Don't Fear the Walking Dead

Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Revelation 1:17-18

Fear. It can drive up gas prices, trigger an adrenaline rush, and it definitely sells, at least that’s what AMC is hoping for with its latest spin-off series, Fear the Walking Dead.

Being a fan of The Walking Dead graphic novels and its television adaptation, I tuned in. And once again, the pilot episode sucked me in. I enjoy well-told story no matter the genre. Especially when it has verisimilitude, an inner consistence of reality within that particular fictional world. It certainly makes it even more enjoyable to watch when the writing, actors, and plot carry you along the way a good suspense drama ought to.

One of the thoughts that has always kept my attention when watching the original series is the nagging question, how will they survive? Inevitably, this fictional story causes me to reflect upon reality. What does this show teach us about how we survive in life and death situations? What does it tell us about humanity? How do we survive? Christians, of course, have a comforting and trustworthy explanation for that question – one that is both story and history.

And while survival is certainly a theme in Fear the Walking Dead, I find myself pondering a new question: How do the characters in this story respond to fear?

Some are overwhelmed; others are skeptical. Some s help their neighbor; others make a power-grab or cause anarchy. Some are naïve and play the ostrich; others demonstrate courage, bravery, and self-sacrifice. Some are overcome by fear and grow loveless; while others overcome, or at least endure, fear with love for others.

Take away the zombies and insert a devastating earthquake and the results would be largely the same. Turns out this show can teach us a few things after all. But of course it’s for mature audiences and ought to be watched with discernment.

Fear reveals where we place our fear, love, and trust. Think of the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee. The wind howled. The waves crested. The disciples were sore afraid. And Jesus was fast asleep. How did the disciples handle fear? They turned inward on themselves. Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing? Instead of being comforted by the fact that Jesus was asleep and not in a panic, they turned to worship their favorite gods in their time of distress.

We’re no different. We fear, love, and trust all things above God. We’re tempted to turn inward when afraid rather than outward to the cross. And just like the disciples, the Word that calms our fear will not come from inside of us. Rescue comes from the one who perfectly fears, loves, and trusts the Father. Jesus speaks a word and the wind and waves are hushed, a surfer’s nightmare and a fisherman’s dream. Of course, Jesus didn’t promise his disciples, then or now, that we would be free from trouble in this life; quite the contrary in fact. But he did promise to be with us always. And so he is.

On Good Friday the disciples were afraid. But the cross is Jesus answer to their fears and ours. Does the Lord care that we are perishing? You bet He does. He cares enough to die for you and take all your fears and sins along with him. Our troubled hearts are hushed by his Word. Even death is shut up. The grave’s hungry jaws are thrust open by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Jesus' cross is our safe-zone.

And when the disciples were huddled in a locked room for fear of the Jews, Jesus came among them and declared, Peace be with you. Weeping and fear may tarry for the night but resurrection joy comes in the morning. And that’s not just a good story; it’s history. Peace be with you.

You see, a good story, even a fictional one on television like Fear the Walking Dead, is always more than a story. Stories teach us about ourselves and the world we live in, and once in a while they’ll even tell us about another world where we’ll live without fear.

That’s what caught my eye in a recent episode (Not Fade Away). Surrounding the safe zone where the protagonists live, there’s a barbed wire fence, designed to keep people out as well as in. But on this particular fence were written words that are truly freeing: Rev. 21:4.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This was no accident. Who put the verse there and why? I’ll probably never know. But I know this. We need not fear the walking dead, or even death itself. For these words give us hope that Jesus’ perfect love casts out all our fears. Fear ends at the foot of the cross.

The Bible According to The Walking Dead

I’d like to take a brief moment to write something positive about the entertainment industry. I know what you’re thinking, can anything good come from Hollywood? Believe me; I know. I live in Southern California. We know crazy (Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and the beat goes on). Hardly a week goes by without some kind of celebrity shenanigans (serious or just plain silly) making headline news. After all, we’re still talking about Harrison Ford’s Kessel Run into a local golf course.

But once in a while the entertainment industry surprises you and gets it right. Perhaps it’s even more shocking when the “it” happens to be Christianity.

I mentioned in a previous article (Sundays are for the Walking Dead) that I enjoy watching The Walking Dead because it is a good story, and frequently draws on Christian themes or influences. For instance, in a recent episode (March 8^th, 2015) Away in A Manger was playing in the background during a dinner party in Alexandria.

But more seriously, this is a survival story. And one of the things that helps people survive in this world of guilt, fear, and death is religion. Now, I would argue that the most convincing, confident, and comforting answer to humanity’s problems of guilt, fear, and death is Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus’ death and resurrection is a well-told story, beautiful in its meaning, sublime in its consolation, and yet it is also true, verifiable, and veracious. Jesus died in a particular place at a particular time with reliable eyewitnesses that testify to his dying and rising. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Jesus’ death and resurrection is history, but the event does not cease to be a good story.

Jesus did not die and rise in a post-apocalyptic television show. But can his factual death and resurrection be found in such fictional places? I think so. We shouldn’t be surprised to find Christian themes in a show that deals largely with fear, guilt, and death in every episode. In fact I think the opposite is true; I would be surprised if shows like The Walking Dead contained no themes or echoes of Christianity at all.

But in fact, many shows and movies like The Walking Dead do. Earlier in the season, the band of survivors spent several episodes in an abandoned Episcopalian church. On the interior wall of the nave, just to the right of the chancel was a hymn board. Granted, a bit of ignorance is revealed in that the hymn board was used for Bible verses instead of actual hymns. And yet on the other hand, the writers revealed some intriguing biblical proof-texting skills. For upon this hymn board in the wilds of walker infested Georgia, were posted the following bible verses.

