by R. Douglas Williams

Created on: December 14, 2008

The glorious thing about the superheroes I grew up with was their ability to live among mortals in a humble state. Knowing his potential, Clark Kent restrained his powers for the sake of associating with mankind. He wore glasses, acted clumsily, appeared to lack confidence. Though wealthy and mysterious, Bruce Wayne would not have been thought to possess extraordinary powers. Peter Parker was just a teenager trying to get through high school like anyone else.

With an image of the superhero dwelling among the human community in mind, Jesus Christ may well be called the Hero of Heroes. He was the paradigm for which all imagined heroes came to existence. The otherliness of their character. A thirst for protecting the freedom of mankind. The fight for justice. Always saving those who were in danger. Livng out a higher mission on earth to bring about reform.

Jesus appeared to be nobody. There was nothing in his appearance to suggest that he was special. The friends that accompanied him were quite ordinary. He held a regular job as a carpenter in town. His parents were not part of the upper class culture. They might have been upper-lower class, which I can personally relate to. Statiscally speaking, most of the world can relate to this.

I liked my childhood heores because they would run to the Batcave or a nondescript telephone booth or some place private to put on the mask or the cape. They were not stuck on themselves or obsessed with their hero status. The people of Gotham might never come to the knowledge that their world was being held together by a hormone-laden free-lance photographer.

Jesus shrunk away from celebrity status. Even when doing the most astounding things, he asked the people he helped not to tell anybody.

The young man from Nazareth was likeable enough, but he seemed to possess little beyond the human veneer. But, the fact is his mission was to set the world itself back on its axis. He came to set things right for everyone ever born into this world. Evil was held at bay by his presence among men. Peace was on earth because he was on earth.

At a time when some of the world's mightiest nations are seeing a shift in their economic security, when our leaders lack the apparent strength to direct the hearts of men, and when we are desperately needing something larger than us, Jesus offers himself as our hero. Clad in Heaven's might, he is able to redeem everything and make it right.

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