Hero Worship
- David Fairchild
- May 27, 2007
- Series: Acts
Acts 5:12-42: "Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. 17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.' 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 ‘We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.' 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, ‘Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.' 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.' 33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, ‘Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!' So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
INTRODUCTION
We've been looking at the book of Acts for the last several weeks and have seen several amazing acts of the Holy Spirit. The last couple of chapters are really one story about the first open persecution of the Church from a hostile world.
The new Church is facing opposition for the first time in these chapters. They have now been jailed and threatened with loss of possessions as well as their freedom.
The response from the apostles is mind blowing. Instead of cowering at the threats and subsequent punishment from the high priest, they respond again by simply saying, "We must obey God rather than men." This is a display of incredible heroism on their part.
They are heroic and unmoved by these continued threats. Remember, last chapter when they were first threatened, they came back to the Church, reported all that had been said and immediately the Church began to pray, not for safety, but for more boldness. While praying, the Holy Spirit filled them again and the ground began to shake violently. As I mentioned, the more God displayed His glory as the ground shook, the more they became unshakable. Now we see the results of collective prayer, it is nothing less than incredible courage because they know the power of their Lord.
There are many that doubt or question the legitimacy of various stories in the Bible. But one thing we know from Scripture as well as history is that the Church suffered incredible hatred and persecution for the first 300 years of its history. Before Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of the empire it was illegal to be a Christian. If you were known to be a Christian you could have all your possessions taken from you or worse. This is a historical fact.
One of the reasons we are told from sociologists that Christianity spread so quickly and was such a force even without money, power, or control was that Christians died better than anybody. They died forgiving their executioners and would sing hymns and songs to the Lord with joy as they were mauled by lions in the arena or killed before many as a warning to others not to become a Christian. Instead of deterring others from becoming Christian, it intrigued pagans because they saw such peace and joy at the most horrific moment of their life as they were tormented by their captors.
Tertullian, a church father from this period, said, "the blood of Christians is seed." He's saying that the more you kill us the faster we grow. It's as if he's telling them, "go ahead and kill us, we'll just grow faster and faster. The lower you lay us the higher you raise us." "The blood of Christians is seed."
Where did they get such heroism from? Some in this period where militarily educated and were groomed for the heroic, but these Christians were simple, powerless, uneducated people who were showing a heroism that surpassed even the great military heroes of the day.
How did they get so heroic? The answer is found right here in this passage.
Verse 31: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader (Prince) and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."
There is a word here in the Greek which is very odd. Depending upon your translation it might say Leader or Prince. This word is used four times in Scripture.
It was used in Chapter three when Peter preached the Gospel after the healing of the lame man when he said they had "killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead" (v. 3:15).
The same word is used twice in Hebrews as it refers to Jesus as the "Captain of their salvation" (Heb. 2:10).
It also used in Hebrews 12:2 when it says, "looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith."
How can the same word be used as leader, prince, captain and author? Every time it's mentioned it is given a different English translation. The reason is that this word is incredibly rich and has a broader meaning than the English can give.
It is the Greek word arch_gos. Jesus is our "arch_gos." It's too rich to be understood with an English word since it literally means that Jesus is our "hero" or "champion." When you scan Greek literature you find that this word was used most frequently to describe Hercules, the great hero of the Greeks.
This word refers to the ancient heroes of Greek mythology with Hercules being the greatest. What Peter is saying is that Jesus is our hero.
Since we fix our eyes on THE hero, Jesus, the heroic has now come back into our lives.
The use of this word is very significant. It tells us:
STUDY
I. WHAT HEROES ARE
This word is showing us a concept which we don't really understand in our day.
The ancient Greek heroes were not just in Greek society, but the societies were based upon the very concept and practice of hero worship. If you read old books on ancient mythology, you will find books written on the ancient gods and heroes which dominated their culture and thinking.
When Peter uses this term, he's referring to an idea that people understood. He's invoking a concept of hero which others would have picked up on. We don't understand the concept because our society isn't based upon the idea of the heroic. We don't worship heroes in our day; we worship celebrities and the famous.
As Peter makes this claim it's important that we understand the context in which he's making this claim. How were heroes viewed in this culture and what things do they have in common which Peter is touching on? Peter is saying, "You know about the heroic, but let me tell you about the ultimate hero."
