Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound… It’s Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - defender of law and order, champion of equal rights, valiant, courageous fighter against the forces of hate and prejudice, who disguised as Clark Kent… fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.
Introduction to The Adventures ofSuperman
I loved the old Superman TV show when I was a kid. When it was time for the program, I would take the biggest towel I could find and turn it into a cape. Then, I’d go into the closet and spin around a couple of times (as Clark Kent always did in a phone booth to become Superman) and come out trying to fly around our living room as Superman myself. I wanted to fight evil. I wanted to battle against the forces of hate and prejudice. When I think about it, I found a hero like Superman to be inspiring.
But, social scientists today would find that kind of heroism childish and naïve. When the recent movie musical based on Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable came out, I read an article that blasted a story like this “for failing to recognize that there is no such thing as absolute evil or absolute good. The writer made fun of thinking that the protagonist, Jean Valjean, could possibly have his life to be as transformed by an act of grace as it was. I’m wondering whether the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, will change Superman from a hero into a man filled with irony and inner conflicts.
Believe it or not, all this brings us to Acts 5 and a group of people who had been transformed by grace from cowardly and self-centered individualists into courageous people ready to sacrifice for a higher cause. And the reason for the change in their lives, according to the Bible, was that they had met a true hero whose life was fully good. When they met him, they chose to follow him and longed to become more like him. When they were threatened and told no longer to teach in his name, they boldly said, “We must obey God rather than men. God raised Jesus from the dead… and has exalted Jesus to his right hand as Hero and Savior… We are witnesses of these things.”
I tell you unashamedly that this same Jesus is my hero too. Following him has changed my life.
To His Glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor