The LOST finale episode redux

I recently re watched the finale episode of the T.V. series LOST.  It’s been two years now since the show wrapped and I remember there was a real polarization between those that thought it it was a grand, and daring ending and those that felt “cheated” at having invested 6 seasons into a show that really did require a lot of emotional investment and then fail to answer what they considered key questions.

I am part of the first group obviously.  I loved the show then and now realize that it actually gets better with time.  Ok, spoiler alert, the rest of this post deals with the episode itself so if you don’t want to know what happens…stop reading now.

The last episode has two different storylines being played out simultaneously.  The first storyline is dealing with the castaways final battle on the Island that has been their home for 6 seasons against the “Man in Black”.  The second storyline is in modern L.A. and has the castaways in everyday lives connecting to each other and “remembering” their time on the Island.  The castaways are drawn to a church where the lead character Jack, meets his deceased father, Christian.  Its at the church that Jack “remembers” his time on the Island  and in an emotional scene discovers that he, like all of his friends, are dead.  Some, he learns, before him some long after him.

Jack and his father then move into the main church sanctuary and into a celebration of closest and dearest friends greeting and hugging one another.  It is at this point that the the story resonates with my heart as a Christian.  I am one of these people that long “to go home”.  I want to be where God is and in this scene I felt just a glimpse of eternity. I love the joy of everyone’s faces in the church scene.  After so much pain and misery they experienced in their lives and on “the Island”, all of that is behind them now.  There is no more weeping.  As Jesus promises, “I will wipe away all of their tears.”
As important as their time on the Island was, it really was just a small prologue to the journey they were preparing to begin…and with those they love.  As Jack begins to enter into the celebration the scene shuttles back and forth between the joy he is experiencing in heaven and his dying moments having sacrificed himself on the Island to save his friends.

Because he is now in eternity everything seems to be happening at the same time…which I think has been one of the best representations of eternity shown on TV.  The bible often alludes to our already being seated with God in heavenly places.  That I am both living out a life in a linear mortal timeline on earth yet at the same time I am celebrating in heaven.

The episode ends as Jack “dies” and at the same moment Jack’s father Christian (yes, Christian Shepherd) opens the main doors of the church letting in a heavenly light.  For me, it was a highly emotional moment and puts everything into perspective.  One day I too shall die, but I know, I am already greeting family, friends, and my Lord in eternity.