The problem in our day is that we can't say, "you know about the heroic don't you?" because we don't. This is foreign to us. We don't know about the heroic.
Here's what we see when we view heroes at this time of history:
JESUS CHARACTER OVER APPEARANCE
Peter said he was a witness of Jesus and that He was the Son of God. John said that this Jesus he touched, handled and was with in close fellowship was the Son of God. James, Jesus' brother, said that Jesus was the Son of God.
Jesus is the one man whose brothers who were closest to Him thought He was a hero. They lived with Him. The character, the integrity, the faithfulness-imagine what it must have been like to be close to Him.
Jesus is the one whose character was examined and those who knew Him best called Him their Hero.
JESUS FAITHFULNESS OVER HIS INNER VOICE
Jesus is the one person who most told his inner voices to shut up! We often think that Jesus had absolutely no temptation, no feeling of despair, and no struggle within His inner man. It's as if we see Jesus just flying around without any problems, totally sure of everything and with a heart of bliss and peace without pain.
You see, in the Garden of Eden, we were supposed to tell our inner voices to shut up when we were tempted not to believe God.
Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night He was betrayed and handed over, was praying under incredible temptation and duress created by a heart that was tempted. Jesus said, "Not my will but Your will." What is that? His inner voices were saying, "run!" His inner voices were telling Him to get out. We're told that God forsook Him at the cross, but this didn't just happen at the cross. Jesus felt the withdrawing of the presence of His Father even in the Garden. Jesus was there alone in Himself, with perhaps the most dead prayer life that we could ever imagine, and yet He submitted Himself to His Father who was turning His face from His Son.
There was nothing to go on in by listening to His will and heart. He had to submit His will to the Father. He had to be faithful to something greater than His own heart.
He did what was right and pressed the truth of who God was in that moment instead of listening to Himself. This was ultimate fidelity.
JESUS AS SUBSTITUTE
Jesus is the ultimate substitute.
A heroic substitute is also considered our champion. Rob Roy is one of my favorite movies. In this movie, Rob Roy is pressed into a corner by being unjustly treated by the Duke of Montrose. He stands as champion for his family. He says he's willing to do battle with their champion and if he wins, his debts will be paid and his people and their land will be left to them, but if he loses then they can have it all.
Rob Roy steps up to the plate, not as a philosopher to debate, but as a champion to fight. The Duke of Montrose presents his champion and they fight with swords. Rob Roy wins and sets his family and people free.
There is another scene in the movie Troy where Achilles is summoned to do battle with the champion of their enemy. In these days, armies would line up across from one another to go to war and if you had a champion who you had great faith in, you'd present him to your opponent's champion and every now and again they would let the two champions fight to decide the outcome of the war. Achilles runs and leaps and with one thrust of his sword takes down this massive beast of man who is twice his size.
This is the story of David and Goliath, etc.
The champion is someone who does it for you. If your champion wins, you win; if your champion loses, you lose; if your champion is filled with glory, you're filled with glory.
Is Rob Roy or Troy a picture of Jesus? Sort of. But there is one thing, Jesus was hung on a tree. He was considered cursed. He appeared to have lost, not won. It was a shame to losers. Jesus did not look heroic. He kept His mouth shut and looked like a lamb not like a lion.
There is a great old movie in which Jimmy Cagney is a thug and murderer who is about to go to the electric chair. Though he's a murderer he is a hero to the kids in the neighborhood. The priest knows these kids and realizes they are in for a life of great misery and pain if they follow in Cagney's footsteps, so he visits him the night before his execution. He asks Jimmy before he's executed to begin to cry and wail so that the kids won't think he's a hero. Of course, Jimmy Cagney says "no" because all he has left is his pride. If that's taken, he will have truly lost.
The next morning, as he's taken to be executed, when he walks in and sees the chair, he begins to weep and scream, "Don't kill me, I don't want to die." The last thing he has left, he is willing to give up so that these kids would not think he was a hero.
The priest knows that this is not because he is afraid, but because he is sacrificing the one thing he had left.
The kids see this and no longer worship him as a hero. He's a coward in their eyes. He became unheroic. In his greatest act of apparent cowardice was what made him such a hero.
There is nothing that takes more strength than to be weak when you can be strong.
On the cross, Jesus was not heroic in the eyes of His enemies. Yet He was utterly heroic. We're the cowards. We're the ones who won't say no to the inner voices. We're the ones whose character is terribly flawed.
