Holy Heroes: Thor
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 10/6/2013
If you’re just joining us, last Sunday I explained that Blooming Grove is going to be entering a float in this year’s Halloween Parade in Carlinville. The theme for the parade is Superhero Celebration and we’re looking for brave souls to dress up as superheroes—something that my family has been doing for years—and walk or ride in the parade with us. I’m excited about this parade because I’m convinced that comic-book heroes can teach some valuable spiritual lessons. In fact, I like to think of superheroes as modern-day parables. Jesus used parables—that is, fictional stories—to illustrate spiritual truths. I believe that the stories of comic-book heroes like Batman, Spider-man, Iron-Man and others can help us better understand some very Biblical concepts.
In the comic-book industry there are two powerhouse publishers—DC Comic and Marvel Comics. While Superman is the strongest one there is in the DC universe, Thor is earth’s mightiest hero in the Marvel Universe. Fans of DC and Marvel have debated for decades which superhero is really more powerful—Superman or Thor. In fact, a friend of mine, Josh Boultinghouse, even starred in a short fan-film series titled Super Power Beat Down, which pitted the Man of Steel against the Prince of Thunder. The outcome was determined by fan vote and while Thor put up an epic battle, it was Superman who stood victorious in the end.
While I haven’t personally costumed as Thor, I have made a couple of Thor costumes for my son. Two years after participating in setting the Guinness World Record in Metropolis, our family returned to the Annual Superman Celebration as the Avengers. I dressed as Captain America, my wife was Ms. Marvel, our daughter was Spider-girl, and our four-year-old son was the Mightiest Avenger—Thor. That year, along with a few friends who donned various other Avenger costumes, we entered the costume contest which was held at the end of the celebration. All the costumes were good, but it was little Thor that won us first place in our category and third overall. During the contest, each of us were supposed to walk to the front of the stage and back again so that the judges could get a close look at our costumes, but when Yeshua reached the edge of the platform, he thrust his hammer into the air and shouted, “For Odin and for Asgard!” The crowd went crazy and Yeshua just soaked up the applause. My wife literally had to drag him off the stage, which was just all the more entertaining for the audience.
As the son of a mythological god, Thor does bare some resemblance to Jesus; however, he lacks many of the character traits necessary to make him a compelling Christ-figure. Rather, despite his god-like power, Thor actually has much more in common with you and me. In Marvel’s 2011 film, Thor is portrayed as a brash, headstrong prince set to inherit the throne from his father, Odin. He relishes adventure and craves battle. Driven by selfishness and pride, Thor broke a truce between the Asgardians and their enemies, the brutal Frost Giants, nearly starting a war.
In order to teach his son a lesson in humility, Odin strips Thor of his power and mighty hammer and banishes him to a distant land—Earth. I actually have a clip from the movie that will give you a sense of Thor’s relationship with his father, Odin.
• Next Slide: Thor Banishment Scene
Humbled and humiliated in a distant realm, Thor finally comes to his senses, repents of his foolish ways and learns the value of selflessness. In the end, Thor foils the evil of plots of his jealous brother and is reunited with his father, who welcomes him home with open arms.
The story of Thor, albeit fictional and fantastic, at its core is very similar to a story Jesus once told—a parable about a wayward son and his loving father. We call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is a short story about a Father’s all-encompassing, incomprehensible love and it illustrates the stages we often go through in our relationship with God. The first of those stages, of course, is rebellion.
• REBELLION
Both Thor and the prodigal son rebelled against their respective fathers. Thor defied his father’s orders and endangered the lives of everyone in Asgard. The prodigal son’s rebellion was more subtle, but probably even more hurtful. Jesus tells it this way: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living” (Luke 15:11-13 NLT).
In ancient times, the younger son would normally inherit half as much as the first-born son (so, about a third of the estate) when their father died. It wasn’t completely unheard of to ask for your portion of the inheritance while your father was still alive, but it certainly wasn’t very loving either. It showed his arrogance and disrespect for his father. It was as if he had said to his dad, “I wish you were already dead!”
Both Thor and the prodigal son grew up in their father’s home, they were showered with love, they had everything they needed and a lavish inheritance awaiting them, but the prodigal son was tired of living under his father’s roof and following his father’s rules. He wanted to be his own man—to do things his way, and it didn’t matter who he hurt in the process.
This story reminds me of a five year old girl who was having one of those trouble-filled days with her mother. It seemed they spent the day arguing back and forth. Finally the mom had enough. "Jenny, go sit in the corner, right now! Don’t get up until I tell you to!" Jenny went to the corner and sat down, but within ten seconds she back on her feet fooling around. This time her mom raised her voice a little and threatened her with a spanking. So little Jenny sat down again and after a couple of minutes her mom said, “Thank you for sitting down, like I told you.” Then the little girl called back, “Mom, I’m sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside!”
Some of you probably know what it’s like to have a strong-willed or rebellious child. But we all tend to have a “standing on the inside” nature. The Bible calls it our “sinful nature” and it means we have a natural inclination to put ourselves first, to rebel not only against our parents, but even against our Heavenly Father.
I see this often in Christians, especially those who have grown up in conservative Christian churches. In fact, studies show that over 50% of teenagers who grow up in church-going households drop out of church shortly after high-school graduation. As they come of age they embrace a rebellious spirit—they don’t want to live by God’s rules anymore, they don’t want to live in his house anymore, and many of them find themselves living in a distant land far away from their Father in Heaven.
That’s where both Thor and the prodigal son found themselves. But thankfully, that’s where they both came to their senses. The second stage in their relationship with their respective fathers was repentance.
