Christ Christ Everywhere But Only Jesus Saves

The story of Christ is the cornerstone of our faith: God came to earth. He was born as a man. He performed miracles. He healed the sick. He helped those in need. He was killed—sacrificed—for the benefit of humanity. His death saved us. This is a familiar story to anyone who walks into a church on Sunday. However, this story is usually familiar to those who do not attend church also. This is because the Christ story is not just a central theme to our faith. The Christ story is a central theme of life.

Think about this: how many times have you watched a movie where one character sacrifices their life for the benefit of others? Armageddon, Children of Men, Gran Torino, and the Matrix are just a few examples of this theme. The same pattern can be found in literature. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Lord of the Rings, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Lord of the Flies all have central Christ figures in their plots. These lists do not even begin to number the countless examples of the gospel pattern that can be found in the art of our world. Christ is all around us in the media of our lives. His story is everywhere.

So why is the Christ story all around us? Why is it so prominent in our culture? Many people have tried to answer this question. The famous psychoanalyst, Carl Jung, tried to explain the similarities of plot found in mythology and literature with the idea of a collective unconscious. The basic understanding here is that there is a universal disposition of all mankind to seek self-actualization and the divine. Jung saw this as the heart of all religious belief and as a shared reality for all people. For Jung, the similarities in human art were all a part of our shared desire for perfection.

There are other attempts to explain the Christ story’s prominence in our world as well. Joseph Campbell, a prominent author, posed this theory: the myths (stories) of all cultures and times are merely creative products of the human psyche. He expressed his belief in the 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. With his book, Campbell gave structure to the underlying myth (or story) of all culture. This underlying myth became known as the “monomyth” or “hero’s journey.” You can probably guess what this “hero’s journey” looked like—that’s right, it looked like the story of Christ. Campbell’s book is used almost like a text book for aspiring writers and Hollywood producers. Campbell’s plot behind the “hero’s journey” is now at the heart of nearly all major motion pictures and novels.

So what is really going on here? Is the Christ story central to mankind because of the work of Joseph Campbell? I say no. I think Campbell stumbled on to a central piece of the human understanding of the world but I do not think it is simply an evolutionary drive for perfection as both Campbell and Jung seem to profess. I believe humanity’s shared understanding of the “hero’s journey” comes from our created nature. I believe all of humanity shares an appreciation for the Christ figure because we naturally need that Christ figure.

Colossians 1: 15-17 states, “¹⁵He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Here God tells us, through the words of Paul, that all things were created by Christ and that it is Christ who holds all things together. Might this be a better explanation for humanity’s connection with the Christ story? I think the evidence speaks for itself when we understand we were created in the image of God (which is Christ according to verse 15) and we realize that all things are connected through this image (verse 17). This means that all of mankind is united by Christ.

Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This means we are all sinful and we all need the redemption found in Christ. Perhaps our universal understanding of the Christ figure is God’s way of revealing that need to us. All of creation truly does cry out in testimony to our savior. The next time you read a book or see a movie that displays the Christ story or a Christ figure I urge you to think about the unity with all humanity you have in the power of Jesus Christ to forgive your sins.