What is the highest calling to which one can aspire? According to faithful Christian and “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson, it is “sacrificial love.” Such is what Ritchson said in a video posted after an Easter egg hunt with his family and friends in which he saw his younger son living out the faith in a small way, giving away his eggs to younger children who didn’t find as many.
Ritchson said that his son was happy to be giving them away, as it let him help out, in a small way, those who had less. He then used that story as a way of teaching people about sacrificial love and how it is part of his Christian faith.
Speaking about the matter and introducing the way that the Easter egg hunt opened his eyes to the sacrificial love matter, Ritchson said, “I think in something as simple as children searching for Easter eggs we get a glimpse of that relationship between humankind and God in a way that makes it all make sense for us.”
Continuing, after describing watching his son give away the eggs he found, Ritchson said, “He was so proud of the fact that he gave the eggs away.” He added, speaking about his pride in his son, “We were proud of him. My wife and I are talking about ways that we can reward him for his self-sacrificial love.”
Ritchson then encouraged people to think about that little story as they interact with others, using the eggs as a metaphor for human interactions. He said, “Imagine those kids growing up to be 40 or 50, and instead of eggs being filled with treasures, some are ‘full of contempt, revenge, apathy.’”
Continuing, he encouraged people to keep that in mind and give away the good rather than the bad, saying, “What do we do? Do we continue to give those away? What about the ones that are full of some kind of value…that helps us feel like we can escape or find comfort when we’ve got a basket full of bad eggs? We hold on to those tighter.”
He added, commenting on how life can go badly at times and how a savior is needed in those dark moments, “This starts to look a lot more like real life. And we start to feel disenfranchised or cynical when it feels like the game is poisoned or broken beyond repair. And we start to crave a savior of some kind.”
He continued, “We are not capable of saving ourselves because we crave evil. We are wicked, broken people, and we need a savior.” He then said, “in the New Testament, we get one who claims to be that thing in Jesus. What does Jesus come to do? He comes preaching radical generosity and not just to those who you like but to those who you detest,” he said.
And, bringing that back to Easter, he said, “So, at the foot of the cross begins this upside-down Kingdom with upside-down values, and this is what we’re called to on this Easter Day. The resurrection tells us—it points to some reality that there’s this permanence and victory in this Kingdom. That it’s already been had. That it will continue forever, and that we will continue to be called to be shaped to look more like that Kingdom for those who are willing to.”
Watch Ritchson here: