The Sign of Jonah: The Counterfeit Hero

A few weeks ago ("The Sign of Jonah:  Heroes with Defects") I talked about some of the alternative types of heroes that don't follow the archetypal hero's journey:  the anti-hero, and the tragic hero.  There is another type of alternative hero:  the false hero, who claims to be the hero—maybe even has proof of being the hero—but during testing false hero's claims are proven to be false.  When the false hero appears early in the story, he usually presents the main obstacle to the real hero.

1 Samuel 24

For this whole series, I have compared the hero in scripture to a movie hero.  While it has been fun, and hopefully it has helped you to understand the hero's journey better, here I am at an impasse.  While there are plenty of false heroes in movies, nothing compares to this story of a king to be and a king wannabe.

Two kingly figures go into the cave.  Two go into the place of death.  Two are tested, but only one passes the test.  Confronted with one's own humanity, one's own limitations, to where does one turn?  In the dark, in the hidden place, Saul—the wannabe—is defecating.  He is relieving himself.  Is there a more self-indulgent act?  At the moment of the test, Saul can think only of himself and his own needs.  In the same dark, hidden place, David—the king to be—comes out of hiding.  No, Saul does not know of David's presence—not yet—but David's character is revealed by the test.

For Saul, the scene is darkly comic.  Saul is made smaller by the encounter.  He realizes that David has passed a test that he—the counterfeit king—would have failed.

Points to Ponder

Where is your cave?  When confronted with your limitations, your mortality, what do you do--indulge yourself, or be enobled by persevering through the test?

The Sign of Jonah: Don't Sink Like a Rock!

I began this sermon series after Christmas, and the original plan was to continue the series through Lent. We have been looking at the hero’s journey as it appears in Bible stories and popular books and movies. We have looked at: Jonah and Star Wars; Joseph and The Count of Monte Cristo; Lot and Orpheus; Paul and The Great Escape. Biblical and secular stories share the pattern of the hero’s journey; in brief:

● the hero is living in the ordinary world,

● he receives a call to a different place,

● in his journey to that place, he encounters supernatural help,

● he reaches the gateway of this new place, a place that will transform him,

● he encounters increasingly difficult trials and temptations leading ultimately to an abyss (or place of death),

● either the hero does not die, or he dies and is resurrected,

● he begins his return to his former world; however,

● he has been transformed, even as he returns to his former world with a gift.

The intent has been to have some fun, but also to familiarize you with the pattern of how God tends to operate in the world: God does not simply change us; rather, he calls us to go with him. In the process— a journey full at trials and temptation—we are changed. It is not just the pattern for Bible heroes or superheroes, it is the pattern for your life with God as well.

Read Matthew 14:22-33

He wanted to be a hero. The prophet had told him that he would be a hero, but he was a man of little faith. He was an ordinary guy, with an ordinary background, an ordinary job, but the prophet said that he was a rock. The prophet said that he was a rock that would change the world. Finally believing the call, the hero took a chance, found himself out on the water, and began to sink. He panicked. Perhaps he was wrong about everything, and having taken a chance, now he was going to drown.

I’m talking about the movie Unbreakable, of course. Bruce Willis is David Dunn, a former football player, and now a security guard. As the move opens, Dunn seems to be the only survivor of a horrible train wreck, and he does not even have a scratch. If it is a miracle that he survived, how much more a miracle is it that he does not even have a scratch? Dunn is approached by Elijah Price who has a theory; what if the miracle is Dunn himself? Elijah tells Dunn that Dunn is a superhero, a rock, an unbreakable hero for the world.

Similarly, consider Simon, aka Simon Peter, aka Peter. He is born Simon (meaning “He [God] has heard”) but then this unusual prophet shows up and starts calling him Peter (“the Rock”). The prophet tells him:

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 16:18-19)

When Jesus finds Simon, he is fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus calls him to follow—to become a disciple—but as they journey together, Jesus begins to unfold his vision for something more for Peter, something that will change the world.

But I was talking about Unbreakable. Over time, the skeptical Dunn begins to believe. He has strength he never dreamed of. He realizes that he has never been sick a day of his life, has never been injured even while playing football. But he has one weakness: water. As a child, he almost drowned in a pool. Elijah counsels him that every hero has a weakness, “Water is your kryptonite.”

Similarly, Simon—now Peter—begins to believe. He discovers power that he had never dreamed possible. He and the other disciples—under the authority of Jesus—are exorcising demons and healing the sick. He is learning about the power of prayer, where faith the size of a mustard seed can change the world. But he has one weakness. Yes, the water is dangerous, but that is not his real weakness. He real weakness is the faith he has in himself, a faith that repeatedly threatens to undo everything in his life; his weakness is pride.

