In the summer of 1962, I encountered a god.
True, it was a comic-book god, but the encounter was thrilling just the same. That summer, Marvel Comics changed the world when it launched Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor: The God of Thunder.
I was a "tween" then; not yet a teenager, but no longer a little child. Junior high and high school still loomed ahead. I was a ripe target for the angst-filled storylines of Spider-Man and his alter-ego, high school science nerd Peter Parker. The Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Incredible Hulk, with his anger management challenges, perfectly resonated with a young male starting to explode with not-entirely-welcome testosterone. But the comic book character who truly enthralled me that summer was the mild-mannered, partially disabled physician Don Blake.
While vacationing in Norway, Dr. Blake found a walking stick in a cave. Later, circumstances caused him to strike that stick on a rock—and in a flash Don Blake the human was transformed into Thor, the Norse god of thunder. The "stick" resumed its true form: the mighty Mjolnir, the most powerful hammer in existence. At the moment of Dr. Blake's transformation, my pre-adolescent brain wrestled with something astonishing: There was a "god" inside that human.
One thing made me nervous, though. While I thrilled to the adventures of Thor, I was troubled that he was portrayed as a god. As far as I was concerned, there could be only one. By spending my hard-earned pennies on those comics, was I, somehow, worshipping a false god? The workaround I finally granted myself was this: Thor is a fictitious god.
This week’s scriptures are filled with God encounters—and something else, too. God was angered by any who worshipped those pretender gods. We find that God repeatedly sent messages to those idol worshippers: Your “gods” have zero validity. If you've read Old Testament scripture, you know that God—the God of the Angel Armies—regarded these so-called "gods" as fictitious creations of humans, no more worthy of worship than a rock or block of wood.
In the Isaiah passage, God called them out:
"I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them proclaim it. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. There is no other rock; I know not one."
With that kind of Biblical clarity, it may come as no surprise that the comic book made me think about the "god" inside the man. It dovetailed perfectly with another matter on my young mind: the incarnation of Jesus. I realized I am much more interested in the true God, the God who is unafraid to declare Himself the one and only, the God who is confident the fake ones will not reply. My God is unafraid to challenge those fake gods. My God entered this existence inside a person—for real.
God doesn't need a magic hammer to transform to human and back again. He is already both at the same time, and the only real God I encountered in the summer of ‘62.
_________________________
PHOTO: Poster from American Graffiti, the movie that launched many, many acting careers.
Some more about God’s reaction to idol worship:
_________________________
We would love for you to join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place. We gather at 8:00 and have a great hour-ish together. Come for the food and stay for the fellowship. Or just come for the fellowship.
Our time together is transforming.
Blessings,
Steve
**Contact me for the Zoom link
NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Find them here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=151
Print them from here:
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper11.pdf
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Proper 11 (16) (July 23, 2023)
No comments:
Post a Comment