The Myth of the Superhero Jesus: Finding Real Hope in Resurrection

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[00:01:24] So today the message is about Easter.
[00:01:27] Today we celebrate the resurrection miracle and I hope by the end of today's message regardless of where you come from
[00:01:34] to the Easter Story, where you come to the perspective of Jesus and believing in all the parts and pieces of the Jesus story and the Jesus narrative.
[00:01:44] However you come to this story, I do believe that there will be something that you can take away from this message today that will give your life purpose and give your life hope.
[00:01:54] Today we're going to look at the story of Jesus.
[00:01:56] We're going to talk about superpowers and superheroes and what we've done to the idea of Jesus over the thousands of years since his actual walking on the earth and being a part of community.
[00:02:09] And so to start off with, I want you to think about your own superpowers.
[00:02:14] If you could be a superhero, who would you be?
[00:02:17] So take a look at your screen and ask yourself this question.
[00:02:22] If you had superpowers, if you could have your own superpowers, what would you use them for?
[00:02:30] Would you fight supervillains?
[00:02:33] Would you use them to have a good time?
[00:02:35] Would you use them to get out of sticky or tricky situations?
[00:02:40] Or would you use them to make new friends?
[00:02:43] Which of those would you use your superpowers for?
[00:02:47] And the second superhero question I have for you today is like, so it's all about what we look like, right?
[00:02:53] Our image and our being an influencer.
[00:02:56] So what would your superhero outfit look like?
[00:03:00] What color would it be?
[00:03:02] Would it be red?
[00:03:03] Would it be green?
[00:03:04] Like the Incredible Hulk?
[00:03:06] Would it be blue like Superman?
[00:03:10] or you know what your superpowers are so great and so big you don't even need a superhero outfit at all.
[00:03:18] So those are just a few questions I want you to think about like if you were a superhero.
[00:03:23] And just a little disclaimer like
[00:03:27] What we've done to Jesus, the person Jesus of Nazareth, over the last several thousand years is we have taken someone that was historically true.
[00:03:37] So, like, whether you believe and want to be a Christian or anything like that, if you look at the historical person of Jesus of Nazareth, I mean, history does lend itself to prove that he was a legit person
[00:03:49] that the government that was in place like Pontius Pilate and all those folks they're real and the events around the crucifixion they are real they're historically real but what we've done is because you know Jesus life was very real and the the lessons and the way that he loved it changed everything and it changed people they wanted to create this following
[00:04:13] that would stand the test of time.
[00:04:14] And luckily it has, right?
[00:04:16] Because a couple of thousand years later, we're still talking about it.
[00:04:19] But in doing so, in trying to create this following, they created this new religion called Christianity.
[00:04:25] Jesus was not a Christian.
[00:04:27] Just FYI, he was Jewish.
[00:04:29] He never wanted to not be Jewish.
[00:04:31] He wanted people
[00:04:33] To understand that God was not something that was so far out there.
[00:04:38] That they couldn't experience and abide in God every second of their life.
[00:04:44] And that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, that it always seemed so far reaching and so far stretching, it was available for them all.
[00:04:53] Right now like that's what he was trying to teach and so in the way that he lived his life he wanted them to to tap into their Jewish tradition and their Jewish faith but understand it in a different context and in a different way of being and so he did right he changed things he he turned everything upside down because of the way that he ushered in the presence of God and the and the kingdom of God but then what happened
[00:05:19] is after his death and resurrection people wanted to make sure that all people for all of time would be able to experience the same amazing things that they did so they tried to like contain it and anytime we try to contain something that is uncontainable we put very human constraints around it that don't need to be there
[00:05:42] And then we put human understanding around something that is not able to be understood through our humanity.
[00:05:50] And so we've created almost like this superhero Jesus.
[00:05:54] And we've made him a superhero and we've attributed things to him that make it difficult for people to believe and follow in the way of Christianity.
[00:06:04] and so this morning I want us to like come at the story with fresh ears and fresh perspective I want us to think about this this Jesus as just you would think about your neighbor your friend your family member just being in real relationship with them a very human being and I want us to think about Jesus in that way put away all the things that you disagree with or you have questions about let's just think about the person of Jesus of Nazareth
[00:06:32] And I want us to debunk some of those superhero myths and see what we all can take away from the Easter story.
[00:06:40] On Monday of this week, my daughter Lane called me and she's like, Mama, I have some parenting questions I need your help with.
[00:06:48] So Lane is getting married on November 4th to the man of her dreams.
