Superheroes and Binoculars
If we must have a superhero, then look to Jesus.
For one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are we not (all) merely human? (I Cor. 3:4)
A couple of Sundays ago I asked the children assembled at the front of the church to name their favorite superheroes. There was quite a buzz of responses. Among the candidates were Spiderman, The Hulk, WonderWoman, Gandalf and Superman, to name just a few. Asking them who was the greatest superhero of all was a mistake because it took quite a bit of pedagogic skill to quell the heated discussion that ensued.
These kinds of arguments have a long history. In the early church there were pretty fierce arguments about who were the greatest missionaries: Paul? Apollos? Peter?
We adults have our theological superheroes, too. In more recent times we’ve argued about who were or are the greatest theologians. Bavinck? Kuyper? Barth? Snoopy? Brueggemann? NT Wright?
Within our church fellowships we have similar discussions about who are the best preachers, teachers, worship leaders, etc.
The right end
And that brings me to binoculars. Binoculars are particularly important to me as a birdwatcher. I never go anywhere for a walk without my trusty 10X42 Celestron Granite binocs that were given to me by The King’s University as a retirement gift many years ago. The thing about binoculars is that you have to learn to look through them properly. If you look through the wrong end, things look extremely far away and extremely tiny. The field of view is very narrow. By looking through the right end and turning the focus wheel carefully, things suddenly look a lot closer and much clearer.
So, thinking about superheroes, whether secular or sacred, is a little like looking through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. You will see just a little bit of what you are trying to see. To get a clear and wide view you need to look through the right end.
The only real superhero
The Apostle Paul enjoins us to quit looking at which persons in the church, past or present, are the most important because if there’s one thing we’ve learned over and over is that all human superheroes are “merely human.” If we must have a superhero, then look to Jesus. He is the only real superhero. He is also the strangest superhero of all because he refused to go around beating up people and killing bad guys. Instead, he went around comforting people, healing them, praying for them, and even dying for them. So, if you want to be a real superhero make sure you focus on Jesus and try to be like him. That’s like looking through the correct end of the binoculars. You’ll see things the way they really are (even though it may be a bit scary to see them right up close).
