Emphasis Preaching Journal

In the movie Contact Jody Foster portrayed an astronomer named Ellie who deeply believed in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life. When she was a child, her late father had shared his own belief by suggesting that if there's not other life in the universe, then "it seems like an awful waste of space." This belief drives her passionate and sometimes relentless search for other life through listening for signals through radio telescopes. In the film her efforts are rewarded by receipt of a signal that validates her work and her faith while raising other questions about the source of the emission. Receipt of the transmission is essential to underscore her work as authentic among colleagues who view her work as "on the fringe." Without the message, all that she has labored to do, all the hours of listening to the stars, all the years of school, all of her energy are exhausted in vain. The message's arrival prevents Ellie from being ridiculed by her colleagues and seen as a failure.
Paul sees the logic of his situation as a preacher of the gospel as posing a similar risk. If the news of Jesus' resurrection is not true, then all of Paul's life has been exhausted for naught. The situation is similar, except Paul has himself already encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.
-- Frye