Jesus was the one who said He could call a legion of angels to come and save Him, "but how would the Scriptures be fulfilled?" Jesus could have been strong, but became weak so that we could be strong. Jesus became unheroic in man's eyes, so that in God's eyes we could be made heroic in Him.
His weakness becomes our strength. Our weakness is transferred to Him; His strength is transferred to us. Jesus' unheroicness makes us heroes again.
The most heroic act is to admit that you're a coward and a failure. Our hero gives repentance to us in this passage. If you're going to be a hero you have to start with the most heroic act which is to admit you're not a hero but a coward. You don't have it all together, but Jesus does.
INTRODUCTION
We've been looking at the book of Acts for the last several weeks and have seen several amazing acts of the Holy Spirit. The last couple of chapters are really one story about the first open persecution of the Church from a hostile world.
The new Church is facing opposition for the first time in these chapters. They have now been jailed and threatened with loss of possessions as well as their freedom.
The response from the apostles is mind blowing. Instead of cowering at the threats and subsequent punishment from the high priest, they respond again by simply saying, "We must obey God rather than men." This is a display of incredible heroism on their part.
They are heroic and unmoved by these continued threats. Remember, last chapter when they were first threatened, they came back to the Church, reported all that had been said and immediately the Church began to pray, not for safety, but for more boldness. While praying, the Holy Spirit filled them again and the ground began to shake violently. As I mentioned, the more God displayed His glory as the ground shook, the more they became unshakable. Now we see the results of collective prayer, it is nothing less than incredible courage because they know the power of their Lord.
There are many that doubt or question the legitimacy of various stories in the Bible. But one thing we know from Scripture as well as history is that the Church suffered incredible hatred and persecution for the first 300 years of its history. Before Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of the empire it was illegal to be a Christian. If you were known to be a Christian you could have all your possessions taken from you or worse. This is a historical fact.
One of the reasons we are told from sociologists that Christianity spread so quickly and was such a force even without money, power, or control was that Christians died better than anybody. They died forgiving their executioners and would sing hymns and songs to the Lord with joy as they were mauled by lions in the arena or killed before many as a warning to others not to become a Christian. Instead of deterring others from becoming Christian, it intrigued pagans because they saw such peace and joy at the most horrific moment of their life as they were tormented by their captors.
Tertullian, a church father from this period, said, "the blood of Christians is seed." He's saying that the more you kill us the faster we grow. It's as if he's telling them, "go ahead and kill us, we'll just grow faster and faster. The lower you lay us the higher you raise us." "The blood of Christians is seed."
Where did they get such heroism from? Some in this period where militarily educated and were groomed for the heroic, but these Christians were simple, powerless, uneducated people who were showing a heroism that surpassed even the great military heroes of the day.
How did they get so heroic? The answer is found right here in this passage.
Verse 31: "God exalted him at his right hand as Leader (Prince) and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."
There is a word here in the Greek which is very odd. Depending upon your translation it might say Leader or Prince. This word is used four times in Scripture.
It was used in Chapter three when Peter preached the Gospel after the healing of the lame man when he said they had "killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead" (v. 3:15).
The same word is used twice in Hebrews as it refers to Jesus as the "Captain of their salvation" (Heb. 2:10).
It also used in Hebrews 12:2 when it says, "looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith."
How can the same word be used as leader, prince, captain and author? Every time it's mentioned it is given a different English translation. The reason is that this word is incredibly rich and has a broader meaning than the English can give.
It is the Greek word arch_gos. Jesus is our "arch_gos." It's too rich to be understood with an English word since it literally means that Jesus is our "hero" or "champion." When you scan Greek literature you find that this word was used most frequently to describe Hercules, the great hero of the Greeks.
This word refers to the ancient heroes of Greek mythology with Hercules being the greatest. What Peter is saying is that Jesus is our hero.
Since we fix our eyes on THE hero, Jesus, the heroic has now come back into our lives.
The use of this word is very significant. It tells us:
I-What heroes are
II-Why heroes are
III-Why Jesus is the ultimate hero
STUDY
I. WHAT HEROES ARE
This word is showing us a concept which we don't really understand in our day.
The ancient Greek heroes were not just in Greek society, but the societies were based upon the very concept and practice of hero worship. If you read old books on ancient mythology, you will find books written on the ancient gods and heroes which dominated their culture and thinking.