Romans 6:4

Ezekiel 37:7

Matthew 27:52

Revelation 9:6

Luke 24:5

This was no coincidence. Whomever it was that wrote these episodes, took time to think about what these verses meant and why they should be included on set. Someone on the writing staff knew that viewers (I can’t be the only one) would take the time to look these verses up and reflect upon them. Certainly, context can’t always be known in one verse. But read the verses and their context. It’s all about dying and rising.

I find it fascinating, and rather profound, that in a fictional show about death and survival, someone was thoughtful enough to find and display several key Scripture passages which, in reality, show how one can indeed survive death.

The answer to the tragedy in the world that is depicted in The Walking Dead is not found in the zombies rising from the dead, but in Christ’s death and resurrection. The answer to the fundamental problem that faces all of us in the real world - guilt, fear, and death - is found in Christ’s dying and rising for you, and in these words.

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”

Sundays are for the Walking Dead

There are several reasons why I nerd out when it comes to AMC’s The Walking Dead. I’ve enjoyed reading the graphic novels and following the story threads woven between the books and television version. I’ve equally enjoyed the television series with its plot twists, character additions and development, and after show Talking Dead. I’ve also appreciated the ethical and philosophical struggles that arise during the course of the books and the show, both externally as a reader and viewer, and internally with the characters as they live in the post-apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead. But most of all I enjoy The Walking Dead because it is a well-told story riddled with religion (even specifically Christian at times), sometimes explicitly so, and yet, at other times a bit more underground. But it’s always present and always insightful whenever it happens in the story.

Take for instance the minor fact that the church bus the group used in the first season, surprisingly came from a Lutheran church. That it wasn’t a Southern Baptist passenger van is itself a small miracle.

More significantly, however, Hershel Greene quickly comes to mind. He is frequently seen reading and heard quoting Scripture, often with profound things to say both for the viewer and to his fellow characters within the story.

Scripture was also prominently featured on a hymn board of the wall in a small country church in the most recent season. On that hymn board were the citations for a number of key bible verses dealing with death and resurrection; but that's another post for another day.

There’s also the wedding of Glenn and Maggie which takes place in the prison. As they’re surrounded by death, at least in the books, 1 Corinthians 13 is read. What a remarkable contrast between life and death, depicting the loving sacrifice that marriage is, even in a world gone mad. After all, the real reason 1 Corinthians 13 is called the “love chapter” is because Paul recounts for us the character and nature of God’s love for us in Christ, of which marriage is a mysterious reflection (Ephesians 5).

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 

Indeed, Christ’s love in the cross and resurrection never fails, even when steeples, our own lives, or the world around us is falling, crumbling, and sinking into the sea…or walking dead.

Recently, AMC’s advertisements on social media caught my eye. As they began to promote the show’s return after its winter break they released this little picture and tag-line:

That single sentence stuck in my brain all evening, indeed for a couple weeks now. Sundays are for The Walking Dead. Now, what they meant for a clever promo, I take as a profound truth.

Sundays are for the walking dead.

Consider Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

That’s what we declare every Sunday in confession: I a poor miserable sinner. I am the walking dead. I am dead in trespasses and sins.

This reveals an outstanding parallel to Paul’s words within the The Walking Dead universe. In the course of the show the group finds out at the CDC, and in the book they declare in agony, the tragic reality to the question they all wrestle with: Who are the walking dead? It’s not the walkers, the biters, or the rotters – as they’re called. But finally, and fatally…“We are the walking dead.” Seems to me that’s a pretty accurate analysis and conclusion of our sinful condition in this life. The writers for The Walking Dead echo Paul’s words in Ephesians 2 about walking in death. The problem isn’t the world. Rather, to quote G.K. Chesterton: “You ask what’s wrong with the world? I am.” I am the walking dead.

Although The Walking Dead is good at diagnosing the problem, as is the case with most post-apocalyptic stories; it is not so good at offering a cure, much like the disease the characters each carry. It appears to be incurable.

But do not fear. There is another story – a true one – which depicts not only the proper diagnosis of our death in sin, but our resurrection in Christ who is the Great Physician of body and soul. His death and resurrection are the only cure for our sin-sick condition. It is the story you should hear any given Sunday – and if you’re not, you should demand that you do. It’s true; we were (note the past tense!) dead in our trespasses and sins. Yes, we were the walking dead. Yes, the devil attacks us like a herd of biters surrounding a car full of fresh, terrified humans, seeking to devour us.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

You see, the advertisement is right. Sundays really are for the walking dead. Jesus rose from the dead for you on a Sunday. Jesus walked out of his grave on a Sunday, leaving all your sins behind him having paid for them in full by his death on the cross. Jesus appeared to his disciples who were scared to death on a Sunday, and he appeared again the following Sunday for Thomas and us who have doubts with him. Jesus showed that he is the victor over death on a Sunday.

And for us, Jesus has hallowed all Sundays to be a day of rest. Sundays are where the walking dead are raised to life by the fruits of Jesus’ life-giving, death-defying, new-creation-bringing death and resurrection. Sundays are days when we rejoice in our Baptism which buries us into Christ’s death and raises us to new life in his resurrection. Sundays are days when we rejoice in Jesus’ words: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

Sundays are days when we go to church, not because it’s a gymnasium for our spiritual exercise routine, and not because it’s a rehab center for habitual sinners, or even because it’s a hospital for the sick. The church is a hospice care, where the dying care for the dying and where we, the walking dead, receive life in Jesus’ name and according to his promise in water, word, body and blood.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

Yes. Sundays are for the walking dead.