Paul's Time-Travel Superman Adventure

Suggested Reading: Acts 14:8-20

There is an episode of Smallville (a show about Clark Kent before he became Superman) where Clark decides the time has come to reveal himself to the world. He does an interview, gets his story printed, and is an immediate celebrity. People begin giving him free coffees and newspapers because of all the good he does in saving people. Crowds applaud as he walks down the street. Girls throw themselves off of buildings just so that he will catch them. He is seen as a hero who selflessly gives of himself to the world at large.

Until another reporter prints a story claiming Clark Kent is the first wave of an alien invasion and fabricates evidence linking him to a murder.

Suddenly, Clark Kent goes from admired hero to renegade outlaw. The police try to round up all of his friends, looking for a weakness to use against Clark. The S.W.A.T. team arrives at his farmhouse to bring him in for questioning. Overnight, Clark Kent becomes a wanted outlaw. Eventually, Clark has to pull the tried and true sci-fi time-travel technique in order to set things straight and keep the whole scandalous episode from happening. In the end, Clark decides that the world simply isn't ready to know about him yet, at least not by his real name.

Clark's journey from admired hero to wanted outlaw in less than a day parallels a similar journey in the book of Acts. Paul and Barnabas were in the city of Lystra, preaching the Gospel, and Paul healed a crippled man. When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they immediately proclaimed that Paul and Barnabas were gods in human form, naming Barnabas as Zeus, and Paul as Hermes, because Paul did most of the speaking. Paul and Barnabas tried to explain to the people that they were ordinary human beings and that God alone was responsible for the miracle, but it was all they could do to keep the people from making sacrifices to them. Shortly after that, some of Paul's Jewish adversaries from Antioch showed up and turned the once adoring crowds against them until "They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, apparently dead. But as the believers stood around him, he got up and went back into the city" (Acts 14:19-20, NLT). In just a few short days, Paul went from being considered a god to being stoned by a rioting mob!

Now, none of us can claim to be either Paul or the Man of Steel, but we should never be surprised when people who are really excited about us then turn on us. Too often, we place very unrealistic expectations on other people and when those expectations are not met, disappointment and even anger soon take the place of that initial excitement. Jesus experienced the same phenomenon when the expectant crowds from Palm Sunday realized that Jesus was not the kind of political messiah they had been hoping for.  Ministers have the same experience when congregations expect them to come in and, by their sheer presence, to radically transform their church or youth group overnight, becoming extremely disappointed when it doesn't happen.

If you feel like people have turned on you and that all the good will you once had has been forgotten, remember that you are not alone and don't try to gain back their approval by being what people want you to be. Follow Christ, live out your calling, and allow God to work through people's disappointment and disillusionment.  We can't control people's emotional highs and lows. We can only control whether or not we live consistent, Christ-centered lives. 

Helping Superman Hold His Arms Up

Suggested Reading: Exodus 17:8-16

As Clark Kent was becoming Superman in the television series Smallville, before the public knew his face, he was known as the Blur, a faceless good Samaritan who put bad guys in jail and saved people from disasters. The Blur had become a symbol of hope for the people of Metropolis. But the politicians had begun passing laws against helping people without wearing a uniform and being on the government's payroll. Discouraged, and doubting the possible success of efforts to repeal these laws, Clark had begun to doubt himself as well. So a couple friends who knew his secret identity created a website where people could post video messages for the Blur. When the videos where shared with Clark, he was overwhelmed with encouragement and found the motivation to keep helping people.

A remarkably similar scene was played out in the book of Exodus as Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Without provocation the Amalekites attacked Israel. Moses, who was now more than 80 years old, assigned Joshua to rally the army while he upheld them in battle. Whenever Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exodus 17:11-12, ESV). Whether Moses' raised hands provided some supernatural assistance or simply encouraged the people, we don't know. We just know it helped. But an 80 year old man, or even a 20 year old man, can only hold his hands up for so long before they give out. In order to keep helping his people, Moses himself needed help.

The people who help us often need help themselves. They need encouragement and rest as much as any of us. These people may seem superhuman at times, but they are just as human as the rest of us and many hover near the edge of exhaustion and discouragement. Sometimes, in order to keep helping us, they need help themselves. They need someone to come along and find them something to sit on so they can rest. They need someone to hold them up for a time, giving them encouragement and strengthening them with prayer. They need help.

Or maybe you are the person always helping and ministering to others. Maybe you hover near the edge of exhaustion and discouragement. Maybe you have gone over that edge. Don't be afraid to let people know you need help. Without it, your hands may fail and everyone will be let down. 

Everyone needs help from time to time. Let's be ready and willing both to give help and to receive it.

Helping Lex Luthor Send His Dad to Prison

Suggested Reading: 2 Kings 5:14-27 (or read the whole story: 2 Kings 5)

In the television series Smallville, before Lex Luthor became a full-fledged villain, he tried to send his dad to prison for murder. Clark Kent had witnessed some things that would help convict the elder Luthor but Lex was worried he would not appear to testify because Lex and Clark had gotten into a fight. When Clark showed up to testify, Lex tried to thank him but Clark rebuffed his gratitude saying, "I didn't do this for you." The implication was clear: Clark testified because putting Lionel Luthor in jail for murder was the right thing to do, not because Lex deserved his help.

