“I need a hero! I’m holding out for a hero to the end of the night!”[i]
Are you looking for a hero?
Yes? No? Not sure?
I think, truthfully a lot of us are, though we may not always realise it, or coin it in that way.
Society loves a hero.
Someone who will save us, a figurehead to give hope.
Film and TV is full of hero’s we love – from Marvel to Harry Potter to Poldark to Doctor Who,
We love a hero, and especially love a hero that appears an underdog, that rises up to save the day against the odds.
Even in the real world, away from sci-fi and fiction, we like to look for a hero.
We’ve spent a significant part of 2020 putting a ‘protective shield around the NHS’, trying to maximise it’s potential to save life.
But of course we have to also cope with the painful reality that life one earth cannot always be saved.
I wonder if sometimes we expect our politicians to be hero’s too.
Decisions have to be made, based on the best knowledge they have to had,
but there will always be alternative choices that could have been – and hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a curse.
I’m not wanting to defend all political choices here,
but to remind us that we need be aware of our human propensity to create hero’s.
Aware of who and where we place our hope.
Remembering that we live in this world – not the world of sci-fi and fiction.
The letter to the Colossians is written to a group of Christians who are facing pressure.
Pressure to put their trust, hope and faith in new ideas, alternative hero’s and unrealistic portrayals of salvation.
But here in Colossians we are reminded that there is someone who really did come to this world to save.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.
Colossians 2:6-9, New Living Translation
If you know you’re looking for a hero – enjoy your sci-fi and fiction – I do – but look to Jesus.
If you’re not sure if you’re looking for a hero – still look to Jesus.
If you said you weren’t – still look to Jesus.
Jesus Christ was an underdog, and hung out with human beings like you and me.
People with doubts and questions and uncertainties.
People who were anxious and broken and unsure.
People living with guilt and shame.
People looking for truth, and disillusioned by the way of the world.
Jesus comes not to irradicate that. But to live in it.
To experience it. To live with us.
Jesus came to earth, living and walking in our shoes.
Jesus understands what it is to be human.
These words from Colossians tell us Jesus wasn’t simply human, Jesus was the fullness of God in human form. Jesus is human, and Jesus is God.
I believe Jesus is our Saviour – who came to save the world, you and me, because of God’s love for the world, for you and me.
And to point us to a way of living that is filled with hope and truth.
But – Jesus isn’t a hero who comes to save us because we’re helpless.
He’s not that sort of hero.
He’s the hero who knows who we are, knows our potential, and so wants us to grow and be built up. Need a hero? Let your roots grow in Jesus.
[i] Written by Jim Steinman with Dean Pitchford.
Rev Dan Balsdon's Blog 