Holy Heroes: X-Men
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/27/2013
If you did not make it out to the Halloween Parade in Carlinville, boy you really missed a show! We had over 15 members of the Grove suited up as almost every superhero you can imagine—Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spider-man, Thor, and whole bunch more! We had a fantastic time and all of our parade volunteers are now honorary members of Costumers for Christ.
Among the heroes onboard the float with us, were several members of the X-Men, including Wolverine, Cyclops and Marvel Girl. Ashley and I have portrayed Cyclops and Marvel Girl—also known as Scott Summers and Jean Grey—more than once using different versions of their costumes. Cyclops is the only superhero I know of who stands over 6’ tall, with red hair, whose name is Scott. So, he made my costuming to-do list pretty quickly!
The first time our family costumed as the X-Men was 2010. Since I was first introduced to the X-Men through the cartoon series in 1990s those were the versions of the characters that we did. I, of course, was Cyclops. Ashley was Cyclops’ romantic counterpart, Jean Grey. Our son was Wolverine (minus the claws), our older daughter was Rogue, and our youngest, who was just shy of one-year-old, was wearing a custom made X-men onesie.
A couple of years later, however, we returned as the original founding members of the X-Men, commonly called the First Class, a team of five which included Cyclops and Marvel Girl again along with Beast, Angel, and Iceman. This first class of X-Men go all the way back to 1963 when they were created (like so many others) by Stan Lee. Since then, they’ve starred in several cartoon series, a steady flow of video games, and six feature films, with a seventh currently in production.
When Stan Lee first came up with the concept for the X-Men, he admitted in an interview that his biggest struggle was to figure out how they all got their super-powers. He said, “I couldn’t have everybody bitten by radioactive spiders or hit by gamma rays… and I took the lazy way out.” Rather than acquiring their powers in some accident like most superheroes, the X-Men were simply born with their powers due to a genetic mutation. This team of mutants is led by a powerful telepath named Charles Xavier, lovingly referred to by his students as Professor X, who established a special school at his Westchester mansion to train young mutants to use their powers for the benefit of humanity, and to prove that mutants could be heroes.
There is a scene in the first X-Men movie where Wolverine first meets Charles and the rest of the X-Men the serves as good introduction to who the X-Men are:
• Play X-Men Movie Clip
The story of the X-Men actually has a lot in common with the story of God’s chosen people throughout the ages. Without getting too deep into the X-Men’s rich history and character backgrounds, I want to highlight just three similarities between the tale of the X-Men and the truth of Christ-followers today.
First, both Christians and the X-Men are a peculiar people.
• A PECULIAR PEOPLE
Some people are just a little peculiar, aren’t they? Like the man who said to his psychologist, “People think I’m weird because I like potato pancakes.” To which the psychologist responded, “That’s not weird, I also like potato pancakes.” At that point, the man responded excitedly, “That’s wonderful, Doc. Listen, why don’t you come over to my house — I have closets and closets full!”
The X-men are peculiar in a different way. In the comics, mutants are different from ordinary people. They have special powers and abilities that come from an “X-gene,” an unknown genetic abnormality that causes random mutations. Most of the X-Men still look like ordinary people, and those who don’t often do their best to hide their differences. In Marvel’s movie, X-Men: First Class, a mutant name Mystic, who has blue skin and the ability shape-shift at will, uses he shape-changing ability to look normal at all times—afraid of what people might think. In the third X-Men movie, Last Stand, Warren Worthington—also known as Angel—wears an uncomfortable harness to hide his enormous wings. But no matter how they appear on the surface, this x-gene along with their mutant abilities sets them apart from the rest of the world. They’re outsider who never really fit in. They’re uncanny. They’re peculiar. And so are Christians.
In fact, the Bible actually uses that very word in describing God’s chosen people: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV). Normally when we see the word peculiar it’s referring to someone or something that is strange, odd or uncommon—like the guy who has a closet full of potato pancakes. But it can be used to describe something or someone that “belongs exclusively to some person, group or thing” or to “a property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to a person.” In other words, Peter is saying that Christians are different from other people. They have characteristics that identify them as belonging exclusively to God. The God’s Word Translation puts it this way: “you are chosen people… people who belong to God” (1 Peter 2:9 GWT).
Truly committed Christians may seem peculiar to the rest of the world for a variety of reasons. I remember getting some strange looks in high-school when my friends found out I attended church with my family not once, but three times a week. People might find you peculiar if you, like my wife and I, choose to homeschool or children or teach them creationism instead of evolution. People may think you’re weird for believing the Bible or praying to an “invisible sky wizard.” And maybe those things do make us peculiar, but what really makes Christians different is that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are as the personal possession of God. Just as mutants are born with an “x-gene” inside of them, believers are born again when God places his Spirit within us, marking us as his own. Rather than being “children of the atom” as the X-Men are often called; we are the children of God. We’re not like other people in the world. We’re more than different—we’re unique. And so, we live unique lives to the glory of God.
Unfortunately, being different often results in being mistreated. The second similarity between X-Men and Christian is that both are a persecuted people.
• A PERSECUTED PEOPLE
One of the dominant themes in the X-Men comics and movies is the growing fear and hatred of mutants by the rest of the world. A reoccurring X-Men antagonist in comics, cartons, and movies is Robert Kelly, a prominent United States Senator who built his career on an anti-mutant platform. He often argues that mutants are a danger to “normal” people and should be forced to register with the government.
