A man named Paul Harvey graced the airways of this country with his pleasant voice and his reporting of events, current and past. He often spoke about the declining American morality. People trusted him; so, whether he was reporting the news, telling something from history, or selling a product, people believed him. His life ended in 2009, and so ended a special kind of news reporting.

Paul Harvey was famous for saying, “And now, the rest of the story.” So often we hear only part of some event, historical story, or current news flash. But Harvey was famous for digging into what existed that didn’t get reported. It might be what followed or what preceded his story. Whichever it was, it gave clarity to his reporting.

That is often true in our telling of Bible stories. I mentioned one recently about the beautiful story that preceded the taking of Elijah. But there are more. Many more.

In thinking about some such stories, I see a pattern. It’s a strong signal for us as Christians today. God never leaves His people without hope. There is always, “the rest of the story.”

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 would seem to be the end of that story, all that needed to be told. True enough, the cities were destroyed, Lot’s wife was turned to a pillar of salt, and some of Lot’s family perished. And now, here is the rest of the story. Lot’s two daughters that were saved from the fire committed sin and bore sons by their father, Moab and Ammon. Both sons grew into nations. Through a series of events, Ruth, a Moabitess, married Boaz, a Hebrew, and became an ancestor to the Savior of the world. How is that for hope?

One story that stands out for me is the story of Jonah. We all know how God told Jonah to go preach to the people of Nineveh; but Jonah not only refused to go, he got on a ship and went in the opposite direction. He quickly realized no one can hide from God, and he went to Nineveh to preach. And now, the rest of the story. He did preach to the people of Nineveh, and “the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” Even the king repented and made a decree that everyone turn from their evil ways.

Just think. Jonah almost missed a chance to convert an entire city, but there is more to this story. Jonah became angry, and his anger was directed at God because God saved Nineveh. There is even more to this story, but it is enough to say that we do not teach the last chapter of Jonah though it is most certainly “the rest of the story” of a prophet of God.

Most of us are familiar with the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda. This poor man had been infirmed for 38 years. He had lain beside this pool, believing that an angel would come and stir the water and heal the first one that got into the water. Jesus passed by, saw the man, asked him if he wanted to be healed, and told him to pick up his bed and walk. Now here is the rest of the story.

This healed man became the subject of controversy among the Jewish rulers. They confronted the man because he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath. The man explained that the man that healed him told him to take up his bed and walk. So, they wanted to know which man had said this to him. The man replied that he didn’t know, and the reason was that there was a great crowd into which Jesus had just disappeared.

A little later, Jesus found this man in the temple. Here Jesus forgave his sins with a warning that something worse could happen to him. It seems that the man’s sins were somehow related to his disability. The man left, and the Jews persecuted Jesus because He healed this man on the Sabbath. He had violated their twisted interpretation of the Law, but not God’s actual commands.

One other story from the book of Acts that is often not completed. Peter and John were on their way to the temple for the hour of prayer (Acts 3). A lame man was laid at the temple gate, unable to walk on his own. Peter and John healed this man, and this greatly astonished the people who witnessed this healing.

And now, the rest of the story. Peter took the opportunity to preach to the people, telling them how they had denied Jesus and wanted a murderer released and how they had killed “the Prince of life.” This sermon was as powerful as the sermon Peter preached on Pentecost. At the end of the sermon, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees took Peter and John (and possibly the man they healed) and put them in prison for the night. But not everyone was turned off by that sermon. There were many of them that believed, about 5,000.

In the end, the apostles were told not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus. Their response was a simple one: “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). This was just the beginning of their speaking and teaching and about Jesus.

The rest of the story continues with us today, if we choose to teach the Jesus of the Bible. We need to make the sharing of Jesus the rest of our story.

Sandra Oliver