When Peter uses this term, he's referring to an idea that people understood. He's invoking a concept of hero which others would have picked up on. We don't understand the concept because our society isn't based upon the idea of the heroic. We don't worship heroes in our day; we worship celebrities and the famous.
As Peter makes this claim it's important that we understand the context in which he's making this claim. How were heroes viewed in this culture and what things do they have in common which Peter is touching on? Peter is saying, "You know about the heroic, but let me tell you about the ultimate hero."
The problem in our day is that we can't say, "you know about the heroic don't you?" because we don't. This is foreign to us. We don't know about the heroic.
Here's what we see when we view heroes at this time of history:
1-Heroes followed character over appearanceII. WHY HEROES ARE
A hero did what was right no matter who saw it. This is much different than our modern fame culture. We are obsessed with being seen. So much so, that we're willing to get on reality television and make total fools of ourselves just so that we can be seen by millions, even if it means we look idiotic.
Most in our day don't think anything is worth being done unless it's seen by others.
There is a huge difference between a star and a hero. Modern leaders today are more stars than they are heroes. Stars are surrounded by crowds, but heroes walk alone. Stars consult their focus group before they make a decision but heroes consult their conscience.
Heroes didn't care how they looked on the outside to everyone. They didn't need to be lifted, tucked, or snipped. They didn't need to be airbrushed. They were more concerned with content inside than appearance outside. All they cared about was who they were when no one was looking.
2-Heroes had loyalty to something greater than their own heart
The mark of a hero was his or her ability to say, "This is true and I'm going to stick with it even if it costs me greatly and will bring me pain." If it was "right," it was ultimate.
Many postmodern thinkers in philosophy will argue that it is good that we've lost heroes. In their thinking it means that we're moving away from the old idea of right and wrong, good and bad. They say that the old idea of heroic leaders is being replaced by the new idea of group consensus and popular opinion as the basis for leading.
It is said that we should no longer look for salvation in an "unblemished, omnipotent hero." We look for leaders who are complex and dependent upon others' opinions and changeable.
Postmodern psychology sees us as more changeable and unstable than we are stable. To have stability, in this view, is to be stifled and a fixed truth and identity is to be shunned.
We are told, "We don't need one authority of right and wrong which tells our inner voice to shut up."
What does this mean? It means that there was a time when we had a concept of right and wrong that was superior to our opinion or feelings. If my heart wanted to go against that was right and good, there was a voice outside ourselves that said, "This is wrong, don't do it." In our day, we no longer believe in such absolutes. Today, truth is not something outside ourselves but is found in our hearts. We should follow our inner voice and listen to ourselves and then we'll be truly happy.
Blagh!
It isn't that postmodern thought has just lost the idea of heroes; postmodern thought has killed heroes.
Why? Because a hero is someone who does the very thing we're told they shouldn't do in our day. A hero is someone who tells their inner voices to shut up. That's what makes them a hero!
The average person in San Diego believes this absolutely (which is a bit ironic). The most common advice to give someone today when asked to help someone with a difficult problem or decision is, "What does your heart tell you?" How many of you have heard this? How many of you have given this advice? I know, I have too!
When someone asks us a question, we would never tell them, "This is what is right and wrong, this is what you should do." We would be laughed at.
I'm not going to get into the failure of this kind of thinking in our day, but let me just say this, you'll never be a hero if you think truth is found only in your heart.
If you have nothing greater than your heart to inform you, you've destroyed the possibility of heroism. The picture of a hero is someone who can tell their inner voice to shut up because our inner voices tell us to run and only think of ourselves. Your inner voice says, "Who's to say this is right or wrong?"
The first step to being a coward is to listen to your inner voice telling you "all truth is relative." That's what makes you a coward. A hero is someone who tells their inner voice to can it.
A hero is someone who is committed to character over appearance, and a hero is someone who is faithful to something greater than their heart.
Modern stars pursue appearance over character and modern stars pursue feelings rather than telling their heart to shut up. Hearts will not want to sacrifice things close to them for what is right, ever!
Lastly, heroes may seem like they walk alone but they actually walk for others because heroes are substitutes.
3-Heroes are substitutes
A hero goes to the breach! "Once more into the breach" says Henry the fifth. What's the breach? The breach is where the fighting is most lethal.
