The Real Super Hero
      When I was a kid, I had a lot of heroes.  They didn’t call them “superheroes” in those days, but that’s what they seemed like.  My favorites were the Lone Ranger, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tarzan and Superman.  When I was playing with my buddies, we were acting out their adventures.  Our heroes were the good guys who showed up and solved people’s problems, sometimes with kindness and sometimes, when it was necessary, with their fists and guns.
     Well, I was still a kid when I learned about the real Superhero.  He doesn't wear a mask or a cape.  He doesn't ride a horse or carry a weapon.  But He did go around finding people who needed help with their problems.  And He knew how to deal with the bad guys.  But I don’t remember of a single time when a cowboy hero or Superman ever healed somebody’s blindness or brought a dead person back to life.
     Let me tell you about my Superhero.  He did all the above, and a lot more.  And He still does.  I spent most of my life looking for a hero, a role model I could follow and try to be like.  I knew about Him.  My mom and grand mom taught me about Him.  But for some reason, I didn’t see Him as a real super hero.  I guess I was trying to prove them wrong.  But the more I tried, the more I proved they were right about Him. I was a lot older before it dawned on me that He was THE real Hero of all time.  He’s the One I want to be like.
     Last month I talked about believing in God, the One who is the Creator, Chief Executive Officer and Manager of our universe.  Well, here’s the clincher.  He decided He would come down to earth and see, first-hand, what it’s like to be a human being. 
    Just imagine.  The One Who organized the stars and planets in their orbits, and figured and planned out the DNA structure of all life, was born as a baby boy in a drafty animal shelter to a poor family.  He didn’t even have a crib.
     While He grew up, He learned to work with His hands, with wood and stone.  He played with His buddies, just like us.  He really learned, first hand, what it’s like to be a human being.
     When He was about 30, He went on the road to tell everybody what His Father God was like, and how they could get to know Him.  He had all the problems and troubles we have.  He knew how it feels to be tired, sleepy, cold and hungry. There were many nights when He and his handful of students had no shelter or bed, and had to bunk down on the hard ground.
      He felt real sorrow for us, down in His gut.  He wouldn’t tolerate sickness and death.  When He came upon a funeral procession He stopped it and brought the dead person back to life.  He healed every kind of physical, mental and spiritual disease and sickness.  During His life on earth, He never wrote a book.  He was never known outside His home country.  His 3 year visit here was part of God’s master plan for us.  He came to tell us what God really had in mind for us when He first made men and women. But the most important thing He did was His real purpose for becoming a human being.
     The high-up religious big shots were jealous of this very popular traveling preacher who was going around doing good things for everybody.  He was getting to be a local superstar in their country and they didn’t like it a bit.  It drew everybody’s attention away from them and their control.  They decided He needed to be dealt with. So they figured out a way to kill Him and get Him out of their way so they could go on with business as usual.
     The bad guys had always been after Him.  They tried to kill Him with rocks, but He slipped away.  My cowboy superheroes were never killed.  But Jesus was.  He was murdered in the most horrible way imaginable.  And He could have stopped it.  But He knew it had to be done, so that we would all know He was God in human form, and to carry out God’s Master Plan.  So the One Who made this incredible universe, this beautiful earth and everything in it, and all of us, loves us enough to die for us.
     There have been a lot of good guys down through history.  They did a lot of wonderful things for the human race.  But they’re all dead now, except One.  The big difference is the Real Super Hero is still alive today.  They murdered Him and buried Him, but He came back to life.  Over 500 people saw Him alive.  For over a month, He walked and talked and ate with them.  He even cooked their breakfast for them by the lake.  Then just before He left to go back to His throne in heaven, He gave his students, and all of us, a big assignment.  He said, “Go tell everybody about Me and My way of life.  And don’t be afraid. My Spirit will always be there with you, from now on and forever.”     

View Bob's previous column.