Traction is the courage of a conviction that translates that conviction into action. It is where the rubber meets the road. It is the powerful operative idea or experience that gives a person the grip they need to act in concert with their beliefs even in the face of great fear.

Traction was on display this past week in the story of Ashley Smith. Smith was the lady who was taken hostage by Brian Nichols, the gunman who allegedly shot and killed four people in making his escape from an Atlanta court room. Despite the terrible danger she was in, Smith was able to keep her cool, talk to her captor as a human being and eventually disarm him with her compassionate belief in a God of grace. Andrew Sullivan tells this story in his Time essay, When Grace Arrives Unannounced.

Smith’s husband had died in her arms from a knife wound four years prior. She had problems with drugs. She had given up custody of her five year old daughter. Despite all of these problems, she was trying to make a better life for herself believing that God had a purpose for her. She was reading Rick Warren’s  Purpose Driven Life when Nichols arrived. Smith’s faith enabled her to overcome her fears and counsel Nickel, offering him the hope that had helped her turn it around.

Having experienced grace in her life, Ashley Smith was able to extend the hope for grace to the man that held her captive and in doing so overcame evil with good. The story has a happy ending because Smith had the courage of her conviction to act upon what she believed. Hope in the grace of God is what gave Ashley Smith’s faith traction.

Traction was also on display 2000 years ago in Palestine during the Passover feast. It is hard to grasp what motivated a young Palestinian Jew to ride into Jerusalem as a conquering king, upset the Jewish authorities by cleansing their temple, allow them to unjustly convict him in a mock trial, accept without objection a death sentence from a corrupt conniving Roman governor, endure horrific abuse at the hands of cruel Gentiles, and be crucified between two common criminals under the notice “Jesus, King of the Jews.”

This is the story so graphically portrayed in Mel Gibson's  the Passion of the Christ. It is a story that forces us to wonder why. Why did he do it? Why did he have to die so terribly? Why did it happen this way? Was it an accident of history that Jesus was crucified? If not, what motivated his actions? What was the conviction that gave Jesus the courage to suffer such a humiliating death? Where is the traction that translated Jesus’ belief into such tragic action?

In the movie, Gibson answers this question in a profoundly moving scene. Mary played by Maia Morgenstern is rushing to see Jesus, played by James Caviezel, as he is on the way to the cross. From a distance, Mary sees Jesus collapse under the weight of the cross. She runs to him to comfort him just as she did when he was a little boy. We see Jesus struggling to regain his feet with Mary’s comforting arms around him. Then in great pain, but with even greater conviction, Jesus says, “Behold, mother, I make all things new.”

This quote from Revelation 21:5 inserted here at perhaps the most poignant moment of the movie, is Gibson’s answer to what gives Jesus’ faith the traction to endure the passion. It is the hope that his life and death are not in vain. It is the hope for a better future. It is the hope that through him all things can be made new. It is the hope that will bring about the transformation of all things. It is the hope for his vindication in the resurrection.

Hope is what gives faith traction!

This weekend, as we remember the death of Christ and as we celebrate the resurrection, know that the hope that gave Christ’s faith the traction to endure the cross, is the hope that can give your faith the traction it needs to endure the hardships and difficulties of this life.

Life's hardships and difficulties did not overwhelm Ashley Smith because she had hope, hope that gave her the courage to live her convictions. In the process, she saved her life and most likely the lives of many others.