Once more, let's continue our conversation about finding preaching opportunities in the current elevation of the antihero in the world of television?
If you ever catch my Dad in a particularly nostalgic mood, you can bet he'll talk about two childhood heroes that cleaned up the streets and kept the world safe: Superman and Roy Rogers. You might even get him to quote the stirring introduction of the former ("Faster than a speeding bullet?") and sing the sign-off of the latter ("Happy Trails, to you?"). After that you'll inevitably have to endure a running commentary on all the collectibles in his study. And when the hero worship comes to an end, he'll offer a sigh that says, "Those were the days."
I've gotta be honest: whenever he's offered such a sigh, I've sometimes been tempted to roll my eyes. Not at him, mind you. At his heroes.
"Though it's television, let's try and be a little realistic," I want to say to him. "No one is as perfect as the Man of Steel or the cowboy in blue. Here's how murky Superman's morals are: he opts to cover up his true identity with thick glasses and a stiff business suit. Oooooh. And the worst thing Roy Rogers ever did? He maybe kicked at the sides of Trigger a little too hard when trying to escape a bad situation. C'mon!"
I'm just like everyone else: it's getting more and more difficult to embrace the idea of there being heroes in the classic sense anymore - good people doing good things. It's much easier to embrace the idea that there are only antiheroes - bad people who occasionally do good things (or, bad people who do bad things in order to do good things). And how much easier it is to embrace the idea of there only being antiheroes when the world of television reinforces the idea that the classic hero has long been declared dead (and was probably "dead on arrival" back when my Dad was a kid). Producers, directors, and actors have thrown up their hands in surrender and said, "You know what? Superman really is from another planet - and it ain't ours! So here's Vic Mackey instead. And we're well aware that Roy Rogers rode off into the sunset a long time ago, so we've gone ahead and replaced him with Jack Bauer. Perry Mason was a little too fake, even for television. Patty Hewes? That's more like it. Thinking there's someone like Andy Griffith in the world of justice is pie-in-the-sky thinking. But Dexter? His story is outrageous for sure, but somehow it manages to seem closer to reality."
So what does this cynicism concerning heroes - this resignation that antiheroes alone walk our streets - mean for our preaching? Though it may sound odd, this could actually make for some great opportunities.
You're probably well aware that we tend to look for the next messiah under every rock, in every nook and cranny. We're seeing the search continued in the current presidential race - and it only gets stronger as both candidates beat the drum, saying, "I know how to make things right again!" In the fire and fury of it all, in the waves of posters and the pop of fireworks, we tend to forget that they will - and do - make bad decisions, let their emotions get the best of them, fail to achieve their goals, sometimes allow the end to justify the means. It's not a bad thing to inject a dose of reality into the vein of hero worship. Our heroes are, after all, only human. Our television shows take this idea too far, displaying only the most extreme cases, but the extremism shouldn't crowd out a possible lesson or two.
On a more biblical level, I find myself reflecting on something I once heard Eugene Peterson say in an interview: "Don't you realize that there are no heroes in the Bible?" He's right, of course. From the very start, we've all fumbled the ball in our heroic efforts. From Adam and Eve onward, everyone - not just Jacob - walks with a limp. Moses struck a rock when he knew better. Esther needed prodding, even needling, to finally act according to the mantle she'd been given by God. David stayed home when others went off to war (and we know how that turned out). A crow will always be a part of the supporting cast in Peter's story. There are no heroes.
But then, there is a hero.
How can I ever forget the simple notion my Old Testament prof pounded into the folds of my heart. "When considering OT narratives," he always said, "just remember that the hero of every story is God."
Indeed. And let us give thanks that One manages to rise above the story of humanity while intimately involved, somehow making something of worth out of our heroic-yet-often-fractured efforts. One thing you must keep in mind though, is that as much as you might like the idea of preaching a Hero who rises above the heroes of our day, realize that culture's embracing the idea that there are no real heroes will make that proposition awfully hard to swallow for some. If the Man of Steel and Roy Rogers seem too good for their blood, what will they do when Christ is preached? Some will inevitably roll their eyes. Some will think Jesus is too good to be true - like some divine Andy Griffith. Some will opt to continue to wear their WWJB bracelet (What Would Jack Bauer Do?). There's a reason so many people flocked to Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code and long before that, Nikos Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ. Such works might be heresy, but they make Jesus seem more human, more real. How can we ignore the reality that the thought of God in flesh seems too good to be true at times? You must figure in its awe-inspiring nature. Don't ignore their doubt, their cynicism. You should dialogue with it - even identify with it, even.
I have just a few more thoughts on this endlessly fascinating cultural text, which I'll offer in one more post next week. I'll be quiet soon! For now, please feel to use the comments section to share any reflections that this post has stirred in you?
Posted by Brian Lowery at 9:40 AM on September 25, 2008