How many stories have we seen where a group is trying to escape a monster or villain of some sort, and one in the group decides to stay behind to hold off the villain even though they know they'll lose their life only to help others escape?
What is this hero doing? They're saying, "All the pain and suffering that should fall upon you will fall upon me." In some cases heroism is an incredible exchange. In the great move To End All Wars there is a scene where one of the men who was planning an escape was caught by the guards in this Japanese POW camp. They began to execute each of the men who attempted this escape. Other men in the camp were learning how to live sacrificially for one another and care for one another. In an incredible scene, one man was about to have his head cut off and a very gentle and noble doctor who had put his own personal needs and protection aside on a number of occasions, came up to the Japanese officer and whispered something in his ear. The next thing you see is the man who was about to be executed being set free and the doctor was taken away and crucified in his place. It is an incredibly moving scene.
Later in the movie, one of the other prisoners, Kiefer Sutherland, who was incredibly selfish and self-serving, was standing in formation when an announcement came that someone had stolen a shovel from the Japanese. No one came forward to admit what had been done, so they were going to execute soldiers one by one until someone confessed. Kiefer stepped forward and said he did it only to be beaten repeatedly with a shovel. After a few minutes into his beating one of the other guards recounted and found that the shovel was never missing in the first place and this man who was once only for himself now put his own comfort aside and took the blows so others wouldn't have to.
When we see these stories we long to see our own hearts act with such heroism and courage.
There is a scene in Last of the Mohicans where the girl and British officer where captured by a particularly brutal tribe. She was about to be killed but since he was an officer they were going to let him go. What did he say? "My life for hers." He's condemned and she's freed. His freedom is transferred to her and her punishment is transferred to him. They cut her loose and took and killed him instead. This is what a hero is, someone who is a substitute for another. It is an exchange.
A hero is someone who says, "Let all the pain and misery, all the horror and death fall on me instead of you."
You can't step out as a substitute unless you believe in a truth that is larger than your heart. You can't do that unless you understand character.
So we have: character, fidelity, substitution.
When Peter says, "archegos," they understood the concept behind his comment. Peter is telling this group of people that Jesus is the archegos; He is THE hero.III. WHY JESUS IS THE ULTIMATE HERO
When Peter says that, he's saying that there is something which stirs in our hearts that longs for the heroic.
The myths that continually show up with heroes who have character, fidelity, and substitution, are created for a reason. They keep showing up.
These myths answer something deep in us: the knight slaying the dragon, the hero who rescues the damsel in distress, etc. These are important stories and are created from a longing heart.
The reason we want heroes is because we are made for something greater. In the story of the hero, for one brief, shining moment, we know deep in our souls we were built, not to be mediocre, not to be cowards, not to be mundane, but we were built to be heroes.
We were built for something more. We were built to be something great. We were made in the image of God. We were made perfect and were built to be heroes. We were built to crush the head of the serpent but we failed. We abandoned post. We refused to walk according to our given character. We were not faithful to something greater than our heart. We ran from substituting our safety for another. So we long to get back to the place we once were.
We crave heroes because our hearts need that. There may be some of you here that don't believe in heaven or hell, God and all that, but when you hear these stories your heart soars. Your heart stirs and you long for the heroic because you know that this is what you were meant for.
Peter is showing us that when our kids say to us, "Daddy, I wish there was a Hercules or Superman," we can say to them, there is! There is a real hero who can make us heroic again. He can bring us back into the heroic which we have lost. He name is Jesus and He is our Hero!
He is the ultimate Hero.
There is a famous quote by Thomas Carlisle that says, "No one is a hero to his butler." This basically means that no one is a hero to those who are with you constantly and see your flaws and failures, your selfishness, your mood swings and attitude towards others. Those close to you know who you really are and so you aren't a hero to those close to you.
JESUS CHARACTER OVER APPEARANCE
Peter said he was a witness of Jesus and that He was the Son of God. John said that this Jesus he touched, handled and was with in close fellowship was the Son of God. James, Jesus' brother, said that Jesus was the Son of God.
Jesus is the one man whose brothers who were closest to Him thought He was a hero. They lived with Him. The character, the integrity, the faithfulness-imagine what it must have been like to be close to Him.
Jesus is the one whose character was examined and those who knew Him best called Him their Hero.
