Jesus, the True Hero
What the Nazarene did during His time on earth was way beyond what any superhero could and would do
Everyone loves a hero or heroine, even the most cynical and skeptical among us.
Picture this scenario: The people are suffering due to injustice and evil and the victims cry for help.
Then there comes a message telling of a powerful being who will defeat the villains and return the population to peace and prosperity before the victor flies away into the horizon.
The usual tale is that the hero arrives at the moment of the village’s greatest need, defeats the enemy and peace is restored. Add in a love interest and that could make the difference between whether the hero stays on or leaves.
Jesus, by His defeat of sin and Satan through the Cross, would be our greatest hero. But His arrival story seemed hardly heroic. His birth was heralded by angels and wise men.
“But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.’” (Luke 1:30–33, NIV).
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, NIV).
But Mary must have felt anything but heroic when she heard that she would be the mother of Jesus.
Strike 1 — her swelling belly would invite malicious gossip. Strike 2 — the narrative would take a blow when Jesus was born in a manger for animals instead of a home or palace. Strike 3 was when the baby Jesus did not look heroic, just a baby with the normal coos and cries that all babies make.
And then examine the contrasts. You would think that someone who fed 5,000 people from just five loaves and two fishes could transform his family’s life too, but the reality was very different — throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus could have been considered “homeless.”
“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’” (Luke 9:58, NIV).
For most of Jesus’ earthly life, the news of his unusual conception and birth made Him a target of malicious gossip, and his family’s simple circumstances often made His message hard to accept.
When Jesus healed a man who had been born blind and the grateful man told the Pharisees of the miracle, the narrative went as follows:
“A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. ‘Give glory to God by telling the truth,’ they said. ‘We know this man is a sinner.’” (John 9:24, NIV).
Despite having gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense at his birth, Jesus did not turn out to be a social influencer a la Bruce Wayne (Batman) or Tony Stark (Iron Man).
After the angel Gabriel told Joseph that Mary would give birth to the Saviour of the World, you could be forgiven for thinking that Jesus would give the evildoers the punishment that they deserved — not be punished and die on a cross instead!
This is where we sometimes forget what kind of hero our Saviour was supposed to be. True heroes live their daily lives and face their challenges bravely, unlike the fictional superheroes of comic lore.
But sin is a different enemy. Brute force can never defeat sin — Satan has been around too long and been there, done that, and not even the most powerful superhero can ever win the battle between good and evil.
The Father knew that a deep-seated power such as evil could only be defeated by an equally deep-seated challenger — Love.
Since Adam’s fall, the Father of Lies had twisted our lives out of order and the Father of Love needed to untangle us back to what God had planned us to be. God knows that true love cannot grow and thrive among riches and power but is nurtured through simplicity and adversity, like iron sharpening iron.
And just as a human, Adam, brought in sin, so a human would need to bring in love to counter it — a philosophy that did not sync with the ancient world’s focus on power and strength.
So enter Jesus, who is Love with a human face. He came with no weapons other than Truth, Love and Empathy.
Have you ever been the target of gossip and ostracism? Jesus knew that feeling.
Have you ever felt the pain of separation from loved ones? Jesus’ anguish at His separation from His Father on the cross was harrowing.
Have you known loneliness and lack of love? Jesus faced ridicule and was forsaken so that we would know that He will never forsake us.
This is the real Christmas story, that Jesus came into the world to be our personal Hero. It was just not the way we thought. His humanity gave us the Friend and Encourager that would always be by our side, and his deity gave us the power that finally put down the Enemy.
During the current coronavirus pandemic, life has taken on an upside-down turn. Our normal routines are almost turning into little dystopias that we struggle to make sense of.
Friendships have unraveled, marriages are under stress, jobs are in jeopardy, and we suddenly have to come face to face with the fact that each of us really has a “dark side” that we ignored in the past but are now forced to regularly confront — and the results are often not pretty.
We need heroes, and I am so glad that Jesus is my Hero. And if you search yourself deep enough, you will also acknowledge your need for a hero.
Would you consider the claims of Jesus for yourself, and see for yourself that the true Hero we all look for is already here? He has always been and is and will always be present for us. If you seek sincerely, there is no way He will not show up for you.
May I invite you to call on Jesus and invite Him to be your hero?
