Please note, Black Panther (vol. 6) is rated T. Shuri has gone from dying for her people to rising again. Sound familiar? This is at the very heart and soul of what Jesus does for us. There's another way Shuri and Jesus are similar. Both are unrecognizable after they come back. For Shuri, she comes back at a difficult time for Wakanda. There have been uprisings and betrayals as the nation comes to terms with what is next. One group that has some dissenters are the Dora Milaje, the royal guard in Wakanda. Some of the women of this group rise up to help their fellow women who have been suffering throughout Wakanda. Shuri's death is an impetus for this move. One of the leaders of this group is the former captain to the Dora Milaje, Aneka. She has struggled with her actions throughout this time and now Shuri comes to confront her. The thing is that Shuri has changed quite a bit from her time in the Djalia. Though she served Shuri for so long, it takes Aneka a while to recognize Shuri. When she does, she begins to repent and comes to help Wakanda once again. The same is true for Jesus. His Resurrection was such that His very appearance was changed. There are several accounts of this occurring. One of these occurs with Mary Magdalene in John. Another occurs on the Road to Emmaus in Luke when Jesus is recognized only after a long walk and breaking the bread before a meal. One of those on the road Jesus was Cleopas. Some believe this to be another name for Clopas, Joseph's brother and Jesus' uncle. This may or may not be true, and there's nothing in Scripture to support the idea, one way or another. Yet if it is true, it shows even more how much Jesus had changed with the Resurrection, that even His own family couldn’t recognize Him. Like with Shuri, this period after the Resurrection was a key time for Jesus in teaching others. Before the Crucifixion, the Disciples had a hard time understanding what Jesus was teaching them. Even after the Resurrection, they struggled some times, yet they did come to believe in who Jesus is and what His mission in the world was as well. The transformation we see in Jesus, as well as in Shuri, should give us hope. It is a sign that the Resurrected Life is one completely different and new. It is a complete transformation of our souls and bodies. For what we often see in the world, even civil unrest like that seen in Shuri's Wakanda, can be heart-breaking. Yet with the transformation of resurrection, there is hope.
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Please note, Black Panther (vol. 6) is rated T. Previously, we saw T'Challa getting ready to find Shuri in the Djalia, a spiritual plane, and bring her back to the physical world. Shuri knows she has to leave her journey on the spiritual plane in order to help Wakanda in its next phase as a nation. What Shuri is doing can be scary. It can be hard to serve in the world, especially knowing you have to leave the full saturation of the spiritual world in order to do so. Before Shuri leaves, she asks the All-Mother, her guide in this place, if she will be there with her. The All-Mother responds: I will always be with you, because I have always been with you. The same is true for us with God. At the very end of Matthew, Jesus tells the Disciples that He will be with them "always, even to the end of the age." In John 14, Jesus tells the Disciples, before the Crucifixion, that He will give them "an Advocate" or "Counselor" to be with them forever. Even when it seems like God is not there, God is there. The Lord tells us so throughout Scripture. No matter what we are going through, good or bad, God is our constant companion. The All-Mother in Black Panther assures Shuri she will always be with her. So it is with us and God. Please note, The Mandalorian is rated TV-14. Previously on this site, we've discussed the Madalorian phrase: "This is the way", and how it relates to Christianity. Back in the day, our Faith was known as The Way. Maybe The Mandalorian can help us bring that name back! Often times in The Mandalorian when this statement is made, particularly when the Armorer says it to Din Djarin, it means someone is going to have to go through a difficult situation. That is not dissimilar to our lives as Christians. Throughout Scripture, we hear how the path we walk as followers of Jesus is never easy. Jesus Himself tells his Disciples this as He sends them out into the world in Luke. Doing the right thing can often lead to troubles for us. Following a different path from others, from the rest of the world even, can be difficult too. Like Din, we sometimes need a reminder that the path we trod isn't meant to be easy. Like Din, we need the reminder that this road is the one we have chosen, for all its hardship. At the same time, we need the reminder that this path is worth it. For us as Christians, we do have that assurance. We have the knowledge of the love that God has shown us and the gift of Life and Grace that come from following only one way: The Way our Lord Jesus Christ has paved before us. This past Sunday, the lectionary covered the Good Shepherd reading in John 10. During our service, we had a Baptism, and I used Spider-Man to frame the sermon. In addition to my words then, here are some more thoughts I have connecting the start of Peter Parker's journey as Spider-Man with ours as Christians: When Peter Parker first gets his powers, he uses them very selfishly. It isn't until tragedy strikes that he changes his ways. There's one moment when he lets a thief walk past him without caring about the impact on others. That thief ends up killing Peter's Uncle Ben later. This is the moment when Peter decides to use his powers for good, becoming the friendly neighborhood superhero we know and love. There's a line Peter is finally able to hear after the death of his uncle that becomes his motto, best known in the words "with great power comes great responsibility." These words, the all the various spider-media, would later be attributed to Uncle Ben. It took Uncle Ben's death before Peter could actually hear them. Jesus too had to die before we would listen, as shown throughout the Gospels. Unlike Uncle Ben though, Jesus came back. In coming back too, Jesus is the Good Shepherd He speaks of in John. The Good Shepherd is the one who the sheep hear and whose voice they know. Those sheep are all of us who are Baptized into Christ Jesus through the formula He gave us at the very end of the Gospel according to Matthew. Just as Peter started to listen after his "baptism by fire" as the hero Spider-Man, we too learn to listen to Jesus as we enter his fold in Baptism. Peter keeps having to remind himself of the words Uncle Ben gave him. We do the same every week at church by gathering on Sunday, the day of the week our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead, to hear God's Word. In this way, we learn all the more how to recognize Jesus' voice so that we will know it when we hear it anywhere we are in our lives. It is not always easy to listen to Jesus, as we learn from the other readings this past Sunday. The same is true for Peter, especially with all the villains he has in his rogues' gallery. Peter has his spider-powers to protect him. For us, we have our Lord Jesus. As we hear in the 23rd Psalm: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, The Psalm goes on to tell us that God is laying out a feast before us, even "in the presence of my enemies" or "those who trouble me." Ultimately, Jesus is leading us to the place where we can "dwell in the House of the Lord forever." Through the journey of Peter Parker, we can see a bit of our own journey in Faith. Unfortunately it took a death for both of us, in our case the death of Jesus, before we would listen. Even now the way is hard. However, the Lord is with us along the way, even in the midst of our darkest trials and in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. All we need to do is continue to train ourselves to hear God's voice, where ever and when ever it may be speaking to us. |
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The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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