Happy Endings

I prefer happy endings. Don’t get me wrong, a good plot twist or cliffhanger at the end of a movie is entertaining, but I really like for the story to get wrapped up and have a neat little bow tied on it. I like for things to feel completed. I realize “happily ever after” isn’t necessarily a real thing, but like the sitcoms of the old days, I like for the episode to work through the clouds and find the silver lining.

Now, with that being said, I recognize that every day life is not always that way. I know there are nights that you and I lay down to sleep and all the struggles of the day have not yet been resolved. It could be, in fact, that many days or weeks pass before those daily issues are resolved. Alas, some may never truly get resolved in our time on earth. It does’t mean I don’t do my best to find some resolution.

That brings me to a day almost 2000 years ago. Jesus hanging on a cross. Beaten. Bruised. Bloody. Suffering. Then He drew his last breath and the earthquake began. Commotion in the streets and chaos in the temple. Then when all the commotion stopped, he was lifelessly hanging on the cross. Just a mangled body where a Savior had been.

Upon hearing the story of the crucifixion a few weeks ago, Travis Creasy’s daughter wondered if that was the end of the story. She did not want it to be the end of the story. It’s not a happy ending. Well, not if you stop at the cross. It’s a picture of the wrath of God on sin. It’s a picture of the worst that mankind has to offer. The cross and the Savior on it were not beautiful at first. There was sadness and there was fear.

Thanks be to God that it wasn’t the end of the story. To get the end you need to fast-forward three days. Three long days for the disciples. Days of remembering and mourning. Days of nervously waiting what might come next. And I don’t know that most of them knew what that was. Jesus had told them, but they didn’t quite understand or believe it.

Until…

The empty tomb and an angel’s message: “He isn’t here. He is risen from the dead…” (Matthew 28:6).

There is the Happy Ending. It resulted in joy then, and it should result in joy now. We serve a King that is alive. We serve a Savior that is risen from the dead. It is literally Good News. Even the story of the most brutal death in history has a happy ending. So even if life seems difficult…even when things seem hard…remember that He rose from the dead and because He lives we can face anything Satan throws at us.

Ben