Jesus Our Hero
Think of your favourite super hero. Being a big Marvel fan myself, I can’t help but think of the big super heroes featured in the block buster movies. These heroes are presented as just, admirable and most of all powerful in the way they speak and fight. Similarly, the Israelites awaiting the Messiah were expecting a hero to come and save them.
The military messiah
At one point, the Israelites believed this Messiah to come in the form of Judas Maccabeus. Judas existed during a time when the Israelites were occupied by foreign nations. The Israelites were experiencing difficult times as foreign nations defaced their temples amongst other unspeakable acts, and the Israelites were in a dire need of a hero.
That was when Judas came into the picture. He was a Jew who rounded up Jewish soldiers to defend the Israelites against the foreign nations. And he gained some success, reclaiming their temples and way of life. Understandably, that was when the Israelites perceived him to be the Messiah. The one sent from God who would fulfill God’s promise to Abraham.
However, having died a humanly death, Judas Maccabeus was obviously not the Messiah, but his life created a set of expectations amongst the Israelites as to what the coming Messiah could be like - a war hero to save them from those that oppressed them.
The messiah of love
Instead, what God had planned was a Messiah leading with love, not war. And we learn about the true & living Messiah through the testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:19-34. In this passage, John tells the Jewish leaders (and us) that the Messiah is none other than Jesus. The one who would claim victory, not through military might, but through love, sacrifice and a life of service.
What some of the Jewish people would later come to acknowledge (as we do) is that Jesus is fully man and fully God. He sacrificed himself in the service of others in order to completely defeat sin and death. And because we believe in Him - the Messiah of love - we too should value love as consistent with the Word of God. The expression of a life convicted by His Word is our trust and obedience to Him.
Although the true Messiah was not what the Israelites expected, He was (and is) the hero the world needs. When we go through difficult times, we often believe we know how to overcome our problems through our own thoughtful expectations. However, sometimes the solution may not always be what we expect. And instead, we should trust and obey God’s plan and process, even if it wasn’t what we hoped for. We can trust that God has a greater plan and purpose in mind. We just need to continue to live in faithful obedience to Him until His plans are revealed according to His time.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being our hero and salvation. Forgive us for the times we want to be the hero of our own stories. And please help us to trust and obey you in our daily lives so others can see that you are the true and eternal Messiah.
In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen