Somebody save me
Let your waters break right through
Somebody save me
I don’t care how you do it
Just save, save
Come on
I’ve been waiting for you
So sings Remy Zero in the opening scenes of the television series “Smallville” the story of a young Clarke Kent as he learns what it means to be an alien in a strange land, how to use his powers, how to form friendships and how to live in a world that he’s known for all his life, yet because his home was destroyed years before he knows that he really doesn’t belong.
Superhero’s have once again started to reign on the big screen, The Incredibles showed us how a family of Supers might live, Spiderman’s reappeared and should be showing his webbed ways to us again in 2007, the X-Men 3 will be in the cinemas in 2006, Batman Begins blew our minds this year as we got to know the darker side of Bruce Wayne’s story, the Fantastic 4 with the Thing is on DVD release now and somewhere in the outback of Australia the new Superman movie has been filmed for a release in 2006.
There’s something about the myth of a person, or being that can come to the world and save it from evil that tugs at my heart, it would be nice wouldn’t it? It’d be nice if this were true, if it was someone else’s job to save the world, to bring justice to those who need it, to bring down the bad guys and to bring peace to the world… And if this person was born in super-natural ways it’d make the dream oh so much better, because there’s no way that a normal human being could save anyone, let alone the entire world. We need a superhero to take charge, to bash up the bad people, to save the weak, to take charge. We need someone that’s not human, not normal, not weak, not frail, not of this world, not like me.
And what does God send us?
A baby.
That’s right, a tiny, new born, crying, fragile, milk drinking, mother dependant, nappy wearing, pink, soft baby. There’s no miraculous spaceship accident that brings this child to the earth, no nuclear spider, no planet in distress, no mutant genes, no nuclear waste accident instead the baby is born of a young woman, through labor pains, through sweat, tears, screaming, pain… and in a stable of all places.
And what’s more this baby doesn’t grow up to find that it has any special powers, no web shooting, no turning things into ice, no super strength, no heat vision, can’t fly or run faster than a speeding bullet, he can’t stretch like rubber, nor can he become invisible, see in the dark, drive a cool car, he can’t move things with his mind and there aren’t any cool metal blades that shoot out of his knuckles when a fight comes his way. Instead, he’s a carpenter’s son, he works with wood. And what’s more he’s not impervious to damage, bullets don’t bounce off of him, instead as a baby he’s fragile, as an adult nails pierce his skin, and as an adult he dies.
Sometimes we, like the singer of the song above cry out “somebody save me” and, like the singer of the song expect some kind of superhero to come our way, to fix everything, to do it for us, to kick the bad people into gear, to take control, to fly into our lives and, like Superman do the work for us. Yet, that’s not what the world got, and that’s not what we hold to as Christians, instead during Christmas we are reminded of a tiny, fragile baby wanting to be held by it’s mother, crying, sleeping with the animals, supposedly unwanted, unprivileged, uneducated, unclean… and marked for death.
Later in the baby’s life he will teach people about his father’s love for us all, he will walk with friends, eat with enemies, feed the hungry, argue with the political and religious leaders, walk from town to town, fish for food, share wine and bread with his friends and he will die. His call wasn’t that he would do it all for us, he taught his followers how to live, he encouraged people to turn a new leaf, he called the religion of the time to be just, he caused political unrest and encouraged his followers to do the same, he sent his followers out into the world to proclaim the new kingdom.
He was no Superhero, he suffered with the people, he ate with the people, he taught and inspired the people to work towards a better world, towards the kingdom of his father where the first would be last and the weak will be strong, the poor rich. He was a servant, not a superhero.
And that’s who we’re called to emulate, we’re called to follow a baby, not a superhero, a refugee, not one of the privileged, a servant, not a king, a revolutionary, but one without a gun. We’re called to join in on the action, because unlike Superhero’s he doesn’t work alone, infact he can’t work alone, he needs community, people to eat with, to suffer alongside, to feed and encourage, friends and family to walk with, to act alongside, to pray with and to live with.
All because we follow a baby, not a Superhero.
So this year I’m not going to try and be a Superhero, I’m going to be a human, and as such I’m going to try to do human things, I’m going to offer hospitality to those who need it, I’m going to write letters regularly to my political leaders, I’m going to try to protest and encourage unrest, I’m going to try to feed the hungry, comfort the weary, challenge my leaders, love my neighbors, work for peace…
Because God’s shown us how to bring forth God’s kingdom, in the baby that we celebrate on Christmas day. God’s heard us, and our ancestors before me cry out “somebody save me” and didn’t send a Superhero, but instead sent a baby to show us the way.
May you be able to hold the baby Jesus in your arms this year.
Merry Christmas..