The Jesus We Wish We Got
Scripture: Mark 6:1-13
Please pray with me: God of all glory and strength, you come to us in strange and unexpected ways. Open our eyes to the fruits of your spirit, open our hearts to the beauty of your word, open our lives to your healing touch. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
I saw the latest Superman movie this week, and I wouldn’t normally bring that kind of thing up, except that that movie was chock full of Christological symbolism. In one of the opening scenes, Superman’s father speaks to him about how the Father and Son are one. It sounds like the prologue to the book of John. The Father, in a mysterious, solemn voice-over says, “You’ll see my life through your eyes, and I’ll see your life through my eyes.” Later the voice-over of “The Father” talks about why he has sent his only son to the people of Earth. When Lois Lane – who’s lost faith – explains why she doesn’t think the world needs Superman, she says in her best newspaper-woman voice, “We don’t need a Savior.”
Here’s the kicker: there’s one section toward the end – I hope this doesn’t spoil the movie for you – when Superman is pushing a huge Kryptonite rock out into space to get rid of it. Obviously, given his weakness, this is difficult for him. I don’t completely understand how he does it. But after the rock finally floats peacefully out of the Earth’s orbit, Superman falls back, exhausted, legs together, arms out, in a crucifix. That was the part of the movie where I got an elbow in the side for making a remark out loud.
You might think that this is an accident, or a coincidence, but I don’t. Because I think Superman is a symbol in our culture for the kind of Savior we wish we’d gotten—He’s the Jesus we wish we got. He’s strong, he’s handsome, he’s invulnerable to almost everything, he goes around doing obvious practical good things, he defeats villains, he hears everything going on in the world, and as a bonus he can fly, has x-ray vision, and can shoot lasers out of his eyes. It’s a pretty great package. If you wanted to sit around figuring out what we might expect the Son of God to look like, it’s not a bad start.
So what is this craziness that we read about in the book of Mark today? Not only is Jesus not shooting lasers out of his eyes to defeat his enemies, he’s in fact doing kind of a bad job at the healing miracles – the signs and wonders – that he usually excels at. And his excuse? Prophets never find a welcome in their hometown.
This might be kind of a surprising passage to some of us – especially if you hadn’t realized before that Jesus had brothers and sisters – but on the other hand, there’s a certain truth about human nature in Jesus’ words. I have to say that in my experience I almost always enjoy homecomings, but there sometimes is that note of condescension, or SOMETHING from the older relative who says, “I haven’t seen you since you were this tall.” Makes it hard to explain that you’ve got a master’s degree, are married, and are paying your own bills. And unfortunately, stomping on the ground and saying “I am TOO a grown-up” doesn’t really breed respect.
So for me anyway, it’s a little comforting to know that even Jesus got grief for being young, or forgetting where he came from, or for rising beyond the town’s expectations. But I also think there’s another lesson to be gleaned here. Throughout Mark Jesus’ power to heal comes not only from some kind of magic, super-power in Jesus, but from the belief of the person he was healing. Last week, when the woman touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed, Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you well.” So in today’s reading, when the people aren’t open to Jesus, when they can’t believe that he would be able to bring something more than the sum total of his life in Nazareth, they aren’t able to do their part in bringing about the healings and wonders that Jesus is capable of with their participation.
What does this tell us about God and about our salvation? Well, for one thing, it tells us that our salvation – our healing – is not something that is going to be forced upon us: we have to be open to accepting it and believing it. And believe it or not, I think this makes Jesus a better Savior than an imaginary superhero like Superman. Because while Superman flies around solving problems and setting a good example, but the recipients of his good works ultimately play only a passive role. Jesus, however, is much more demanding of us.
I was reading an article the other day about what leads to real happiness in life. I know you’ll be surprised to hear this in church, but the answer is not more money. Once you get to the point where your basic needs are covered, double your money does not equal double your happiness. What does bring happiness, according to the article, are long-lasting, rewarding relationships; a good balance of workflow – not too much, not too little; and a sense of control over your own life.
A Superman savior, as it turns out, can only give us salvation for a moment—a problem solved for us, a disaster averted. And don’t we all wish for that kind of salvation sometimes? To win the lottery, for the moving boxes to unpack themselves, for the miraculous cure. But God’s Spirit offers us eternal salvation – a chosen love, a healing through belief, a deep relationship that is ours to take, if we will.
God, in creating the world, and in giving us free will, did not want us to be puppets. We can choose for ourselves whether we will be open, whether we will be healed, whether we will love God. Clearly, belief and doubt are complex, and not a simple act of checking yes or no on a box, but God doesn’t come to us in superhuman form. God comes in human form.
This Jesus we meet in Mark, the one who can’t get his hometown to take him seriously, is real, is human. This may not always be the Jesus we wanted, but it is the Jesus we got—the Jesus who invites us, but never compels us, into a loving relationship with source and ground of life. The Jesus who heals with our active participation. The Jesus who offers us eternal life. Thanks be to God, Amen.
