St Margaret's Church Prestwich

Rev Helen gave this sermon during the parish retreat to Foxhills. Here it is for everyone to share:

I’m going to start with a question to ponder. Is Jesus a hero? Would he call himself a hero? It’s an interesting question to ponder and there are some parallels but is that a title that would do him justice.

Don’t know about you but I do love a superhero movie, tv series and in recent years there just seem to be so many of them and we’ve moved on a bit from Adam West playing Batman in the late 1960’s (Although I can’t say too much about that as I do have the DVD boxset of them at home). When I watch these films and movies I do sometimes think there are parallels with Jesus’ story and those heroes. I’m going to use my favourites as an example here which is Batman. He starts off as a regular men Bruce Wayne but then something happens to him, he go through a trauma as a child seeing his parents killed but through the scars he carries he wants to make things better. He has extraordinary abilities, intellect but also a vulnerability but pushes on to do better. So, what does Jesus have?

Although we don’t know what he got up to from birth to his early thirties there were some interesting predictions about him, which you heard from the reading from Isaiah. We see the things that were said about Jesus and what he was bringing with him. Jesus performed miracles (we know the stories), Jesus did extraordinary things (which we have also seen) but then he goes through a trauma, a big one and that is a story we have heard as we have gone through Holy Week. Jesus is killed for telling people to love each other, to be kind to each other, telling us to love our neighbour, forgive our enemies. He comes out of the trauma of his death in the most extraordinary way, he comes back to life, he still carried the wounds of this trauma with him visibly on his hands (and of course of his feet and side) and making him even more extraordinary. Give him a cape and a mask and we’re almost there! I’ll let you chose a name for him.

But my main issue with these heroes in these films is that they are very self-reliant, they have to do everything themselves and when they disappear, it comes to a sticky end that’s it. Jesus is different, sure he comes to preach to people, sure he comes to heal the sick and preform miracles to prove who he is and what God had sent him to do. Jesus knew that he was going away again after his resurrection, he’s not hanging around he said it himself Do not cling to me I am going away to be with my father, my God and your God. There are many rooms in my fathers house…I am going to prepare a place for you. We are going to have to manage without Jesus one day and that will be one day soon.

So the disciple must have felt a bit like Mary, they have Jesus back and now he’s telling them that he will be going away again and they are going to have to try and manage without him. That must have been terrifying for them, they knew the authorities were after them, they didn’t have their leader, he was going away again. What Jesus did (and was subtly doing through his ministry) was give them what they needed to manage without him. Jesus never underplays the reality of being his disciple ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves…for they will hand you over to councils and flog you and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me…Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.’

In the final two reflections in the book we see the two things Jesus has done for his disciples, the first is Jesus says he will send someone to be with them, it has had many names the advocate, the protector, the helper, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth. We had the story today of that helper coming to encourage and lead the disciples through their struggles and their turbulent times. That spirit is with all those who speak Jesus words to encourage and support after Jesus is gone. Jesus equips those who are going to spread his message. Now I can imagine there were times when the disciples were cursing him saying ‘He didn’t mention it would be like that’ or ‘He failed to tell us about this’, a bit like what I say about being in theological college and coming into Parish! But I’ll tell you something… at the Queen’s Foundation, the theological college I attended, there was a sign above the door where you exited the chapel (on the inside) which said ‘You are now entering a place of worship’. I personally think every church should have that sign in the same place, because it’s true isn’t it, take what you learn and what you have been taught out of that place and into the world knowing that Jesus is your enabler, he is with you and he will guide you even though he no longer dwells on earth in human form, I didn’t just fall apart after the ascension because the spirit is there.

The other is Jesus shared his peace with his disciples and breathed the Holy Spirit on them in John’s account. He says my peace I give to you. Jesus encourages and inspires those who he left, his story and the things he did, even encourages some to emulate him. Now Jesus died for his beliefs and many Christians over the years have and still do but Jesus gives his example and encourages others to do as he did, but what he wants is witnesses and us to be his witnesses, he couldn’t do everything and he knew his destiny so he needed the next generation to be ready to share his peace as he shared with his disciples.

So…back to the question, is Jesus a hero? What do you think? I’m not 100% sure as he is someone who we emulate and want to be like and he wanted to save the world, however I feel Jesus differs as he doesn’t just save and let us sit back and reap the rewards. Jesus gives us a story to proclaim, he gave us his peace to take out into the world and to go out and tell of him and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. So that’s what we should do, go out and tell of him and be inspired by him, what he did, said, went through for love, a very intense love for all of humanity, maybe there is something in that hero thing, I’ll leave you with that one. Amen