Rector's letter for June Fowey News
Dear friends
Later this summer a new Superman movie will be released marking a reboot of the DC Universe. Directed by James Gunn, who previously directed the successful Guardians of the Galaxy movies for DC’s great rival Marvel, many are excited to see what this new iteration of the Superman mythology will look like. It will be the latest incarnation of the superhero with a cape and a big S: From Christopher Reeve in the late 70’s and early 80’s with some of the best movie music of all-time from John Williams, though Lois and Clark on TV with Teri Hatcher and Dean Caine, to Henry Cavill more recently.
One of the challenges for Gunn as a film maker and story teller will be making Superman vulnerable. It is hard for a man who can fly faster than a speeding bullet and lift objects many times his own weight to have the kind of weaknesses that allow normal people to identify with him. Most characters in the superhero universes have physical or emotional problems because they are human. But Superman is not human and, except for Kryptonite, has no obvious weakness.
Some imagine Jesus was a kind of Superman. The problem with that is such a Jesus would be unable to relate to us with our flaws and frailties and we would be unable to relate to him with abilities way beyond us.
Of course, there is an element of ‘super-ness’ about Jesus. As Son of God, he taught with a wisdom and authority never witnessed before or since. He healed and performed miracles in a way that has never been replicated. Sickness, death and evil were no match for him. But he was also a man, a human being like you and me, with the frailties and weaknesses that come with that.
If you read through the gospels you will find a man who knew trouble and sorrow, experienced hunger, weariness, sadness, anger, and much more. You will encounter a man who wept when his friend died, a man who sweated blood at his darkest hour, who knew betrayal by a close and trusted friend, who knew loneliness and endured the darkest of depths.
The Jesus of history is no mere Superman, soaring so far above he couldn’t possibly understand us. Instead, in him we have a saviour who not only had the power and authority to rescue us but had the weakness and frailty to know us. When we cry out to him, we cry out to one who “gets us”. We speak to the one who knows the pain and difficulty of this messy and muddled world.
’m looking forward to the new Superman movie. I hope it will be a good one, but I am more thankful that the one I trust and follow is far, far greater and yet identifies with us far, far more.
with every blessing
Philip