In Jesus Holy Name Easter V Redeemer
I Timothy 1:15a, 2:3-6
“The Only Satisfying Endgame”
Have you ever read comic books? If you have then you are familiar with Marvel Comics and their heroes. Endgame is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the “Avengers”, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studies. In just five days, “Avengers: Endgame” hauled in more than $1.2 billion at the global box office.
Who are the Avengers? (bulletin cover) That would be “The Hulk”. Mighty Thor with his long blond hair, Viking helmet and hammer. . Iron Man, Black Panther, Blade, Captain America, Ghost Rider, The Wasp were just a few of the characters created to combat evil. The comic series was published by monthly from 1964 till 1996
A decade long saga now concludes with this movie from Disney. “The Endgame”.
Beginning with Iron Man in 2008 movie by movie the drama unfolded. An evil foe, Thanos is destroying the world. The universe is in ruins. The Avengers assemble to restore order in a world of chaos. It is depleted team of superheroes that fight a foe that seems impossible to defeat.
(maybe have everyone take out their cell phone…google “the endgame trailer)
The story begins. The music plays over a desert littered landscape. “It seems like a 1000 years ago, I fought my way out of that cave and became “Iron Man”… and I realized that I loved you…. The world has changed. ..none of us can go back. All we can do is do our best…” “Whatever it takes…whatever it takes.” Self-sacrifice. Whatever it takes.
Like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, Marvel comics and Marvel movies remind us of years gone by. We read the Harry books, gave them to our children. We bought the Harry Potter Legos sets. We took our kids to see the movies for birthday parties or watched them with family members no longer with us.
If you read the Civil War novel “Cold Mountain”, or saw the movie, we had hoped there would be a happy ending. “As with any war, not everyone will make it out alive.” Some will perish so other will see the sunrise. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. This was the goal of the Avengers as they seek to destroy evil.
Deep down, the theme of self sacrifice strikes a chord within us. For someone to give his own life for another to flourish is an unpleasant reality. The horror of death, sprayed the fragrance of the supreme love….Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) As Christians we know the elements of good and evil, sacrifice and valor, protection and betrayal are all part of the “Greatest Story” ever lived and told. The “Greatest Story” ever told is the story of The Creator of the Universe coming from a distant land to battle evil itself, dying for his own, paying the ultimate cost for his people.
Whatever degree of sacrifice and triumph may be depicted in The Endgame the movie calls me to remember that God’s death on the cross 2000 years ago remains the only ultimate “Endgame.” The agony and shame of Jesus. Betrayed by a chosen disciple. Beaten so badly by the Romans he could scarcely be recognized. He was crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross, yet he had never committed any sin nor broken any commandments in his life. God abandoned Him on the cross for our sake. In the darkness of the day Jesus cried out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” comes close to allowing us to see His agony. He died as a criminal, stripped naked and paraded through the city to Golgotha. He bore the Father’s wrath against our broken commandments.
Jesus could have called 10,000 legions of angels. He did not. He made Peter lay down his sword. Jesus said: “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I give my life as a ransom for many.”
We assume these Avengers are protecting the citizenry of earth, comprised of innocent people invaded by outside evil. Jesus died, not for good people minding their own business but for sinners, who know guilt over their broken ethics. His death spared us from the wrath of God. He defeated death itself when he shattered the stone sealed grave by rising in a glorified resurrected body. Now no longer limited by time and space, and seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, He offers all who will believe in Him a place for eternity,
in the new heaven and new earth. Jesus suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous that He might bring us to God. (I Peter 3:18)
Every human being faces the Villain who hates the Creator of the Universe and the love He has for His most important creation, you and me. All human beings are created in the image of God….and so we watch the battle between the Villain, whose desire and dream is to seek the death of all God’s creation and God the Creator of life, play out in our own culture between states who vote for infanticide, and those who a heartbeat is a creation in the image of God.
Satan the Villain is not prancing about in red tights, carrying a pitchfork, but as the author of death since the fall of Adam and Eve, He is the incarnation of evil. He seeks human destruction and death in every terrorist bombings, child prostitution, Holocaust and genocidal governments. He is the mastermind of the Four Horsemen in Revelation. War, Famine, Disease and Death.
When the world was created, God spoke. He opened His hand and thousand upon thousands of birds of every shape and size and song filled the sky. Fish of a thousand colors and designs filled the seas on rivers. Immense herds of horses, gazelles, buffalo running like the wind, filled the grass lands. And the Lion and the Lamb laid down together .
God created every human being in His image. The ability to love, to reason, to create, to share intimacy to know joy. He has given us a heart and we are called to imitate His love in our own story. Satan, the Villain unable to defeat the Mighty God, turned his sights on those who bore the image of their creator. Satan came into the Garden and whispered to Adam and Eve ….”can you really trust the love of God?” He is holding out on you. Take matters into your own hands.
His tactics have not changed. He slips into our daily routine and makes a
Suggestion: “Arrange for your own happiness. Why pay attention to those tired and ancient rules for living.” Those commandments are too old… Do your own thing.” It doesn’t take a theologian or psychologist to tell you something is wrong. Read the newspaper, listen to the news. Death and misery are all around.
Have you loved the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind? Have you loved your neighbor as yourself? Have you done the “good deeds” the Creator has planned in advance for you to do? (Eph. 2:10) Neither have I.
What I know is the day that Adam and Eve went hiding in the bushes, it was God who came looking for them. He promised them a rescue plan. First with Noah, then with Abraham, then the nation of Israel. And finally He came Himself to a small village near Jerusalem, where His mother placed him in a wooden manger. He set aside His glory and took upon Himself human flesh and bone.
(Philippians 1)
I remember being captivated by the hero in the movie “The Gladiator”. It had all the great emotions that stories demand. Maximus was to be the Roman Emperor, but was betrayed. He was sold into slavery, his family murdered. On the floor of the Roman Colosseum he become the new hero of the masses. In the end, the crowd is in stunned silence. Their hero Maximus has been dealt a mortal blow by the Evil Emperor Commodus. Their swords flash. Commodus falls but it will cost Maximus his own life.
It is the same hush that comes over the crowd gathered to see the crucifixion of Jesus. In the dark silence of His death, we hear the Roman centurion, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
Yes He was. He laid down His life, to avenge the devastating injustice of death and the grave. Jesus said: He who believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live, for I am the resurrection and the life. All who believe in me will also receive their resurrected glorified body when I return. (Philippians 3:20-21)
(John 6)
This is the ultimate “Endgame”. Your health and mine cannot hold out forever. Age will conquer you. One by one our friends and family slip from our grasp. Our work will remain unfinished. There is a happy ending. Eternity has been placed in your heart and mine. Jesus has opened the doors to eternal life.