In 2 Kings 5, the prophet Elisha helped to heal an Aramean soldier named Naaman. The soldier was immensely grateful and wanted to give Elisha a gift but the prophet refused to accept anything. As Naaman and his entourage left, Elisha's servant Gehazi watched them go without understanding the exchange. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said to himself, “My master should not have let this Aramean get away without accepting any of his gifts. As surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after him and get something from him" (2 Kings 5:20, NLT). While Elisha was concerned with what accepting the gifts would say about God and his miracles, Gehazi was concerned about whether Naaman deserved to be healed without paying (and with getting something for himself).  The focus of each man was different and Gehazi simply didn't understand Elisha's mindset.

Quite often, we simply don't understand why in the world people do what they do. Why does he let her get away with that? Why doesn't she speak up for herself? Why won't he call her on her crap? Why won't she leave him? Every day we encounter people who act in ways that make no sense to us. Sometimes we are Elisha wondering rightfully how Gehazi could be so selfish but sometimes we are Gehazi, so wrapped up in our own desires and so focused on the wrong things that we miss motivations that should be obvious. Lex should have known Clark would show up because it was the right thing to do. And Gehazi should have known Elisha would never accept a gift for performing a miracle of God.

When we just don't get why people are acting the way they are, there is probably an angle we haven't considered. Before we go off about how unreasonable or unrealistic someone is, we should first consider our own mindset to make sure we're not acting like a Gehazi.

Forgiveness and Consequences from Alien Fathers

Suggested Reading: Exodus 34:1-9

In the third season of the Superman prequel series Smallville, Clark Kent deals with the fallout from a really bad decision. Trying to escape the influence of Jor-El, his biological father, Clark destroyed the spaceship that brought him to Earth and housed a copy of Jor-El's consciousness. The ensuing explosion sent shock waves for miles, destroying the Kent's storm cellar and rolling the truck in which Clark's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha, were driving. The accident caused Martha to lose her unborn child, a miracle pregnancy. For months Clark dealt with guilt from the accident before Martha told him, "Clark, we never blamed you." But even being reconciled with his parents and experiencing their forgiveness, the entire family continued to deal with the loss of the unborn baby's life.

Scripture reminds us that this combination of forgiveness and consequences is something that we should expect. In Exodus 34:6-7, the Lord described Himself this way: "Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected – even children in the third and fourth generations" (NLT).

Often times, when first reading this passage, people will exclaim, "How is it fair that God punishes children and grandchildren for their parents' sin?" and we shouldn't gloss over that question. We should, however, read that verse in light of the one before it where God declares that he forgives "iniquity, rebellion, and sin." Who is it that needs their iniquity, rebellion, and sin forgiven? The guilty – the ones whose sin is being laid upon their children and grandchildren. Both are happening simultaneously. Forgiveness and consequences both come, simultaneously, from the hand of God.

To often, we make the mistake of assuming that forgiveness automatically wipes out the consequences of our sin, but that could not be farther from the truth. Yes, sometimes, God in God's mercy lessens the severity of those consequences but many times God does not. Often, God's forgiveness runs parallel to the consequences we experience for our sin. Just as a parent forgives their child for disobedience but will still discipline that child in order to teach them right from wrong, God cares too much about us to not let us experience at least some of the natural consequences of our sin to ensure that we learn.

If you are struggling with the idea that you have been forgiven because you are still experiencing the consequences of your sin, remember that forgiveness and earthly consequences often go together. The fact that we are experiencing consequences for our sin does not mean that God has not forgiven us. And the fact that we have received God's forgiveness does not mean that we are immune to the either the natural consequences of our actions or their effects on the people around us. God, in God's wisdom and power, can help us navigate those effects and begin to make the situation right, and we should seek God as we attempt to do so. But we must never assume that forgiveness and consequences do not go hand in hand.

God loves us too much not to forgive us when we seek God and too much not to let us learn from our failures.

Super Powered Father-Son Smack Downs

Suggested Reading: Ezekiel 20:30-38

Going into the third season of Smallville, a show about Clark Kent in high school as he grew into Superman, Clark experienced some major guilt after causing a tragic accident. So Clark ran off to Metropolis, using red kryptonite to avoid the pain and using his powers to steal whatever he wanted. Clark's adopted father, Jonathan Kent, managed to borrow superpowers from an ancient, alien artifact and then went searching for his son. When he found Clark, who initially refused to come home with him, Jonathan told Clark, "I'm your father. And you're coming home with me." Then they had a super powered father-son small-town smack down. As far as Jonathan was concerned, no matter what his son wanted to do, Jonathan had the responsibility to guide his son down the right path, not allow him to continue down the wrong one.

Throughout much of the Old Testament, the Israelites had wandered off in order to do whatever they wanted to do, worshiping idols and living lifestyles just like the nation's around them. Over and over again, they tried to live as something less than they really were. God finally told them, “You say, ‘We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone. ’ But what you have in mind will never happen" (Ezekiel 20:32, NLT) As far as God was concerned, the Israelites were his children and he refused to allow them to settle for less, no matter how often they tried to.

Just like Jonathan Kent who loved his son too much to leave him where he was, our Heavenly Father loves us far too much to allow us to live as less than we were created to be. We may try to act as if we do not have a special destiny but God loves us too much to allow us to succeed in that. We are his children.

If today you are trying to live life your own way, if you are saying, "Why can't I just live like everyone else?", if you aren't sure why you are even reading this because you gave up on this kind of life, just remember that God will not allow his children to wander off quite so easily. God loves you and he is saying to you, "I'm your Father, and you are coming home with me."