Searching for a Messiah

I don’t have much in the way of TV. I got an antenna with just a few channels so sometimes I end up watching things that a 24 year old man shouldn’t watch by himself.

Of course I’m talking about awards shows like the Grammy’s, Emmy’s and Oscar’s.

This week I’m in Kentucky taking a class on ethics. Eventually I’m assuming we’ll get to ethics, but just today we talked about The Story of God, the one found in scripture. The question was raised, “Do you think that this obsession with story just rose? Did it resurface? Or has it always been there?” How did this relate to ethics? No idea, but that’s not the point. The point is that this got me thinking.

The movie that won Movie of the Year was Birdman. I watched about half of it, then quit. Not because I thought it was bad, but I wanted to watch it at a different time because I thought it was so good. So I don’t want to talk about that. But I was looking at the top 100 grossing films of 2014, and out of the top 20, I’ve seen 14 or know very well the premise of 14 of them. All of which have a character or characters that rise up to save a city, nation, the world, or even universe. Out of the top 20 grossing films, 2 were original: Interstellar and Neighbors. So that means that 18 of the top grossing movies of 2014 were adaptations, sequels, reboots, etc. Many of which again have the plot line of crisis that will impact the main character’s known world and a savior figure that saves everyone from the crisis.

Let’s look at two examples in the Hunger Games and Divergent (both of which I saw).

The Hunger Games is the story of a girl from incredibly humble origins, one that we can relate to, and she gets put in a situation which demands her to step up, and this leads to her being a leader, or a symbol. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen, I don’t think that particular point was established too well. But Katniss rises up, is the symbol of revolution against an oppressive government. Amazing how someone so low in that society rose so high! And now she has the role of savior of all the districts and is leading the battle against the government!

Divergent runs along the exact same lines. A girl from humble origins lives in a society made up of factions, each of which has a special role in the society, and all those in those factions have characteristics that make them perfect for that role. The main character, Tris, is what they call Divergent, or has characteristics that allow her to fit into all the factions. Throughout the movie events begin to transpire which create tension in the society leading to a climactic battle that will eventually lead to rebellion against the government which of course is oppressive, and this rebellion, revolution, will be led by Tris, a supposedly a strong character, but again I don’t think they have proven that she is a strong character. But she is to be leading the battle against the government as well!

About 2000 years ago there was another story about a Jewish man who did the same thing as these movies. He came from humble origins, to the point of when people hear where he came from they as, “Can anything good come from that town?” He was special, got into situations where he became someone, a celebrity, a leader. He rises up from his humble beginning, eventually having a couple hundred followers. The people of the day hear that this hero has come to save them and they flock to him, expecting him to use them as an army to cast off the oppressive government. Yet this story is different, he doesn’t raise up an army. He doesn’t start a war. He speaks of peace, love, respect, humility, submission, and a different kingdom, one that surrounds all people, yet not all are in. At the end of the story, instead of having a climactic battle between the oppressed rebels and the evil government, it ends with the leader, this savior figure, hanging on a cross, and dying, despite having done nothing wrong. This character is portrayed as a strong hero, and this time it has been proven. He had the power to do whatever he want, he had a following ready to take up arms for his names sake; yet he willingly surrendered himself to death to present and bring about a new type of salvation. While we may be oppressed by governments or society we are free spiritually from the bonds, effect, and results of sin, the most oppressive force ever to exist. We’re all under it, and can’t get out of it; except by grabbing onto this hero, who didn’t need to start a war, but instead just finished it by surrendering. But that’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of the end. Three days after his death he rose again, finishing the battle, defeating the enemy permanently. This is a true hero.

The fact that these movies are top grossing, and winning awards makes me think this: Society is looking for a Messiah, a leader, a savior that is just like us, one that we can relate to, who will save us from the hell that is our oppressive life. And with all these hero figures being ones from humble origins, ones that we can relate to, we feel as if we, like them, can rise up and save ourselves. We are searching for a savior, and we are being told that we can, should be, and are, our savior. But how can you save yourself? If you’re drowning how can you save yourself? If you’re hanging from the edge of a cliff and are out of strength, which you will run out of, how can you save yourself? If you’ve been shot and are bleeding out how can you save yourself? You can’t! It isn’t possible! You need someone else. Someone outside of what’s going on. You can’t be saved from drowning by another person who is drowning. You can’t be saved from bleeding out by a person that is bleeding out. You can’t be saved from the cliff by another person on the cliff. You can only be saved by a person outside of the problem you’re in.

We all know there’s evil in the world and that we need saved from it. That evil is sin and its effects on the world. We’re stuck in it so much that it’s in us and killing us. So how can we save ourselves from that evil? We can’t. But Jesus, our hero, who lived alongside us, started off just like us, and was in a sin filled world just like us, is different than us in this way: He never sinned, it never took hold of him, he was perfect. He is outside of the water, off the cliff, has full health and the proper tools to save us. He tossed us a rope, a life saver, and all he says is that we have to grab onto it and he’ll save us.

While movies, books and shows have good stories, they’re full of lies. You can’t save yourself. It’s impossible. Only Christ can save you. The ultimate hero, without flaw or weakness.

You no longer need to search for a Savior, the true one is waiting for you.