[00:06:53] His name is JT and he is amazing.
[00:06:56] I could not be happier for her.
[00:06:58] In marrying JT, she also is getting a bonus son.
[00:07:02] JT has a three-year-old little boy and they just make the most adorable family.
[00:07:07] And I get to sit back and like laugh when Lane tells me these things because I've been there and done that and it sort of gives me some kind of sadistic pleasure to hear her having to wrestle with some of the things that used to drive me crazy.
[00:07:20] So Lane and JT and Asher, they live in Statesville and they have this nice home with a very flat driveway.
[00:07:28] and what Lane needed help with was the fact that Asher has now started running and he runs in the driveway which that's not a problem there's always been a boundary at the end of the driveway that he is honored but this past week like he started not stopping at the end of the driveway and he would run into the street
[00:07:49] Upon discussing this with Asher, he has this favorite cartoon that's called PJ Masks.
[00:07:57] And the PJ Masks are these superheroes that their powers come out at night and they come out at night.
[00:08:03] So I wanted you to meet them today so that you could be culturally relevant for children.
[00:08:09] So what you see on your screen, this is Gekko, and he is super strong.
[00:08:15] Gekko's super strong.
[00:08:17] And next you're going to see Owlette.
[00:08:19] An Owlette can fly super, super high.
[00:08:23] And then the last one is Catboy.
[00:08:26] And Catboy can run super, super fast.
[00:08:29] Now, these are like Asher's go-to.
[00:08:33] He loves these folks.
[00:08:35] and apparently most recently he has decided that he too is one of them and he has the same superpowers that they do therefore it is okay for him to run in the driveway and not stop at the end he can run to the end and run into the road
[00:08:59] And I want you to take a look and a listen at Asher telling you about his superpowers.
[00:09:05] And just a brief disclaimer, it's okay if you don't understand a word that he says.
[00:09:10] You have to speak three-year-old E's, toddler E's.
[00:09:14] So take a look at Asher.
[00:09:18] I'm Catboy.
[00:09:24] I'm a rat.
[00:09:25] I'm a ditto.
[00:09:26] I'm a ditto.
[00:09:30] So this is Asher.
[00:09:40] He shows you that he is super strong and he shows you that he is super fast and he can stop any car.
[00:09:50] That's what he explained to Lane that day that he ran into the road.
[00:09:54] He's like,
[00:09:55] it's okay boog that's what he calls lane he's like it's okay i can stop the car because i am gecko i'm super strong and she's like asher you are not stronger than a car and he's like okay well that's okay because i'm like cat boy and i'm like super fast i can outrun the car
[00:10:17] So Asher clearly thinks that he has very, very real superpowers, which is a huge problem because you and I both know that he doesn't, as do Lane and JT.
[00:10:30] So what they've done is they have curtailed a little bit of the cartoon time until we can come back into reality and realize that we are not, although we are strong and we're fast, we're not stronger and faster than cars.
[00:10:43] Nor are we going to fly away if a car tries to hit us.
[00:10:46] So like they're trying to get a handle on that.
[00:10:50] I want us today to get a handle on the person of Jesus.
[00:10:54] The real Jesus, the human being Jesus.
[00:10:58] And I recognize and I respect that not all of us come to this story with the whole like, oh yeah, I get it, like the tomb rolled away, or the opening to the tomb rolled away, and he just disappeared, poof, and then he appeared to people.
[00:11:14] Like, that's a big hangup for a lot of people in following Jesus of Nazareth.
[00:11:20] And so I want us to let that go for just a minute and I want us to not make Jesus like this magical superhero.
[00:11:28] I want us to embrace him as being real.
[00:11:33] I want us to embrace the message that he brought and the message that was lived into on that day that we now celebrate as Easter.
[00:11:42] I want us to embrace that message.
[00:11:46] because that's what changes everything and not get hung up on so many of the other things that at the end of the day, believe it or not, they just do not matter.
[00:12:00] Our living into the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven is not dependent on whether or not we believe every single iota of the Jesus story.
[00:12:10] We all come to this interpretation.
[00:12:13] I mean, heck, the four gospels, they don't even agree on what all happened because everyone came to the story with their own perspective, what they'd heard over the last 50 or 60 years before they wrote it down.
[00:12:27] I mean, look folks, we don't know.
[00:12:30] Exactly and literally what happened.
