I have a question for you: What's the most dramatic scene in the Bible?
Maybe a scene that springs to mind is one of intense emotional suspense, such as Abraham standing with his knife poised about Isaac's chest. Or maybe you picture an action-packed scene like the parting of the Red Sea at the Exodus. These would be good answers, but before you settle on one of them I challenge you to think of drama in a slightly different way — it could change the way you think about a story you know well, and it could even change how you see your life.
Like the ancient Greeks who coined the word, let's take drama to mean "action." I don't mean action like a car chase, but in the sense of two opponents battling toward opposite goals, each striving against one another, each acting to resolve the conflict in their favor.
If we think of drama in this way, I say the most dramatic scene in the Bible is Easter: the passion, death and resurrection of the Son of God. It's when death and sin threw everything they had at Christ, but they were powerless to overcome Christ's accomplishment. As our Lord said, "It is finished" (John 19:30).
I began thinking about Easter this way after reading this passage from the recent book The Art of Being You:
 | The crucifixion is where His mercy moved from the conceptual to the real, from the abstract to the concrete, from thought to action. It is where God's ultimate artistic vision became present in human history ... Its power and beauty come from the fact that the crucifixion occurred in space and time: there was indeed a desolate hill called Golgotha outside a city called Jerusalem; ... there was the judgment of an innocent person at the hands of a diffident governor; His hands and feet were indeed pierced by rough nails that held Him to a cross; He hung between two thieves and there He died.
These are more than facts; they are the window through which we see the Art and Mystery of God on display to all His creation. The crucifixion of Jesus is Art at its highest and most creative.
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I'll admit I didn't know what to make of this passage at first! I was willing to agree the crucifixion is "more than facts," more than just some things that happened in history. But I wondered, how might our lives change if we viewed Easter as "Art" or drama?
By chance I found an answer in Michael Horton's new book The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way:
| The Christian faith is, first and foremost, an unfolding drama. Geerhardus Vos observed, "The Bible is not a dogmatic handbook but a historical book full of dramatic interest." This story that runs from Genesis to Revelation, centering on Christ, not only richly informs our mind; it captivates the heart and the imagination, animating and motivating our action in the world. |
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Horton adds, "This drama also has its powerful props, such as preaching, baptism, and the Supper — the means by which we are no longer spectators but are actually included in the cast ... Instead of God being a supporting actor in our life story, we become part of the cast that the Spirit is recruiting for God's drama."
Our induction into the cast is possible because of God's grace, and his grace was most dramatic at the first Easter. Easter was foreshadowed by what came before (including the scene with Abraham and Isaac, and the Exodus). And the Easter story points ahead to a consummation, but God's victory was already secured by the gracious, creation-renewing action he performed two thousand years ago at the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
What do you think about all of this? Does it make the Easter story seem less familiar, in a good way? Does this make it easier to connect with the drama and power of Easter?
How can the Easter story affect your life today?
(-Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team. Special thanks to Rich Tatum)
PS: One way we're seeking deeper connection to the power of the Easter story is through the Easter Story Blog Series. We encourage you to check it out!
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