Back to Unbreakable: at the bidding of Elijah, Dunn goes into the world to determine the full extent of his power. The security guard leaves the security of the world he knows to discover who he really is. He discovers a serial killer who has kidnapped a family, torturing them. Dunn frees the children, but then dropping his guard for a moment, he allows the killer to sneak up on him. Dunn is pushed from a window, landing on a tarp-covered swimming pool. For a few moments, Dunn—like Peter—is on top of the water, but then the tarp slowly begins to sink into the pool, wrapping itself around Dunn, taking him to the bottom.

This is the fast-enveloping power of evil in our lives. We set out to follow our calling; we believe ourselves to be on the right path; but then it all goes wrong so quickly. Our innate weaknesses (e.g. pride, selfishness, or fear) cause us to lose focus. Others, unaware of our calling, impede us, and we treat them as impediments instead of people. An argument gets out of hand. Or perhaps, tired and lonely, we try to take a short cut. Surely nobody will notice that we strayed from the path just this once. A moment’s lapse, everything collapses. We forget that the hero’s journey inevitably contains trials, and how we respond to the trials is not only part of the journey, it is the heart of the journey itself, the heart of the transformation that is going to change us and the world.

Peter responds to Jesus’ call by getting out of the boat. The deep water symbolizes death and the deadly forces that threaten to destroy us. Peter leaves the safety of the boat to follow the one over whom and depths and the waves have no power. Faith in Jesus gets Peter out of the boat, but then Peter loses focus for a moment; his attention is no longer on the master of the waves, but on the waves themselves, and Peter’s thought is, “What am I doing out here? I can’t do this!” The Rock begins to sink like a rock.

Dunn is saved at the moment of his impending death; a pole thrust beneath the water by an unlikely savior delivers him from the water, and he can rise to be the hero once more. Peter is saved at the moment of his impending death; the Savior’s hand reaches down to deliver him from the deep, and he can rise to be the Rock once more. This Rock will have to learn humility at least one more time; at the Last Supper, he will swear to never abandon Jesus, only to deny him three times before the next dawn. However, eventually this unlikely hero becomes the Rock of the church, leading the infant church through many trials as his keeps his eyes on the Savior.

I do not know what trials the future holds for you and me. I am leaving to oversee my mother’s health care in Virginia; that much I am certain is God’s call on my life. I do not yet have a job; I do not know when, or if, I will ever preach again; however, these are merely the waves, the trials for a time such as this. If I focus in the trials, I will stray from the path that God has called me to walk. If I try to handle everything on my own power, I will fail; rather, I am only called to follow God daily and trust in him. Likewise, in the next few months, you will not have a pastor; you will be short a leader; the future of the church looks uncertain; however, these are merely your waves, your trials for a time such as this. Please do not focus on the trials; do not take it upon yourself to fix everything by your own power. If you do, you risk straying from the path. Instead, remember that God is strongest when we are weakest; that is, God is most capable of working in our lives when we are the most willing for admit to our need for him.

In the hero’s journey, the trials are not merely obstacles to be avoided, the waves are not merely terrors to test our fortitude; rather, they are an essential part of the journey to which God has called us. Our trials go to the heart of our weakness; thus they are part of the process by which we are transformed. Now, go and be the hero.

Points to Ponder

Where has God called you to abandon the apparent safety of your former way of living for the sake of following him?

If you have left the safety of your former way, what waves are you encountering?

Where are you tempted to focus on the trials instead of on God? Can you see God at work within the trials? (I believe once we see God at work in the trials, the trials lose some of their power to terrify us.)

Benediction

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)

The Sign of Jonah: Do Not Play It Safe!

With the end of my ministry at Casco rapidly approaching, all parties (me, Kathy, you, the community) have occasion to ponder the impact of my time in Casco. What was accomplished? Was it worthwhile, or as Isaiah 49:4 says, did I labor for no purpose, did I spend my strength in vain and for nothing?


● Certainly the facility is in better shape; we have the chairs, the video projector, the metal roof, a better sound system, a bigger parking lot, asphalt in the upper parking lot, new furnaces (!), and a new sign.


● More importantly, is the community is better off? One could point to the larger food pantry, the soup kitchen, the expelled high school students that were mentored and reinstated at school, the ministries at Casco Inn, and the number of people that visited the church and the youth group as evidence that something happened.


● But what of the people at church? For what purpose did I labor?


