Origin Story

We love origin stories. Often called “prequels”, in literature and entertainment they look back, making the case for why a character is protagonist or antagonist. It changes our understanding of them, most often illuminating something we didn’t know before…something foundational and complex behind what made them who they are (my favorite, by far, is the musical “Wicked”). In many ways, you can never see them the same way again.

It strikes me that this Sunday’s Gospel reading—the same one we read every Sunday immediately following Christmas—is hands down the best, most compelling, and most important origin story ever written because it makes the case for why we take the life, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus so seriously every other Sunday of the year, and perfectly sets the stage for the year to come.

Steve+