The comics and cartoons often feature stories of mutants being mistreated or even hunted down and locked away. Long-time X-Men writer, Chris Claremont, has said, “The X-Men are hated, feared and despised collectively by humanity for no other reason than that they are mutants. So what we have here, intended or not, is a book that is about racism, bigotry and prejudice.”
While there are some obvious social and political undertones to the X-Men’s plight, their persecution is something that Christian can identify with very well. Jesus told his disciples, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you… Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you” (John 15:18-20 NLT).
Jesus often warned his disciples that one day persecution would come. It did—first through their fellow Jews then through the Roman Empire. As they carried on his ministry, there was a tide of resentment, hatred, and open opposition. Eleven of the original twelve Apostles met violent deaths. In a few years the megalomaniacal emperor, Nero Caesar, would rise to power. Because Christians refused to worship Nero as “Almighty God” and “Savior”, he blamed them for the burning of Rome in AD 64 and instigated three-and-a-half years of persecution that claimed the lives of thousands of Christians. According to Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian working for Rome, Christians were thrown to the lions, beheaded, and even burned alive to give light to Roman revelries at night. But this type of persecution isn’t relegated to the past.
According to the World Evangelical Encyclopedia, since the death of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, 43 million Christians have been killed for their faith. Over half of these were in the last century alone. Every day of every week, in at least 60 countries, people are persecuted because of their belief in Jesus Christ. Earlier this month, for example, two Christians in Islamabad were beaten by extremists after they refused to convert from Christianity. Fortunately, the authorities arrested the assailants and charged them with “attempted forced conversion” and “offending religious feelings.”
I consider myself blessed to live in the United States where this kind of violence against Christians is almost unheard-of. Almost. Last year the Washington offices of the Family Research Council, an evangelical Christian activist group, were attacked by a gunman who said he wanted to kill as many people as he could then smear a Chick-fli-a sandwich on their faces because they supported traditional marriage. Of course, there are other forms of persecution too. There are children being prohibited from writing “Merry Christmas” to soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in a Senior Center, the VA banning the mention of God in military funerals, and the list goes on. You may never be physically assaulted because of your faith, but if you’d want to know what it’s like to be verbally assaulted all you have to do is make a comment on a YouTube video or a Yahoo! News article stating that you are a Bible-believing Christian and wait for the backlash!
Whenever we encounter hatred and persecution, however, Jesus reminds us that the world hated him first. Jesus experienced the very worst humanity has to offer. But rather than fighting hatred with hatred, he urges us to fight hatred with love. That brings me to one last similarity between the X-Men and Christians, which is that both are powerful people!
• A POWERFUL PEOPLE
Each of the X-Men are equipped with extraordinary mutant abilities. Among the founding members, Cyclops could emit powerful energy beams from his eyes, Jean Grey was a budding young telekinetic, Iceman—to no one’s surprise—could create and control ice, Angel was blessed with the ability to soar through the air with angelic wings, and Beast possessed ape-like superhuman physical strength and agility. Other mutants can walk through walls, teleport, or even control other people’s minds. But despite the persecution and hatred levied against them, Professor Xavier instructs his X-Men to use their mutant powers for the betterment of mankind—to be heroes not just to their fellow mutants, but to all people. As such the X-Men often find themselves using their extraordinary abilities defending and rescuing the very people who persecute them.
Jesus gave similar instructions to his followers. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:43-44 NIV).
Christians are blessed with some extraordinary abilities too; not the least of which are love and prayer. As I read Jesus’ words here, I’m reminded of the tragic story of Marie Roberts that made headlines a few years ago. On Oct. 2, 2006, her husband Charles Roberts walked into a one-room schoolhouse in Bart Township, Pennsylvania, lined up the ten girls in the Amish classroom against the wall, and shot each one before taking his own life. Five of the girls died and the other five were severely wounded. The gunman also left behind a horrified and saddened family—his 28-year-old wife, Marie, and their three children.
Marie was heartbroken and devastated when she heard the news, but she blown away when she saw several of the Amish men comforting her father on her family’s driveway, just hours after the shooting. “They had their hands on his shoulder and wrapped their arms around him, and said they had forgiven Charlie and were extending grace and compassion onto our family,” she said. Amish families who had buried their own daughters just the day before attended the killer’s burial, where they hugged the widow, and hugged other members of the killer's family. They lavished love and prayers on the family of a man who stole their own daughters.
That is what it means to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Jesus once said that the distinguishing mark of his followers would be their love: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35 NIV). What causes us to stand out from the world is not our faith or convictions, as important as those are—it is love. When we can love, forgive, and even pray for God’s mercy and grace in the lives of those who hate us, humiliate us, or seek to harm us, the world sits up and takes notice.
We serve a God who wants us to conquer his enemies, by making them his children. Love and prayer are the most powerful weapons in winning hateful hearts to Jesus.
Conclusion:
Stan Lee once said, “That was the underlining philosophy behind [the X-Men]… to try and show the reader the irony and the fallacy of being against the very people who are trying to help you and do something good.”
As children of God, we’re peculiar. We’re different because we no longer belong to this world. And, as a result, we will encounter persecution. But when it comes—and it will—we can choose to follow the example of the X-Men and the example of Jesus, using the power of prayer and love to help lead people to Jesus himself—the only hero who can truly save us all.
I’ve got just a couple more Holy Heroes to share with you. And maybe next week I’ll have pictures from the parade.
Invitation:
But, in the meantime, maybe you could use a hero right now. Maybe you’re in need of Savoir, someone to rescue you and keep you safe. Believe me when I tell you that Jesus is mighty to save! If you’re ready to embrace Jesus as your own personal Hero and Savoir, come talk with me while we stand and sing!
