his plunder from God's best creation. But his victory was only temporary. God offered a bridge back to himself through the shed blood of the sacrificial lamb. Yet Satan continued to steal, kill and destroy.



Then God, through his son Jesus Christ, made the ultimate sacrifice, once for all: He seemingly yielded to the grave.



Allowing his immortal spirit to reside in a mortal body, he allowed himself to be despised, rejected and unjustly executed. Before his apparent defeat, he gathered close the ones he loved and made a vow:





Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.



It’s the kind of vow he will move heaven and earth to keep.



It all comes back to Jesus. Romance and Action Adventure genres prove once again that there is nothing new under the sun. Every epic concept looks back to the Original.



I for one, am super glad for that spoiler at the end of God's story, Revelation does a pretty great job about telling us what is going to happen without telling us what is going to happen. So even though I know how it will end--that heaven and earth will be moved, the guy will get the girl, and the bad guy will most definitely get his comeuppance once and for all--I anticipate the sequel.