Please pray with me: God of all glory and strength, you come to us in strange and unexpected ways. Open our eyes to the fruits of your spirit, open our hearts to the beauty of your word, open our lives to your healing touch. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
I saw the latest Superman movie this week, and I wouldn’t normally bring that kind of thing up, except that that movie was chock full of Christological symbolism. In one of the opening scenes, Superman’s father speaks to him about how the Father and Son are one. It sounds like the prologue to the book of John. The Father, in a mysterious, solemn voice-over says, “You’ll see my life through your eyes, and I’ll see your life through my eyes.” Later the voice-over of “The Father” talks about why he has sent his only son to the people of Earth. When Lois Lane – who’s lost faith – explains why she doesn’t think the world needs Superman, she says in her best newspaper-woman voice, “We don’t need a Savior.”
Here’s the kicker: there’s one section toward the end – I hope this doesn’t spoil the movie for you – when Superman is pushing a huge Kryptonite rock out into space to get rid of it. Obviously, given his weakness, this is difficult for him. I don’t completely understand how he does it. But after the rock finally floats peacefully out of the Earth’s orbit, Superman falls back, exhausted, legs together, arms out, in a crucifix. That was the part of the movie where I got an elbow in the side for making a remark out loud.
You might think that this is an accident, or a coincidence, but I don’t. Because I think Superman is a symbol in our culture for the kind of Savior we wish we’d gotten—He’s the Jesus we wish we got. He’s strong, he’s handsome, he’s invulnerable to almost everything, he goes around doing obvious practical good things, he defeats villains, he hears everything going on in the world, and as a bonus he can fly, has x-ray vision, and can shoot lasers out of his eyes. It’s a pretty great package. If you wanted to sit around figuring out what we might expect the Son of God to look like, it’s not a bad start.
So what is this craziness that we read about in the book of Mark today? Not only is Jesus not shooting lasers out of his eyes to defeat his enemies, he’s in fact doing kind of a bad job at the healing miracles – the signs and wonders – that he usually excels at. And his excuse? Prophets never find a welcome in their hometown.
This might be kind of a surprising passage to some of us – especially if you hadn’t realized before that Jesus had brothers and sisters – but on the other hand, there’s a certain truth about human nature in Jesus’ words. I have to say that in my experience I almost always enjoy homecomings, but there sometimes is that note of condescension, or SOMETHING from the older relative who says, “I haven’t seen you since you were this tall.” Makes it hard to explain that you’ve got a master’s degree, are married, and are paying your own bills. And unfortunately, stomping on the ground and saying “I am TOO a grown-up” doesn’t really breed respect.
So for me anyway, it’s a little comforting to know that even Jesus got grief for being young, or forgetting where he came from, or for rising beyond the town’s expectations. But I also think there’s another lesson to be gleaned here. Throughout Mark Jesus’ power to heal comes not only from some kind of magic, super-power in Jesus, but from the belief of the person he was healing. Last week, when the woman touched Jesus’ cloak and was healed, Jesus told her, “Your faith has made you well.” So in today’s reading, when the people aren’t open to Jesus, when they can’t believe that he would be able to bring something more than the sum total of his life in Nazareth, they aren’t able to do their part in bringing about the healings and wonders that Jesus is capable of with their participation.
What does this tell us about God and about our salvation? Well, for one thing, it tells us that our salvation – our healing – is not something that is going to be forced upon us: we have to be open to accepting it and believing it. And believe it or not, I think this makes Jesus a better Savior than an imaginary superhero like Superman. Because while Superman flies around solving problems and setting a good example, but the recipients of his good works ultimately play only a passive role. Jesus, however, is much more demanding of us.
I was reading an article the other day about what leads to real happiness in life. I know you’ll be surprised to hear this in church, but the answer is not more money. Once you get to the point where your basic needs are covered, double your money does not equal double your happiness. What does bring happiness, according to the article, are long-lasting, rewarding relationships; a good balance of workflow – not too much, not too little; and a sense of control over your own life.
A Superman savior, as it turns out, can only give us salvation for a moment—a problem solved for us, a disaster averted. And don’t we all wish for that kind of salvation sometimes? To win the lottery, for the moving boxes to unpack themselves, for the miraculous cure. But God’s Spirit offers us eternal salvation – a chosen love, a healing through belief, a deep relationship that is ours to take, if we will.
God, in creating the world, and in giving us free will, did not want us to be puppets. We can choose for ourselves whether we will be open, whether we will be healed, whether we will love God. Clearly, belief and doubt are complex, and not a simple act of checking yes or no on a box, but God doesn’t come to us in superhuman form. God comes in human form.
This Jesus we meet in Mark, the one who can’t get his hometown to take him seriously, is real, is human. This may not always be the Jesus we wanted, but it is the Jesus we got—the Jesus who invites us, but never compels us, into a loving relationship with source and ground of life. The Jesus who heals with our active participation. The Jesus who offers us eternal life. Thanks be to God, Amen.
posted by Amy Sens at 4:54 PM
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