[00:12:34] but there are some things that we can know beyond I believe a shadow of any doubt things that we can know with faith and and things that will change our lives if we will embrace them so that's what I want us to do right now in these moments and the first part of that is to understand that the crucifixion itself it is like an essential paradox the crucifixion is an essential paradox
[00:13:03] On Good Friday, I was talking with some individuals and they're like, you know, why is it called good?
[00:13:09] How is it good if the one that we claim to follow and the one that just loved so selflessly and so unabashedly and unconditionally, like he was murdered, murdered.
[00:13:21] Why would we ever call that good?
[00:13:24] So, in the crucifixion paradox, we embrace the Jesus paradox.
[00:13:30] And we understand that, okay, a paradox is actually when both things are true, but they're so polar opposite, they make no sense at all.
[00:13:43] Both things are true but they make no sense if you tie them together.
[00:13:47] So like Good Friday.
[00:13:49] How is it good if a man who did nothing to anyone to hurt them was viciously, viciously murdered?
[00:13:59] How could you call that good?
[00:14:03] Why invite us into paradoxical thinking?
[00:14:05] Because it is good.
[00:14:07] Because what happened in those moments is not about a dead man being restored to life or about a dead man being resuscitated.
[00:14:18] It is about resurrection.
[00:14:20] Resuscitation is when you put life back into something that is dead.
[00:14:24] Resurrection is when you bring new life from something.
[00:14:28] I do not claim at all to understand how it happened.
[00:14:33] And again, like I told you, and last year in the Easter message, I actually laid out the four Gospels and had us read them from each different perspective.
[00:14:43] And we'll put a link to that message in today's notes.
[00:14:48] on our YouTube channel because you know what it's important to realize that everybody walked away with a different understanding but because they did it does not nullify the power of the message so look like Jesus he was viciously killed put in a tomb and then like there was a day of nothing
[00:15:15] but grief and sadness and paralysis and then after that they experienced Jesus not being dead anymore.
[00:15:29] They experienced life.
[00:15:35] And how we come to that understanding is that we recognize that in this story that God acts, God, not a man, not a human being, but God, energy, a deity, a presence that is so much bigger than any human understanding we can ever grasp, like God breathes and speaks a profound truth that changes everything.
[00:16:00] Somehow, in the power of God, in the power of the eternal,
[00:16:05] The very human Jesus that is now dead appears and they connect with him on a much different level.
[00:16:18] That is resurrection.
[00:16:20] That's the power of new life and transformation that has been breathed into something that they thought had been taken from them forever.
[00:16:33] And guess what?
[00:16:34] That's why this is so important to us.
[00:16:38] Because at some point in each of our journeys, we are going to experience the loss of things that we hold dear.
[00:16:47] I'll name a few.
[00:16:48] I'm sure this is not like comprehensive, but like loss of relationships, loss of a job, loss of career security.
[00:17:00] Loss of financial security.
[00:17:03] Loss of our health and our well-being.
[00:17:07] Loss of our happiness and our joy.
[00:17:09] Like, we are all gonna experience the loss and the death of things in our lives.
[00:17:15] But what we can take away from this story is that if we connect to the power of God and the voice of God that speaks in and through us and that abides deep within us, just as Jesus did,
[00:17:30] It changes everything.
[00:17:32] And the death that we experience, no matter how tragic, it can give way to life and light.
[00:17:43] So will you focus and meditate on the image on your screen and hear this story?
[00:17:52] After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb.
[00:18:01] Suddenly, the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's angel came down from heaven and came right up to where they were standing.
[00:18:12] The angel rolled back the stone and then sat on it.
[00:18:14] Shafts of lightning blazed from him.
[00:18:16] His garments shimmered snow white.
[00:18:20] The guards at the tomb were scared to death.
[00:18:23] They were so frightened they could not move.
[00:18:26] The angel spoke to the women, There's nothing to be afraid of.
[00:18:32] There's nothing here that you should be afraid of.
[00:18:36] I know that you're looking for Jesus, the one that they nailed to the cross.
[00:18:40] He is not here.
[00:18:41] He was raised just as he said he would be.
[00:18:46] Come and look at the place where he was placed.
[00:18:49] So the women did that.
[00:18:50] They went, they looked, and then the angel said, Now get on your way quickly and tell his disciples he's risen from the dead.
[00:18:57] He's going on ahead of you to Galilee, and you will see him there.
[00:19:02] That is the message.
[00:19:05] The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb.
[00:19:13] They ran to tell the disciples, and then Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks.
