My Death in Life

I do not believe in coincidence.  I'm not sure if I have said this in other blog posts, but, as a Christian, I believe the term "coincidence" is a convenient human way of trying to explain away God's activity on earth.  This post is about such an incident in my life and it has to do with one of my favorite things- superheroes.

On Sunday, I went to go see Man of Steel with my family.  Honestly, I am not much of a fan of Superman as a character.  Come on, a man who is basically indestructible, always has an easy path of right or wrong, and everything ends all cheery in the end when he chooses the right path?  Not a fun character to follow.  But I can always respect what Superman was meant for- to be a symbol.  This is exactly the context of the character of Superman in Man of Steel and why I enjoyed the film.  Zach Snyder has a reputation in my mind of really being able to capture the heart and soul of the graphic novels he portrays on the silver screen.  Christopher Nolan has the ability to draw out the patterns in society and place them appropriately in a movie to help the audience connect to the story.  David Goyer I don't really know, but I feel like it is appropriate to give him credit because he helped in the writing of the story.

Superman in Man of Steel was placed as he should be- yes there is still a little identity struggle in there, but for the most part he has himself together and knows the direction he must take his life.  It is placed on his chest.  As the family seal of El, as described by the movie, Kal-El's mantra must be hope.  Superman was always meant to be a symbol of hope-  that humanity has the opportunity to be better and has the potential to do great things.  Snyder, to help reinforce this picture, even used Christ illusions in the movie.  You don't believe Superman's work starting after 33 years was an accident, did you?  Also, right after Jor-El states, "You can save her.  You can save them all," Superman leaves the spaceship in the shape of a cross.  I believe Snyder's portrayal were strictly artistic to help reinforce the idea that Superman is more about the ideal Savior than a man with powers that is going to help society and defeat the bad guys.

Now a little about me.  I am a kid at heart and I grew up on superheroes.  Honestly, I believe they have value in helping kids aspire to noble and virtuous sentiments.  My favorite superhero is Spider-Man and his whole "with great power comes great responsibility" is something that has shaped my life (arguably, this principle in the Bible is where this ultimately came from and shaped my life).  With the crap that's in every medium aside, superheroes can be used to help motivate, like the intentions behind Superman and Captain America.  So with this being said, when I walk out of a movie like Man of Steel I cannot help but want to be that character.  I want to be able to have powers so I can defeat great evil and protect people.  I want to inspire people to be better and ultimately give them hope in bleak situations.  I want to be Superman.

Here comes the coincidence.  As soon as the movie ended I got a text message from a friend.  They told me to call them as soon as I could.  Concerned, I got home as soon as I could, went out for a walk, and called them.  Trying to spare the details, they were in a bad situation.  I had warned them about such a situation.  They knew the risk going in.  When all was said and done, they were right where they feared they would be.  They were being disrespected, uncared for, taken advantage of, and mocked.  All by people that they deemed "friends".

And I felt helpless.

It was one of those sobering times that reminded me of just how human I am.  This person that I care for greatly could use my help in very practical ways and I was far away, powerless.  The kid that always wanted to be a superhero, and just came out of a movie inspiring him to try to be one, could not help the first person that needed help, a person that meant so much.

But this is where my conversation with God started.  I told him that I wish I was Superman so I could rescue that person.  He told me that there was a reason why I didn't have those powers.  I told him I knew and that I wouldn't know how to use them and, ultimately, it wouldn't be beneficial if I was able to save everybody all the time.  He asked if I trusted him and I, through tears and a broken heart, said yes.

You see, God has given us as humans great ability.  Existentially speaking, at some level he has given us the ability to make certain decisions in life that affect our course and the course of others.  It is a great and valuable thing that God has granted to us.  But we are also human.  We are not God, the Great Orchestrator and Ultimate Controller of Fate.  We do not have more power because we could not handle it.  He has ultimate power because He a) can handle it and b) knows all and knows what is quintessentially good.

Snyder had no other choice than to rip off the greatest story of all time, the gospel, to make his sci-fi flick even slightly resonate with idea of a doomed people being saved by something that was human, among us and other, completely distinct from us.  Christ is truly the Savior of mankind.  Through Christ, God worked his plan of salvation into the course of human history and because of Christ, God continues to work, through the Holy Spirit, in the lives of believers today.

I could not and cannot save my friend.  But Christ has saved and is saving them.  People will learn nothing if life was easy and they were saved out of every situation.  But God is good and, as long as we trust Him, He will bring out in us a better life, a new creation, and a more perfect humanity.  This would not be a truly cliche Christian post without a quote from C.S. Lewis, so here it is: "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

Long story short, Christ is our hero and even if it seems that we are left alone to suffer I have to remember two things.  First, that God is good.  Second, that He has given us the gift to participate in His work on earth, and that includes ourselves.