I'm Not Evil, I'm Just Not a Hero

Suggested Reading: Mark 3:1-6

One of the most iconic scenes in comic book history has been played out a dozen different ways, both on the page and on the big screen. Peter Parker, with newly developed spidery super powers finds himself watching a crime in progress. He has the power to stop it. But the person being robbed has ticked him off and has it coming. So, Peter Parker allows the robbery to occur and let's the criminal escape. A little while later, Peter discovers that the man he let get away has killed his uncle Peter. The discovery is tragic and it turns Peter Parker into Spider-Man. The scene is classic, however it plays out, because we have all been tempted at times - not to hurt someone - but to simply not help them. We've all known someone we thought deserved something bad to happen to them and been tempted to let it happen.

Sometimes, we convince ourselves that there is a difference between hurting someone and letting them be hurt, that as long as we are not the ones inflicting pain that we have escaped blame. But Scripture teaches us something very different. In Mark chapter 3, the Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus, to tempt him into breaking the Sabbath so they could discredit him. As such, they watched very closely when Jesus came into contact with a man in need of healing. Jesus, knowing their intentions, said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent (Mark 3:4, HCSB). Jesus didn't simply ask if it was acceptable to do good on the Sabbath, but made them choose between doing good and evil. As far as Jesus was concerned, having the ability to do good and withholding it was evil. James echoed this sentiment in James 4:17, saying, Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it (NLT).

As followers of Christ, we do not have the option of choosing not to help when it is within our power.  We do not have the option of allowing someone to be hurt simply because we think they deserve it. If we have the ability and opportunity to do good, to make a positive difference in someone's life and we choose not to do so, we have chosen to do evil.

The good news is that, like Peter Parker, we can use those failures from the past as lessons and motivation for the future. We serve a merciful and forgiving God who doesn't immediately reject us because we have failed Him. Let us seek God's forgiveness for our failures to do good, and let us move forward. From here on out, let us never skip an opportunity to do good when we have the power and opportunity to do so.

Suffering from Excessive Adoration

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 27:17-21

In Spider-Man 3, starring Toby Maguire, Spider-Man finds himself in an unusual place for a movie screen superhero: everything is going really well for him. New York has come to love him and, as Peter Parker, he is considering proposing to the love of his life. They are happy in love and life is wonderful. But that is when and why things begin to unravel. Everything is going so well for Peter, and he is so enthralled with the fact that people love him as Spider-Man, that he lets it go to his head. He misses signs that his girlfriend is going through a difficult set of circumstances. Thinking only of how much more people will love him, he allows an attractive young woman to kiss his masked alter ego right in front of his girlfriend. People love his work as Spider-Man so much that he begins to think he is great at everything else too. But the whole time, he is messing up his life and is incapable of seeing it because the praise for Spider-Man has blinded him.

The author of the book of Proverbs knew well the risk that comes with praise and he labeled praise a place of testing and purification. Proverbs 27:21 reads, "A crucible for silver, and a smelter for gold, and a man for the words of his praise" (HCSB). One of the toughest tests for a person to face is learning how to respond to praise. Sometimes praise is something that motivates us to keep going. But sometimes we allow praise to define who we are. We can begin to define ourselves by whether or not people praise us. We can become addicted to the praise we receive and begin actively doing things which will draw us praise. We can become accustomed to praise and grow angry if we don't receive it or even begin to believe it and start thinking of ourselves as better than other people.

Tough times can test your will. Good times test your character. Do you have an issue with pride? Do you forget to rely on God when you seem to have things handled? Do you let praise go to your head or do you remember that the only praise that matters comes from your Heavenly Father. Peter Parker had to learn the hard way not to believe his own hype. How will you fare when you face the test of praise?