[00:19:19] "'Good morning,' he said.
[00:19:22] and they fell to their knees and they embraced his feet and worshiped him and Jesus said you're holding on to me for dear life don't be frightened like that go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee and I will meet them there so
[00:19:46] I want you to hear just a few phrases from the scripture very intentionally one more time and take a listen.
[00:19:55] When they were standing there with the angel, and angel means messenger from God, okay?
[00:20:00] So there wasn't this like figure in white with big fluffy wings sitting there.
[00:20:05] Angel means messenger from God and it says sent from heaven.
[00:20:08] So we understand that to mean sent from the presence of God.
[00:20:14] And just by the way, sometimes we're that for each other.
[00:20:17] We are the presence of God.
[00:20:18] The angel says, get on your way quickly and go tell the disciples.
[00:20:25] He's risen from the dead.
[00:20:27] He's going on ahead of you and you are going to see him there.
[00:20:34] That is the message.
[00:20:38] You're going to see him there.
[00:20:42] Now the angel didn't say, you know, he's going to look like this and he's going to appear to you like this.
[00:20:47] And again, the resurrected Jesus appears in lots of different ways and lots of different situations and people.
[00:20:54] Over 500 times it is accounted for in the New Testament writings that the resurrected Jesus appeared.
[00:21:02] My point in telling you that is that if Jesus could appear to people back then, after that, he can appear to us too.
[00:21:10] We can be angels or messengers from God.
[00:21:12] We can be that appearance of Jesus to one another.
[00:21:16] That's not heresy.
[00:21:18] It's real.
[00:21:19] In fact, before his, you know,
[00:21:25] Resurrection into the heavens to go into that place that eternal abiding abiding with God like he's like look the power that I have had all of my life in my ministry that same power abides in you now go and do likewise he said it and he said it and he meant it so that's a message of hope one of the many messages of hope that comes from this story is like we can see him
[00:21:56] But what's the big deal about seeing him?
[00:21:59] Well listen, like when they come to him and they see him and they grasp him, he says, don't be frightened.
[00:22:09] Do not be afraid.
[00:22:13] And if you imagine like them falling at his feet, they're like, you know, bending down and kneeling, they would not have been looking up at him.
[00:22:22] They would have been looking at what they were clinging to.
[00:22:26] and he goes on to say do not cling to me you are holding on to me you're holding on to me for dear life don't don't be frightened like that get up and go and go tell my brothers that I am going to meet them there he is saying to them do not cling to the things that you are afraid of losing
[00:22:57] And that is another message of hope in the Easter story.
[00:23:00] When we suffer, when we have pain, when we are afraid, and when we experience death, we cling to things, we hold on so tight.
[00:23:21] Our suffering, it causes us to be useless.
[00:23:25] Our pain cripples us just like it did the women.
[00:23:31] Our fear paralyzes us.
[00:23:36] And our experience of death and all that it brings ceases all things from being.
[00:23:47] But Jesus says, do not cling to me.
[00:23:49] Do not cling to what you know of as death.
[00:23:54] Do not be afraid because guess what?
[00:23:57] To die really means to live.
[00:24:02] And to lose is to gain.
[00:24:05] He said that other times.
[00:24:07] He said, whoever loses their life for my sake, you get it.
[00:24:13] And then he lives and he proves.
[00:24:17] To lose is to gain and to die is to live.
[00:24:21] So folks, guess what?
[00:24:22] That is the message of hope for us in this story.
[00:24:26] There is no pain, no suffering, no fear, and no death that is too real and too big that we cannot connect to a power that is deep within us.
[00:24:41] that we will live in and through all things, even the worst things.
[00:24:46] They are not the last things.
[00:24:49] So maybe Asher's onto something, like he doesn't need to go up against the cars and think he can fly and stop them, but you know what?
[00:24:58] He is a whole lot stronger than we give him credit for, and so are you.
[00:25:03] I don't know what pain you're living into right now, and I don't know what your fears are,
[00:25:10] but they don't have to win.
[00:25:11] The power of a resurrected one, that's what wins.
[00:25:20] And so no matter where our paths take us and they will take us into dark and seemingly impossible things, there's a power within us given to us
[00:25:37] by the presence of God through the Holy Spirit and shown to us through a resurrected man who was fully human and showed us in the way that he died that we can also die to our fear, our anger, our suffering, our pain, and in dying to those things we can live.
[00:26:05] Her name is Maria.
[00:26:08] I met her six weeks ago.