Read Acts 20:17-38


The mastermind proposes an incredulous plan and shocks this subordinates. The plan, which involves them all, has the potential to change world; it also has the potential to fizzle, even backfire, and amount to nothing. Why take such a bold chance? Why gamble everything on such a radical undertaking? Why not try something simpler? Wouldn’t a more conservative plan with a smaller scope and a humbler goal—and a reduced risk—be safer? Wouldn’t it be the smarter way to go?


I’m talking about The Great Escape, of course. Based on the autobiographical account of an Allied P.O.W. jailbreak from Stalag Luft III during World War II, the movie details the mass escape attempt by the prisoners. Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett (RAF), known as “Big X”, proposes digging multiple tunnels and breaking out 250 prisoners, thereby forcing the Nazis to commit thousands of troops that would otherwise be deployed on the front lines searching for the escapees instead. Despite numerous setbacks, 76 prisoners make a desperate escape one night. For a while, it appears that the plans of Big X might work, as Nazis are forced to comb the countryside, railroad stations, and checkpoints for the missing P.O.W.s. However, eventually all but three are captured, and 50 are executed.


The Great Escape gives us the hero’s journey upside down. The typical hero’s journey begins in the ordinary world when the hero receives a call to go on the quest, to take on the challenge, to brave the perils of the pit, the jail, the dungeon. Eventually, the transformed hero returns to the ordinary world, although nothing will ever be the same again. However, the movie begins and ends in the P.O.W. prison; the story begins and ends in the pit, as it were. Big X calls the heroes to leave their world and break out into the ordinary world, to their great peril. The temptation is to play it safe and stay in the prison; the German commandant says as much, telling the Senior British Officer that they should “sit out the war together.”


Likewise, for Paul, for missionaries, the hero’s journey is upside down. Paul’s “pit” oddly is the church: the Jewish “church” in Jerusalem, from where he sallied forth to kill Christians: after his conversion, his church in Antioch, where he and Barnabas ministered for years; and later, the churches in Corinth, Ephesus, or a score of other places where the temptation is to stay in the one place. Stay in one church, “sit out the war together,” or go out into the “ordinary world.” For Paul, as for the P.O.W.s, the stakes are higher in the ordinary world than in the church. If the world is going to be changed, Paul must go to the ordinary world; however, the dangers are higher as well.


Consider temptation for Paul to stay in one place. How much easier would it have been to straighten out, say, the church in Corinth if he had stayed in place in Corinth? On the face of it, the churches’ troubles came because Paul spread himself too thin. Fix the church in Corinth, Paul. Take your time. Then go to the next place—Ephesus, for example. However, that doesn’t seem to be God’s way. What gives?


v22-23 suggest that uncertainty and hardships are part of the plan. Frequently Paul is “invited” to leave town. In Lystra, Paul is stoned, dragged out of town, and left on the garbage dump outside of town, presumed dead (Acts 14:19). Perhaps the hardships that come our way are exactly the goads we need to keep from becoming stagnant.


In the movie, Steve McQueen plays a fictional character, American Captain Virgil Hilts, the “Cooler King,” so named because of the time he spends in the cooler (the jail within the prison) after each of his failed escape attempts. On one hand, the fictional Hilts provides comic relief in an otherwise serious, sometimes deadly, story. However, the irrepressible Hilts is a model of perseverance, refusing to let his failures dampen his spirits. After the 50 escapees are executed, Hilts is one of the few returned to prison; the movie closes as he is returned to the cooler, and one is left to conclude that he is already plotting his next escape attempt.


For Paul as well, hardships are neither the evidence of failure nor the warning signs of the wrong direction. Rather, Paul considers hardships and trials to be an expected part of the journey. He accepts hardships in his future and predicts trials for his churches.


As a pastor, the temptation is to try to fix all problems, but I am convinced that we learn more from our apparent failures than our apparent success, more from our hardships than from our blessings. Early on in my pastorate, I made the decision to be “hands off” in many areas, allowing you to learn from your mistakes, trusting that the lessons we learn best are the ones that we teach ourselves. The decision was to give you the responsibility for you own spiritual growth, knowing that some would rise to the challenge even as others did not. I prayed that many would grow, realizing that some would choose not to grow. To those who wished to play it safe, it was a horrible decision, but I pray that those who know that our way to glory is through such light and momentary troubles as come our way when we chose to go on the journey will agree that it was the right decision to make.


Point to Ponder


Where and how have you taken responsibility for your spiritual growth? By taking responsibility for yourself, how are you better able to help others now?


Benediction


I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:3-6)