The Green Goblins of Willful Ignorance

Suggested Reading: Acts 4:5-18

In the Tobey Maguire Spiderman trilogy, Spiderman's best friend, Harry, was also the son of the first Spiderman villain, the Green Goblin. When the Goblin managed to kill himself in an attempt to get rid of Spiderman, Harry blamed Spiderman for the death. Even when Spidey shared the truth with his friend, Harry refused to let it affect his view of things. Not until Mary Jane, a girl both men loved, found herself in danger did Harry decide to accept the truth and fight at Spiderman's side to save Mary Jane.  One of the tragedies of the trilogy is the time that was wasted and the friendship that was ruined because one of its central characters refused to allow the truth to affect him.

In Acts chapter four we find another instance of this self-destructive human behavior. Jesus has already risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, and the disciples have begun teaching, preaching and healing in his name. As they are going into the temple one day, Peter and John heal a lame man and the entire city is thrown into a tumult. The high priests have Peter and John arrested and brought before them, in part because they are known as associates of Jesus, whom they condemned to execution. While deliberating how to handle Peter and John for healing a man in the name of the risen Jesus, they make an extraordinary statement. "What should we do with these men? We can't deny that they have performed a miraculous sign, and everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in the name of Jesus." (Acts 4:16, NLT).

The council acknowledges that a miracle has been done. In the verses preceding, they do not contradict Peter and John when they claim Jesus has risen from the dead. But the council doesn't allow the truth of the events to affect their view of things. Previously, they believed that no one could do miracles unless God was with that person, but when Jesus and his disciples came along, preaching something they didn't like, they chose to change their definition of the miraculous rather than admit they were wrong about Jesus.

We are often guilty of this same behavior. When the facts don't fit our own view of the world, we choose to ignore or reinterpret the facts in order to preserve our own opinions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the political realm. Whether Democrat or Republican, conservative or progressive, moderate or independent, it is often very easy to ignore or disbelieve the facts that don't promote our own worldview. And we don't confine our hypocrisy to politics. We play the same game when we stake our reputation on a misinformed opinion and choose to double-down rather than admit our error. We make wild accusations based on feelings or rumors and then refuse to apologize when presented with the truth. We cling to a poorly formed doctrine and claim the Bible passage which contradicts our opinion must not really mean what it says.  But as followers of the One who called himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, we must care more for abiding in the truth than for the being seen as right.

When the facts don't fit with our opinion, we must change our opinion. We can't afford to trade the truth for a lie just to save our pride.

Let's All Be Superheroes

Suggested Reading: Matthew 14:22-33

My son is a massive superhero junky. It doesn't really matter which superhero - Superman, Batman, Thor, DareDevil, Spiderman. He loves pretty much all of them and would prefer to have every movie or television show ever made about every one of them. But he is really not that different from most every other guy I know. Almost all of us want to be some superhero or another. So it's really not that surprising that most Christians want to be like Peter.

Now Peter was a loud mouth who didn't know what he was saying most of the time that Jesus was around but he had moments of brilliance. There was the time that Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was and Peter boldly declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). But the time when most of us look at Peter and wish we could be him, even just for a moment, is found in Matthew 14.

Jesus had sent the disciples across the lake so he could be alone to pray. They were still crossing the lake in the middle of the night when Jesus came walking across the waves. The disciples freaked out thinking he was a ghost (which is only natural considering that normal people can't walk on water). When Jesus declared himself to them, Peter, rational thinker that he was, said, "Lord, if it is you, call me to come out to you on the water" (Matthew 14:28).

Ok.  What? Peter was crazy.  The other disciples, the ones hunkering down and cowering in fear, were the rational ones in this instance. People can't walk on water. Peter was the crazy one for believing anyone could walk on the water, much less thinking he could do it too. But Peter remembered something that we often forget: when God is involved, nothing is impossible. So Peter got to do something that none of the rest of us normally get to do. Peter got to walk on water like some superhero.

There are times when God calls us to do something that seems crazy, that seems impossible. When that moment comes, we can either take a chance, knowing that God is great enough to make up for whatever ability we don't have or we can hunker down and cower in fear, always wondering what it would have been like to walk on water. 

When your moment comes, what will you decide? Will you be bound by what is natural and possible? Or will you be crazy and step out on the water, trusting that Jesus will catch you if you fall? I don't know about you, but I want to be a little crazy.