At youth group the other day we watched the first two Spiderman movies. It was good fun, with (in my estimation) both movies capturing quite well the comic book graphic novel feel of the original.
There were, however, a couple of things that occurred to me as I watched. One was the way that the dorky, nerdy Peter Parker is transformed into a powerful superhero. As Peter, he is a bit of a hopeless case. As spiderman, he is everything that Parker is not - cool, calm, witty, strong, able to get the girl, in charge of the situation, everyone likes him.
His power, though super-human, is still a very human sort of power. He’s strong and fast in ways that people are, just very much more so.
There’s a real contrast to how real power is displayed, at least in terms of how the Bible presents it. Paul wrote a couple of letters to a church in a city called Corinth, recorded for us in the New Testament. He talks at one stage about the troubles he has had in his ministry, which have been pretty considerable. But the word from the Lord that is his comfort is “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
The way that God works seems weak. When we talk about Jesus, it seems like a stupid thing to do. It feels like it’s something that will never change anything… but God uses the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection to change lives. Even the message seems crazy - the Lord of all things captured, beaten up, tortured, and killed like a criminal - that’s supposed to be God’s power displayed? Absolutely. God’s power is displayed at the cross, for that’s the point where the most fundamental change happens - our relationship with God is restored. Talking about Jesus feels stupid and weak and insignificant, but it can be the most powerful thing that we can do. God’s power is displayed in our weakness.
And that’s the thing about Spiderman. His power is displayed in, well, his power. He is a radically different person when he’s in his spidey suit. His power is just human strength amplified. God’s power is far beyond anything a human might do. And it’s made known in ways that don’t seem like human power, so we can’t confuse them. God’s power is clear, and can’t be mistaken for anything else.
