hero |?hi(?)r?| |?hiro?| |?h??r??|
noun ( pl. -roes)
a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities : a war hero.
• the chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.
• (in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.
• (also hero sandwich) another term for submarine sandwich .
Growing up I role played a lot of different super heroes. Some of my favorites were the Six Million Dollar man, Starbuck (Battle Star Galactica), Green Lantern and the Flash. I suppose it is a male thing. I wanted to be a super hero. Why not? Look at who they were. They had neat costumes, good writers, amazing powers and were out to make a difference.
Who wouldn’t want to be Bruce Wayne living the millionaire life style and then every night suiting up and playing hero. What a great way to relieve the tension of hours in the board room or suffering the cocktail parties.
When I got a little older, I always wanted to be a samurai/ninja (Yes, yes I know that is an oxymoron, someday we can discuss Japanese history if you want). I always was fascinated with martial arts (took 10 years of karate when I was young, and in shape). I liked the idea of slipping unseen into a place and kicking butt.
One of the common themes I see in all these heroes whether super hero or just movie hero is anger, rage, cold steel determination. They are fueled with anger, (The Incredible Hulk, Wolverine), or the anger drives them to fight better (Martin Riggs (Lethal Weapon), Superman, Batman, Spider man). The other thing I notice is it seems that all of the super heroes that I can think of have had to use the “evil doers” methods. They will steal, hurt, kill in order to save people, usually their loved ones.
There is one, who was something incredibly different than what we consider a hero. This man was ordinary, gentle, despised by the world, probably thought of as a coward, never stooped to someone else’s level to win a battle. He has more power than any hero before or after him, real or make believe. He fought his battles in the most unexpected ways. He used love and kindness. He confounded his contemporaries, going against every worldly thought they had. He used gentleness instead of power, he used love instead of anger. What kind of hero was he?
He allowed himself to be sacrificed in the most humiliating way.
He was whipped, and beaten
He was nailed to the cross
He hung there in pain, each nail being pounded in to his hands.
He took all the sin, all the slime that this despicable world had and embraced it to take it from the world.
He hung there and did nothing. Why didn’t he do anything?
He had power beyond belief. He didn’t have to suffer.
He hung there because he HAD to die.
He had to die in order to save us!
Christ came to save us. From the time he started his ministry (maybe from the time he was born) he had one mission that is to prepare us for the moment on the cross. He did not do this for glory. He did not do this for fame. He did it out of love and obedience. He did it to fulfill his Father’s plan of our redemption.
Christ redefines what a hero is. My hero worship only goes to one place now!
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