My hero was Superman. That was a long time ago. Before Henry Cavill and Christopher Reeve. Before television.
It all happened on the radio and in my mind. Every afternoon after school my friends and I would play cricket in our back yard. But at 4:40 the game would come to an abrupt end and we would move excitedly into our lounge and seat ourselves on the carpet in front of our large radio – just in time to hear the booming voice:
Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Mighty being from space, stronger than steel, free to roam the world on his lone patrol for the good of mankind…. What is that in the sky? Its a bird! Its a plane! No, Its Superman! For the next fifteen minutes we listened with bated breath to the latest adventure of the man of steel.
When I began to learn about Jesus Christ I believed that Jesus was just like Superman. Always helping, always saving, always doing good. People would cry out for help and their saviour would swoop down from the heavens and save them. Then with an Up, up and away he would soar into the skies to save someone else. What a man! What a hero!
But as the years went by I had to admit that Superman wasnt real he was just someones creation and just a faint echo of who we have in Jesus Christ.
Jesus initiated a plan
Yes, we can have fun drawing the analogies with Superman and Jesus – specifically about the good he did for others but the truth is Jesus first and foremost didnt do something for us. Yes, he died for you and me. But we need to think deeply about this. We need to go further. When I have a problem with my electricity I have an electrician who comes to my house and he does something for me. He comes in emergencies and he delivers me and saves me but once hes done the job for me hes gone like Superman.
But not Jesus.
Let me explain.
At the heart of the universe is the staggering love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because of this great love God desired that the human race join the Trinity in their circle of relationship and know, experience and participate in this Trinitarian life. But instead of waiting for humans to make the first move or to be good enough, he initiated a plan. This plan would be for the ultimate good of all humanity but God would do it on his own, with no help from us.
And so the Son stepped out of eternity and into our world and became what we are. The Creator became a creature. He got hungry, thirsty and sometimes he got very tired.
He was a man on a mission. Yet, although he was an individual man Jesus doesnt do things alone. Karl Barth said; While you and I are not necessary, God does not will to be God without us. He came to give humans life to the fullest. His life.
Although he was an individual he represented all humanity – so much so that what would become of him would become of us.1 And he wouldnt only do this by doing something for us and leave us looking from the outside in, he also did something with us, to us and as us. He wouldnt be on a lone patrol he would be connected to us.
Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism…. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives…. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him (Romans 6:3-8 NLT). Jesus is about giving us a place in his life and sharing in what he is doing.
Because he is our representative and substitute, when Jesus died, we died. When he was resurrected we were resurrected. He rose again as us. What becomes of him becomes of us. What happens to him happens to us.
One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life… (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Message). The prophet Isaiah elaborates; … it was our pains he carriedour disfigurements, all the things wrong with us…. it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed himour sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole… (Isaiah 53:4 Message). He is the doctor who became the patient. The mechanic who became the engine.
You are coming with me
But these astonishing events dont end there. And you dont have to wait for the next exciting episode to find out what will happen. It has already happened. When Jesus ascended he didnt leave us behind and move onto another crisis. He didnt say Good bye Im going home now. He didnt shout Up, up and away and we were just left waiting for his second coming. No. He said You are coming with me. I will never leave you nor forsake you.
CS Lewis wrote:
He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world with him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.2
Thats a beautiful picture of the staggering love of the Trinity for us. God has raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6 NLT). Through his incarnate life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus has cleansed and reconciled us and has lifted us up and has taken us into the life we were created to enjoy the life he shares with his Father in the Holy Spirit. A fellowship with God that is so close, so intimate, so deep, so real, so alive that everything God the Father is, everything he has, all his treasures and glory, are shared with us personally.3
Its yours for the asking.
Is Superman like Jesus? Jesus is what Superman is not. I (with a little help from the apostle Paul) can now say: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. Superman was my hero. But when I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me and Jesus became my hero for the rest of my life.
1 A helpful illustration of this is the story of David and Goliath (1Samuel 17). Both men represented their nation. Whatever happened to the one man happened to the whole nation. The Israelites were in their representative David and shared his victory as if it was their own.
2 C.S.Lewis, Miracles
3 Baxter Kruger, God is For Us
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