"To infinity and beyond!" The little boy shouts this with glee as he throws up his Buzz Lightyear action figure up to the sky, screaming "Zap, zap zap!" as he pretends to annihilate all the bad guys trying to attack his toys. An evil looking Barbie with size 0 hips tries to kidnap one of his dinosaurs, but she falls to the ground silent after good ole' Buzz takes aim at her petite frame, destroying the last threat to his citizens' lives.
How many times have I seen this sight in my preschool classroom? Too many times to count, I'd answer. I can't stress the number of times I've had to rescue little girls' princess dolls from a superhero's lethal ray gun, while secretly rejoicing over the death of Barbie in my mind. I've spent many hours playing Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, etc....all the while having no clue what any of these superheros' actually do, never having seen even one of the films in my life. Even here, in college, I struggle to keep up with the boys as they discuss the latest superhero action flicks, and make references all the time to Star Wars, The Avengers, and other epic blockbusters I've never had any inkling to enjoy.
If I admittedly have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to superheros, then why I am writing this blog about it then? Well, although I do admit no knowledge of these modern pantheons of strength, all the recent buzz about these strong guys has me nostalgically remembering a topic I used to enjoy greatly, one containing the greatest superheros to ever invade the planet: the heros of Greek mythology.
In Greek mythology, the most powerful of all the gods was Zeus. He was the one who defeated the Titans and organized Mt. Olympus with his lighting rod, intellect, and charm, reigning over the heavens and the earth. He called upon Prometheus to create mankind, then chained him to a rock to have his liver extracted daily for giving mankind the sacred fire. Not content with that however, he also gave Pandora, the first woman, a box of curiosity to punish mankind, tempting her to open this box containing evil, death, pain and everything else terrible except for the small gift of hope. Later, Zeus is depicted as causing the Great Deluge, a flood in which he wipes out all of mankind and begins again because humanity has so offended the gods. He orchestrates the Trojan War, causes mischief wherever he goes, has various affairs with human women, and has a nasty habit of using that lighting rod on any who come in his way. He demanded sacrifices from the people, and they feared his wrath greatly.
This obviously isn't a god you want in control of the universe.
We however, have the true and good God controlling the universe. Perfect, mighty, and holy, he controls the hemispheres with his love and justice, never causing mankind to sin and certainly never entrapped by the moral failures that fill the pages of Greek mythology. Our God does not require sacrifices to appease his wrath, but instead offered the sacrifice of His only Son for humanity after they constantly rejected his healing hand. This same God controlled the wind and the waves with his words, and even death itself gave way beneath His victory on the cross. He knows the number of hairs on our heads, cares for the sparrows and the lilies, and hurts over His people's stubborn hearts.
This is the God controlling the universe. Now, then, and forever more.
But we know all this right? We thank Jesus everyday for how sweet and loving He is to have saved our souls from hell, to have given us new life, and to give us streets of gold to look forward to some day.
But do we respect God?
I am not within any means advocating we go back to the obviously untrue Greek myths or worship the fictional Zeus, offering sacrifices to appease his nasty temper. But do we respect our God?
In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie version, Lucy asks Mr. Tumnus why Aslan is leaving them. He replies "He's not a tame lion" causing her to respond, "No, but he is good."
This causes me to think. Yes Jesus was the sacrificial lamb who meekly sacrificed His life for us on calvary and loves us tenderly. But he is also the Lion of Judah, soon Coming King, who will judge the nations of the earth in righteousness and truth, and who will call every knee to bow to his holiness. This same Jesus we jokingly in the 21st century call our "home-boy, best buddy, etc" who we are "tight with", controls the very universe, atoms and planets, allowing our every breath to take place. We offer him lip service, thank him for his blood, and then go out and party when we think we left Him at home, stuck between the pages of our bibles like a genie in a bottle we can free anytime we need a magic wish.
Do we respect our God? He could chose to "zap" us anytime, for we are but ungrateful Lilliputians trying to control the giant that has invaded what we think are our shores. We have forgotten however, that he's already won the war. What he wants now is unconditional surrender. If we surrender now, he will acquit us of our desertion and traitor status. If we wait to the end however...he must punish sin in his righteousness and he will.
Do we respect our God? Or do we respect Spiderman, Superman, and the Justice League far more in our daily lives then we do the king on the white horse riding down to claim his kingdom, calling us to join in his battle march?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRachel, the white font against the white background kept me from reading the meatiest part of your blog. I was only able to get the introduction. I did notice, though, that the writing was moving to a discussion of Greek heroes. I am a fan of Greek storytelling too, although I am grateful that these gods and goddesses, who often acted in petty human ways, are quite different from the Almighty One I worship.
ReplyDelete