So, my wife and I watch We Are Marshall the other night. Pretty affecting story --movie largely true rendering of the horrible plane crash that took an entire football organization: players, coaching staff, and fans. Why do sports movies move even those who aren't much interested in sports? Tragedy, triumph over adversity, pathos, etc on full display. And, no neat endings. Marshall's program took over a decade to recover. Jack Lyengel left after 3 years with a 9-33 overall record --and never coached again. The one remaining coach of the old squad (who had driven home) walked away from football forever after assisting in the recovery season.
Whatever the venue, human drama is a moving thing. You could care little for sports, and find yourself caring very much about a tragedy that occurred over 35 years ago. I think that is why so much of Scripture is story: truth ensconced in moving history. We all live a story, and therefore we can find commonality in the "human condition" whether it be an athlete or a mentally ill mathematical genius (which few of us will ever be). So, too, we can touch base with an aged infertile couple like Abraham and Sarah (or Hannah and Elkani, or Elizabeth and Zachariah), or a sexually wayward king, or a despairing prophet, or a rejected Messiah. We know a little of each of those things, and that makes the story move us.
I have always felt that a good story touches us on a very human level. Our society is so eager to forget basic humanity -- how could we not be engrossed in the type of film that recaptures it (Rudy is my favorite, fyi). Same with Scripture, which is even better at capturing humanity because it contains the answers to our problems from beginning to end...
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