Movie producer William Castle was known in the 1950s for his low-quality horror films. In 1961, Castle did something totally unique in movie history: he let the audience choose the ending to his movie. Castle's movie, Mr. Sardonicus, was about a crazed, reclusive killer. Near the end of the film, ushers stopped the film and allowed audiences to vote on whether the killer should live or die. Then, the ushers ran the ending that the audience chose. The audience always chose death for the bad guy. It's a good thing human nature is so predictable. William Castle was counting on it. You see, he only filmed one ending to his movie, not two. He was so sure that the audience would vote to kill the bad guy that he only filmed that ending to save money. This quirky little story provides us a window into human nature: We have a yearning for justice.

Philosopher Immanuel Kant believed this universal desire of human beings to see justice accomplished pointed the way to God. He called it "a universal sense of oughtness." The Hero's Adventure is what it is sometimes called in storytelling. It is the classic formula of popular fiction. A virtuous person is called on to face overwhelming odds. He or she nearly loses possibly at the risk of his or her own life. Eventually, however, our hero is victorious. And vicariously we celebrate alongside the hero. We share in the pain of his challenge and near defeat, and we feel a sense of elation when our hero finally triumphs. It is rare, however, that an audience will celebrate an unhappy ending. It's such a downer. And rarely will an audience celebrate victory by a villain. Why, then, did Jesus allow a dirty, rotten scoundrel to triumph in one of his stories? You know which story I'm talking about. Jesus told his disciples a story about a rich man whose manager was wasting his possessions. So the rich man called his manager in and asked him, "What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer."