Death Worked BackwardsEnd of the Spear, a new film about the 1956 missionary martyrs in Ecuador, is similar to the Narnia story in some ways, says Steve Saint, son of one of the murdered men.by Mark Moring |
posted 1/18/2006
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But then when the end credits started to roll, and they started showing scenes of Mincaye and me today, I felt this almost explosive relief from the audience, because everyone was wondering the same thing: Did Steve and Mincaye ever become friends, or did they become enemies? What happens? So, I was satisfied. You do find out that Mincaye and Steve do, in fact, become more than just reconciled.
What's that reconciliation look like today?
Saint: You should have seen Mincaye last night, watching a video in our living room. Our sons James and Shaun and their wives and kids were here. All the kids were on the couch with Mincaye, who had one of the littlest ones on his lap. The rest of them were just hanging all over him, watching the video. And Mincaye was having more fun just being pummeled by the kids than he was watching the video. I thought, You know, there is no way that they can show in this movie how much we really have become family.
Steve and Mincaye have a wonderful friendship today
My dad and the other men had just wanted to befriend the Waodani, but when they were killed, I was devastated. I thought, Well, it didn't work. But Aunt Rachel said, "Let's not judge that too quickly." It reminds me of the part in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe after Aslan is killed. Susan and Lucy are totally despondent. They think, like I thought, that the world is done, everything is dark, everything that was good has turned bad. They can't see how could any good come from this—until all of a sudden Aslan comes back to life. It's the same in this movie, when little Stevie tells Aunt Rachel, "It didn't work. God doesn't care. My Dad is gone. There's no hope." But she says, "Let's not judge that too quickly."
Like Narnia, this is a redemptive story of when an innocent, willing victim is killed in the traitor's stead, death begins working backwards. When I saw that in the middle of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I almost stood up and said, "That's it! It's the same message!" Narnia is about vertical reconciliation, and End of the Spear is horizontal reconciliation. But both stories show what can happen when the Deeper Magic, when the greater mystery is revealed—God giving his own Son so that we can be reconciled to him. End of the Spear shows what can happen when people act in the image of God toward their fellow man.
For more information on End of the Spear or the story of the Ecuadorian martyrs, click here.
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