• REPENTANCE
Far from home, away from the guidance and wisdom of his father, the prodigal son wasted all of his inheritance on wild living. Then Jesus continues the story: “About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything” (Luke 15:14-16 NLT).
My mom always said that my bedroom looked like a pig’s sty. Well, this boy’s actually was one. While the hogs he was charged with feeding wallowed in the mud, this prodigal boy wallowed in his own misery and self-loathing. As he lay there surrounded by unclean animals, his mind kept drifting back home—to his father’s house.
He thought to himself, “All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death” (vs. 17 MSG). This starving teen knew his wealthy father would not fall asleep without dinner that night. He would. Even the farmhands on his father’s land had plenty of food and a roof over their heads. But not him. Friendless and foodless, this boy had hit rock bottom and that’s when the Bible says, “he finally came to his senses” (vs. 17 TLB). He decided to go to his father and tell him, “I am no longer worthy of being called your son” (vs. 19 NLT).
Thor came to the same realization in a dramatic scene from the film. Even after being cast out of Asgard, Thor was convinced that all he had to do was find his magical hammer, Mjolnir, and his power and glory would be restored to him. Unbeknownst to Thor, however, Odin placed an enchantment on the hammer, whispering the words, “Whosoever holds this hammer if he be worthy shall possess the power of Thor.” After an arduous search and hard-fought battle, Thor finally finds his hammer in a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. But as he wraps his fingers tightly around its handle, he discovers that he can’t lift it. His muscles strain and his teeth grind, but no matter how hard he tries he can’t budge it because he’s no longer worthy. When he could no longer yield his own hammer, Thor finally realized how unworthy he had become.
The truth is—we’re all unworthy. Not one of us is worthy to be called a child of God. The Bible says, “there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23 NKJV). For many of us it takes hitting rock bottom to realize how truly wrong we’ve been and how far we’ve fallen. But recognizing our faults and failures isn’t enough if we don’t do something about it.
An old Peanuts cartoon strip once opened with Lucy holding a football and inviting Charlie Brown to kick it, but Charlie Brown refused. He said, “Every time I try to kick the ball you move it and I fall flat on my back.” Suddenly, Lucy broke down in tears and confessed, “Charlie Brown I have been so terrible to you over the years, picking up the football like that. I have played so many cruel tricks on you, but I’ve seen the error of my ways! I’ve been so wrong. Won’t you give a poor penitent girl another chance?” Charlie Brown was moved by her sincerity so he said, “Of course, I’ll give you another chance.” She positioned the ball and Charlie ran to kick it. But at the last moment, Lucy picked up the ball and Charlie Brown fell flat on his back just like always. Lucy’s last words were, “Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!”
She’s right.
The realization that we’re not worthy, we’ve made mistakes, and we need forgiveness ought to drive us to get up and go back home! That’s what repentance means. Repentance isn’t just some made-up religious word. It actually comes from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It’s easy to get lost walking through the desert. At some point you become aware that the countryside is strange and you’re not where you should be. You finally say to yourself, I’m going in the wrong direction, and then you turn and go a new way. That’s repentance. And that’s what both Thor and the prodigal son did, and as a result they finally experienced restoration!
• RESTORATION
Here is the happy ending to the Master story-teller’s tale: “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him” (vs. 20 NLT).
As the wayfaring teen comes over the hillside, he catches his father’s eye. He probably has no idea what awaits him. The best he can hope for is a cold shoulder or a disappointed lecture from his father and a haughty, “I told you so,” from his jealous brother. But when his father, who had apparently been watching the horizon for his son’s return, sees him, he rushes to his long-lost son and throws his arms around him.
Once this lost son was back in the arms of his loving father, that’s when the party started. The father called for “the finest robe in the house and put it on him,” symbolizing his acceptance by the family. He was given “a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.” They killed the fattened calf and let the celebration begin! When the older son, who had been at home by his father’s side all along, expresses his jealousy, the father wisely counsels him, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:31-32 NIV).
Of course, the father in the story is a portrait of our loving Father in heaven—standing at the edge of eternity, watching, longing for his children to come home! The Bible says, “All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:3-5 NLT).
Maybe you’ve wondered, when you’re alone at night with just your thoughts, “Could God really forgive me? I’ve made so many mistakes.” I think Jesus told this story to answer that question. No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or how far you’ve wandered, you have a Father in Heaven who loves you and longs to hold you in his arms, to forgive your mistakes, and give you home with him for all eternity.
Conclusion:
A woman once wrote in to Today's Christian Woman with this story:
While putting my four-year-old daughter to bed one evening, I read her the story of the Prodigal Son. We discussed how the young son had taken his inheritance and left home, living it up until he had nothing left. Finally, when he couldn't even eat as well as pigs, he went home to his father, who welcomed him. When we finished the story, I asked my daughter what she had learned. After thinking a moment, she quipped, "Never leave home without your credit card!"
That hope that brings a smile to your face, but I don’t quite think that’s the lesson Jesus intended for us to learn from this story. No, the parable of the prodigal son—along with the story of Thor—illustrates our own rebellious nature and need for repentance as well as the unrelenting love of our Father in Heaven who longs for our return.
Next Sunday we’ll study another comic-book hero and the spiritual lesson we can learn from them. But in the meantime…
Invitation:
Maybe you’ve been wrestling with a rebellious spirit. Maybe you’ve been living in a distant land far away from God. Maybe being here this morning is the first step in your journey home. I’d like to help you complete that journey if you’re ready. Just come talk with me as we stand and sing.
