A Hero is a mythological, or legendary, figure, of great strength, or ability; the chief male character in a literary or dramatic work; a man admired for his achievements and qualities. In the teachers section of our quarterly an objective is proposed, “To feel an admiration and attachment to Jesus as the only Savior of humanity and as a true Hero to be emulated.” The question to ask is if Jesus is a Hero. If we are to use the above definitions then He was not.
For starters Jesus was neither mythological nor legendary. He was and is real. While Jesus is the chief male character of the story in the Bible, the Bible is not fictional work. The Bible also does not describe Jesus as a man of great strength and ability. This is not to say that He was a weakling, after all He was a carpenter for most of his life, but He was no Samson. The Bible did not talk of Jesus possessing great ability as, for example, David had. David wrote poetry and songs, played the harp, sang, and fought beasts and giants. (Although, it should be said that it was Jesus as God who gave to Samson his strength and to David his ability.) Jesus after all “…hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa53:2).
Some will point to the miracles Jesus performed. But remember what He told the disciples when Phillip asked Him to show the Father, let read in John 14:8 12,
John14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
John14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
John14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
John14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Jesus told His disciples that because He was leaving He would pray to the Father so the Father would send another Comforter (walking partner). This walking partner is the Holy Spirit which dwells in all who believe (John 14: 16 – 17). The Holy Spirit would give us the power to do greater things than even Jesus did.
There is one thing, however, that Jesus did that we will not ever be able to do. That is to die to save the world(John 3:16). Only Jesus could do that. The Law required a “Spotless lamb” and only Jesus can say that He was spotless. Not that His flesh was spotless, He came in the likeness of Sinful flesh, was tempted in all things as we are, but He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:3). This is great distinction between heroes and Jesus: heroes cannot die to save you from the wages of Sin. So, Jesus is our Savior, and He is also our Master and Lord.
No one submits and depends on Superman or Spiderman for all things as we do in Christ. Heroes show up when we need them and after we no longer need them they leave. We always need Jesus and He never leaves us, He is with us always (Matthew 28:20).
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