Where Are The Superheroes?

It's no news to my friends that I am a big fan of Dr Who.  In our home we have quite a collection of Dr Who DVDs dating right back to the very first story with William Hartnell.  The truth is that I like all that fantasy stuff and superheroes.  It's pure escapism.  The world is in crisis and there's this person with extraordinary super powers that just appears out of the blue, fights our battles for us and saves humanity from disaster.  I wish real life were that simple but we all know that in the various crises that are happening all around us all the time, the superheroes with super powers aren't anywhere to be found.

Some people use religion as some sort of fantasy role-play game with God as the superhero.  He is just waiting for some human crisis so he can leap into action, descending from the sky and using his super powers to put things right for us.  If he doesn't appear then we are at fault - we didn't pray hard enough or loud enough (as thought God is deaf!) or more likely we don't have enough faith.  So instead of feeling helped by God we are guilt ridden because the continued crisis is obviously our fault.  According to the Bible, God's way of solving the world's problems was not by zapping everyone into extinction but by loving them into his kingdom through the self-sacrifice of his son.  After feeding the 5000 the people wanted to make Jesus king.  Jesus knew that the people only wanted him as king because he gave them to eat and they thought that with him as king there would be an end to hunger and poverty.  His reaction was to walk away.  That wasn't how God works.

Undoubtedly God does intervene on many occasions in our lives.  We can all testify to some time when God seems to have just taken control and got us out of some crisis   But he's not like some superhero suddenly appearing out of the blue.  He is already here.  In the beginning his spirit breathed life into the earth.  The whole earth is his design with his DNA throughout and we are part of that creation.  Jesus urges us to follow him, be like him.  He showed us how to live according to God's plan.  He said 'I and the Father are one' and so are we.  God doesn't want us to be passive, waiting for him to descend and use his powers.  He wants to solve the world's problems with and through us.  It's not about a superhero/human relationship but a partnership working together.  It's not so much God with us and God in us.


There is the saying that we are the people we have been waiting for.  There is no superhero who will come brandishing his sword or stretching out his arm and thrusting out a power surge to floor our enemy.  God takes no side in war, religious or otherwise.  He wants to work through us to solve the problems of war, famine, poverty, persecution and injustice.  He is not 'out there', he's 'in here', in us and wants to use us.