Becoming Superheros for Jesus

Suggested Reading: Matthew 17:1-13

Over the ten years of Smallville's run on television, a particular plot idea popped up several times: what kind of person would Clark Kent be without all of Superman's powers? A couple of times his powers were transferred to someone else and Clark had to save the day without his powers and while fighting someone who did have his powers. Once, his consciousness traded bodies with Lex Luthor's father and he had to save the day, powerless and from behind bars. Another time, he disobeyed the spirit of his father living in the Fortress of Solitude and was stripped of his powers as a punishment but he still stepped in front of a bullet to save someone. Repeatedly, the show tried to demonstrate that the powers didn't make a superhero. Clark's character made him a superhero.

In Matthew 17, Jesus was having a conversation with his disciples in the wake of the Transfiguration, when Elijah and Moses appeared on the mountaintop with Jesus. According to Jewish tradition, Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah came. But, clearly, the Messiah was here in the person of Jesus and they hadn't spotted Elijah yet. So the disciples asked Jesus why the scribes taught that Elijah would come first. Jesus answered, "But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but he wasn’t recognized, and they chose to abuse him. And in the same way they will also make the Son of Man suffer." Then the disciples realized he was talking about John the Baptist. (Matthew 17:12-13, NLT). See, when the Jews watched for Elijah they were watching for a man of powerful miracles instead of a truth-telling prophet who confronted kings with their sin. They were looking for the powers of Elijah when they should have been looking for the character of Elijah.

We often make this same mistake ourselves, desiring the flashy, spectacular power of a godly disciple rather than the character of a godly disciple. Sometimes, we yearn to heal the sick or raise the dead or speak in an unknown tongue like the apostles when we should be imitating their character: a willingness to change course when realizing they were in the wrong, an attentiveness to the Spirit, an unyielding integrity, and a boldness to share the Gospel with anyone able to receive it.

The ability to perform miracles was incidental to who the apostles were, not their defining characteristic. God may or may not use us to perform miracles someday. But right now God is trying to refine our character, conforming us to the image of His Son. Our character is what counts. It's what sets us apart and identifies us as powerful disciples of Jesus.

Don't evaluate your worth the to Kingdom of God based on whether or not you perform miracles or incredible accomplishments. Your character is much more important than either of those things. If your character improves, the chances of accomplishing something amazing for Christ increase dramatically. 

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.