The debonair Jonathan Goldsmith appeared in Dos Equis beer ads from 2006 – 2016. The actor portrayed quite unusual accomplishments, then ended the video in the presence of beautiful young women. “Stay thirsty, my friends,” was his sign-off. He was “The Most Interesting Man in the World.”

Clever ad campaign. The way Goldsmith won the part was itself interesting. For the audition the screeners gave the ending line, “…and that’s how I arm wrestled Fidel Castro!” They judged the actors on their ability to ad lib an entertaining story. So Goldsmith must have been interesting to win the role. But in reality, most interesting? No.

Someone else won that superlative, the One we just celebrated as walking around alive only a few days after He was executed until dead. How do we peel off the barnacles of history and religion to see this news the way a serious journalist would? First we have to know He really existed, with His life recorded as spanning time between Herod and Pontius Pilate during the Roman Empire. He lived and traveled among places like Bethlehem, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Capernaum, places that still exist.

Next we have to consider what He did. He unpacked mysteries about God and life often in a story, while touching hearts and healing bodies. He was such a winsome man, it’s hard to believe anyone would think otherwise. But He had no use for pious, self-righteous, religious elites who burdened people with irrelevant rules. The result was the same as if you cut donuts on the courthouse lawn in your ragged F-150 last Friday night while holding a Dos Equis. The authorities came after Him.

They bribed a friend to frame Him, conducted a show trial, and executed this “nuisance.” But that was His intent all along. It stops you dead in your tracks that in God’s justice, it was you who deserved what Jesus received. For you to live eternally, eternal God became man. Dorothy Sayers wrote, “We may call that doctrine exhilarating or we may call it devastating; we may call it revelation or we may call it rubbish; but if we call it dull, then words have no meaning at all. That God should play the tyrant over man is a dismal story of unrelieved oppression; that man should play the tyrant over man is the usual dreary record of human futility; but that man should play the tyrant over God and find Him a better man than himself is an astonishing drama indeed.”

So astonishing in fact, that “There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). This most interesting Man is coming back and you’ll get to meet Him!

I recently met a couple who hiked the Camino de Santiago (the Way of Saint James). From the popular starting point, it is a 600 mile trek across France and Spain. Pilgrims (hikers) make their way toward the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The 2010 movie, “The Way” portrays a father (Martin Sheen) who completes the pilgrimage on behalf of his deceased son. It shows the route between European villages traversing pastoral scenes and scanning majestic vistas.

In the last 20 years, the number of hikers grew from 30,000 to 330,000. Reasons number as many as the hikers, but seeking respite from our distracting world must be a common motivation. Writer James Jeffrey admitted, “I’ve been continually perplexed by, and mulled endlessly over, just why the experience was so fulfilling, shocking even, in a dazzling, uplifting way.” He hints at a spiritual answer. “We are designed as humans to look to a horizon and move towards it. But we are forgetting this truth, and it’s destroying us.”

The Appalachian Trail is near our town, and I hear stories of hikers from friends who enjoy helping them on their way. Thru-hikers face a 2200 mile trip and only 1 of 4 attempts are successful. Many AT hikers are on their own spiritual quest, and even if they are not sure what they’ll find, they journey towards it anyway.

This journeying toward a goal or purpose is a key to understanding Jesus. After spending time in Galilee, “He set his face toward Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). The trek from Galilee to Jerusalem is about 100 miles, but the distance was not His challenge. He knew too well what would transpire there. He said, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day” (Matt. 17:22-23). He only confirmed what had already been written, that God requires and provides an atoning sacrifice to reconcile us to our Creator.

You might think that Jesus’ journey ended at the cross, but his empty tomb and post-resurrection appearances say otherwise. Neither did His journey end later when he ascended from Bethany, destination heaven. In fact He still journeys toward his goal as He said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

The question is, what are you journeying toward? You may never hike the Way or the AT, but your yearnings move you toward some horizon. It’s worth noting that every human is created in the image of God, with yearnings that can only be fulfilled in Him. Jesus beckons, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Journey toward Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He Is Risen!