Last week I asked my Whovian friends why they like Doctor Who.
They said it Doctor Who was a great sci-fi drama, that they could happily watch it with their kids, that they saw traits in the Doctor that reminded them of God. They also said they loved the writing, that it gave them a great story.
I agree on all counts.
I love dramas with an overarching storyline brilliantly constructed with smaller building blocks. I love how the Doctor’s backstory is sprinkled throughout decades worth of episodes. I love how the Doctor Who mythology grows richer with each new story that’s added to the chronology. That’s part of the magic of the series, I think: the intersection of stories. I love how the Doctor’s story crashes into other stories, redeems them, and in a sense re-writes them.
Which is what I love about God’s story too: His brilliant authorship of all our stories, and how the story of his Son can intersect and redeem ours… if we let it. Everything in Jesus’ story can change our own story in profound ways:
Jesus lived a perfect (sinless) life, the life we can never live, then credited that perfect righteousness to us as if it were our own.
Jesus died a gruesome death as punishment for the sins we committed, so that our guilty, shameful slate could be wiped clean by his sacrifice and grace. I never have to try to earn love again, because God proved my value once for all.
Jesus rose from the grave, defeating the greatest enemy (Satan) and his greatest weapon (death) and offered his victory to us as if it were our own. I cannot lose, because Jesus cannot lose.
Jesus ascended into heaven and sent his Spirit to dwell within us, empowering us to live our truest and noblest identity and calling in his family mission. I’m free from having to have it all together, from making life work on my own steam.
He gave us a sneak peek into how our final chapter plays out with his return and eternal reign, giving us hope, security, and a peace nothing can take away. My purpose is clear, and I know how my story ends.
This is why we say Jesus is the good news. As I let go of my life and put my faith in him—as I become his companion—my story is swept up into his. My story was going to read like this: I live, I die, the end (endless dying). But now It goes like this: With him I live. With him I die. With him I rise. With him I ascend. With him I reign.
But it’s not just the plot points that change, as amazing as they are. In the meantime, I’m freed from striving and failing. I’m forgiven and set free from death, guilt, shame, and Satan. I’m empowered to live my new life with a new self and a new community on mission to save the world. And I’m on my way to glory.
So, so good.
I’m all for the Doctor, I really am. But only if I let Jesus draw me past the Doctor, to himself and his gospel. And what about your story? Are you ready for Someone a whole lot more awesome than the Doctor to hijack your dead end life and redeem it for his glory?
Geronimo!