If you
could have a superpower, what superpower would you have?
This is a
common question put to children to get their brains going.
Some would
fly.
Some would
see into other people’s minds so they could get all the right answers on tests.
Some would
end hunger and poverty or have the power to defeat evil.
The
question pushes us beyond the boundaries of our mundane lives
into the
realm of possibility, promise, and power.
We are
encouraged to dream big.
Dream big,
Jesus, urge the flesh, the world and the devil.
Dream big, Jesus, urges even the Church -
for it is the religious people who are the most temptation to Jesus.
You are
the Son of David, the rightful King, proclaims the crowd.
Lead the
victorious revolution
which will
overwhelm our enemies.
You are
the Messiah, says Peter.
This shameful death shall never happen to you.
We will
defend you with the sword,
and you
will take your rightful place as the king.
Aren’t you
the Son of God? jeer the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
Come down
from the cross, then – show us your superpowers,
and we
will worship you.
After all
the miracles,
wouldn’t
it have been the greatest miracle of all for Jesus to descend from the cross?
But
ultimately, all Jesus’ miracles flowed from his love.
The only
superpower Jesus has is love.
Love for
his Father, love for his disciples, love for the people, love for his enemies.
The only
way to exhibit that love was not in an act of power,
but in an
act of submission.
Sin is not
defeated by judging it, but only in forgiving it, in taking it on.
Death is
not defeated by avoiding it, but only in undergoing it and being raised from
it.
Evil is
not defeated by a demonstration of power,
but the
greatest power is to surrender, so that evil may be shown to be evil
and to have no power at
all.
‘Let the
same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,’ Paul wrote to the Philippians.
‘who,
though he was in the form of God,
did not
count equality with God as something to be grasped,
making
himself nothing,
taking the
form of a slave,
being
found in human likeness.
And being
found in human likeness,
he emptied
himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even death
on a cross.
Therefore
God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven,
and on earth, and under the earth,
and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the
glory of God the Father.’
If we must
dream big, let us dream of having the power to love,
for this
is the only hope of the world.
The world
demanded, and still demands, a superman.
God gave
us a servant, and still more, a Savior.
Thanks be
to God.