[00:26:10] She was actually the nail technician that was doing my nails and she just had this aura about her.
[00:26:16] She was so friendly.
[00:26:18] So at the end of the nail appointment, I wanted to go back to her and honestly, like, I didn't even really care what the nails looked like.
[00:26:25] I just knew that she was, she just had this presence about her that
[00:26:30] I liked being around and honestly like I hate getting my nails done I hate sitting still for that long with with nothing to do it drives me insane so I really don't like doing it but I like you know not looking like I've been digging in the dirt you know for like 12 hours a day and so it's a it's a frivolous pleasure I give to myself
[00:26:55] And so I asked her, I said, you know, Maria, can I come see you to do my nails next time?
[00:27:01] Like, can I request you?
[00:27:03] And she's like, yeah, let me give you my number.
[00:27:05] She wrote her name and her number down on her card.
[00:27:08] And she asked me how often I come.
[00:27:10] I said, well, usually three to four weeks.
[00:27:13] I don't come often.
[00:27:14] And she's like, oh, I'm not sure I'll be here.
[00:27:18] She said, but text me anyway.
[00:27:20] And I said, oh, okay.
[00:27:22] And then she like held her belly.
[00:27:25] She was expecting.
[00:27:26] And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you.
[00:27:29] Congratulations.
[00:27:31] When are you due?
[00:27:33] And she said, on Easter.
[00:27:34] And I said, oh, that's so cool.
[00:27:37] I'm a pastor.
[00:27:38] And she said, I know.
[00:27:39] I heard you talking while you were sitting here to some others and I assumed that you were a pastor.
[00:27:48] And I said, well, I would love to pray for you.
[00:27:53] I'm so excited for you and your upcoming addition to your family.
[00:28:00] And she said, well, I appreciate the prayers.
[00:28:04] I don't know how it's going to go.
[00:28:06] There are genetic defects that we have been told will cause the baby either to die before she is born,
[00:28:17] Or once she is born, they do not expect her to live very long, maybe an hour, maybe a day.
[00:28:26] We don't think she'll go home ever from the hospital.
[00:28:33] Now, Maria sits there and tells me that story just like I told you, very factual.
[00:28:39] And I'm like, I mean, try not to cry.
[00:28:46] I've given birth I know what that's like I know the fear of hearing a doctor say that they see issues and they're not sure what it's going to be like I had that with my first born and luckily it turned out okay but I know that fear and that pain of going days and being told that when the baby's born they don't know if it will live and odds are it will not
[00:29:14] So I've been there and like I know that pain so I couldn't believe that she was just sitting there telling me the story so calmly.
[00:29:21] But the part that took my breath away
[00:29:29] And the part that made the Easter story, which isn't that ironic that her due date was Easter, but the part that made the Easter story so real and why I'm telling you this story is after she told me that, and I'm like, oh Maria, I'm so sorry.
[00:29:47] I will pray for you every day for peace and for bold healing, but also in knowing that if healing doesn't come that way, and she interrupted me,
[00:29:58] And she said, look, it is okay.
[00:30:03] I am a person of deep faith.
[00:30:07] And I know that if my baby does not come home with me from the hospital to be with me and my husband, I know that she will be home with God.
[00:30:22] And that is okay.
[00:30:28] that's the power of the Easter story and regardless of what pathway we bring to the story and what we believe or don't believe or wrestle with or anything knowing that there's a power that lies within us that is so big that we can live through the worst things and that they are not the last things
[00:30:59] That power of the resurrection, that superhero power changes everything.
[00:31:08] Happy Easter.
[00:31:10] Please pray with me.
[00:31:13] Gracious God, your power is so big.
[00:31:17] And we see it lived out in so many ways every day of our lives.
[00:31:23] Thank you for Maria and people like her that just live out their power.
[00:31:29] and we just ask you pour out on her your presence in such a real way and God for anyone that is coming to this story with their pain and their fear and their own wrestling with death of whatever it is in their lives I ask that you pour out on them in your almighty way the resurrection power may it be a superhero power for all of us
[00:32:00] so that we can live into knowing that the worst things are not the last things.
[00:32:06] You are an amazing God and you have given us a gift of the resurrection.
[00:32:11] May we live into it and be your ambassadors and your followers here and angels for all people.
[00:32:19] In the days and weeks to come, we offer ourselves to you on this Easter.
[00:32:26] Amen.
[00:32:27] Happy Easter.
[00:32:29] May we go be those angels.