The Most Amazing Story Ever Told

Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

W hat does the biblical Story of God’s love in Christ have in common with comic book tales, hero journeys, or fairy tales? Well, on the one hand, God’s Story and comics have very little at all to do with each other. Comics and fairy stories are fictions, the product of an author’s imagina- tion, laying out dreamed-up worlds and characters which do not exist to fight evil that is not present. The Bible, on the other hand, is the divinely inspired record of God’s saving work in creation, Israel, and Christ. It is historically accurate and spiritually vital. The events and happenings did and will take place, as all who truly believe demonstrate by their devotion to its hero, Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Christ. Still, to be a believer in the Kingdom of God, to hold to Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord, does involve seeing things differently. To be a disciple is to see things as God does. And here is where the Bible and fairy tale seem to line up. As J. R. R. Tolkien said, in the biblical tale of God’s love in Christ legend and truth, fairy tale and history, myth and reality come together.

In the eucatastrophic tale (i.e., “good catastrophe” story), the grace of goodness seems to laser in at the

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