JESUS FAITHFULNESS OVER HIS INNER VOICE
Jesus is the one person who most told his inner voices to shut up! We often think that Jesus had absolutely no temptation, no feeling of despair, and no struggle within His inner man. It's as if we see Jesus just flying around without any problems, totally sure of everything and with a heart of bliss and peace without pain.
You see, in the Garden of Eden, we were supposed to tell our inner voices to shut up when we were tempted not to believe God.
Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night He was betrayed and handed over, was praying under incredible temptation and duress created by a heart that was tempted. Jesus said, "Not my will but Your will." What is that? His inner voices were saying, "run!" His inner voices were telling Him to get out. We're told that God forsook Him at the cross, but this didn't just happen at the cross. Jesus felt the withdrawing of the presence of His Father even in the Garden. Jesus was there alone in Himself, with perhaps the most dead prayer life that we could ever imagine, and yet He submitted Himself to His Father who was turning His face from His Son.
There was nothing to go on in by listening to His will and heart. He had to submit His will to the Father. He had to be faithful to something greater than His own heart.
He did what was right and pressed the truth of who God was in that moment instead of listening to Himself. This was ultimate fidelity.
JESUS AS SUBSTITUTE
Jesus is the ultimate substitute.
A heroic substitute is also considered our champion. Rob Roy is one of my favorite movies. In this movie, Rob Roy is pressed into a corner by being unjustly treated by the Duke of Montrose. He stands as champion for his family. He says he's willing to do battle with their champion and if he wins, his debts will be paid and his people and their land will be left to them, but if he loses then they can have it all.
Rob Roy steps up to the plate, not as a philosopher to debate, but as a champion to fight. The Duke of Montrose presents his champion and they fight with swords. Rob Roy wins and sets his family and people free.
There is another scene in the movie Troy where Achilles is summoned to do battle with the champion of their enemy. In these days, armies would line up across from one another to go to war and if you had a champion who you had great faith in, you'd present him to your opponent's champion and every now and again they would let the two champions fight to decide the outcome of the war. Achilles runs and leaps and with one thrust of his sword takes down this massive beast of man who is twice his size.
This is the story of David and Goliath, etc.
The champion is someone who does it for you. If your champion wins, you win; if your champion loses, you lose; if your champion is filled with glory, you're filled with glory.
Is Rob Roy or Troy a picture of Jesus? Sort of. But there is one thing, Jesus was hung on a tree. He was considered cursed. He appeared to have lost, not won. It was a shame to losers. Jesus did not look heroic. He kept His mouth shut and looked like a lamb not like a lion.
There is a great old movie in which Jimmy Cagney is a thug and murderer who is about to go to the electric chair. Though he's a murderer he is a hero to the kids in the neighborhood. The priest knows these kids and realizes they are in for a life of great misery and pain if they follow in Cagney's footsteps, so he visits him the night before his execution. He asks Jimmy before he's executed to begin to cry and wail so that the kids won't think he's a hero. Of course, Jimmy Cagney says "no" because all he has left is his pride. If that's taken, he will have truly lost.
The next morning, as he's taken to be executed, when he walks in and sees the chair, he begins to weep and scream, "Don't kill me, I don't want to die." The last thing he has left, he is willing to give up so that these kids would not think he was a hero.
The priest knows that this is not because he is afraid, but because he is sacrificing the one thing he had left.
The kids see this and no longer worship him as a hero. He's a coward in their eyes. He became unheroic. In his greatest act of apparent cowardice was what made him such a hero.
There is nothing that takes more strength than to be weak when you can be strong.
On the cross, Jesus was not heroic in the eyes of His enemies. Yet He was utterly heroic. We're the cowards. We're the ones who won't say no to the inner voices. We're the ones whose character is terribly flawed.
Jesus was the one who said He could call a legion of angels to come and save Him, "but how would the Scriptures be fulfilled?" Jesus could have been strong, but became weak so that we could be strong. Jesus became unheroic in man's eyes, so that in God's eyes we could be made heroic in Him.
His weakness becomes our strength. Our weakness is transferred to Him; His strength is transferred to us. Jesus' unheroicness makes us heroes again.
The most heroic act is to admit that you're a coward and a failure. Our hero gives repentance to us in this passage. If you're going to be a hero you have to start with the most heroic act which is to admit you're not a hero but a coward. You don't have it all together, but Jesus does.
0 Comments | Login to Post Comments