Living Water: The Message or The Man?

Bloggers’ Bible Study.

The Book of John.  Chapter Three.

This is very embarassing to admit, but one of my favorite films of all time is Hero At Large.  My father took me to see it when it first came out about thirty years ago (so bear with me if memory fails regarding the specifics).  In the film, John Ritter plays a cab driver who is also an aspiring actor.  His life is going nowhere.  He lives alone in a dingy, sleazy apartment.  One day, he gets hired for a comic book convention to portray a superhero called Captain Avenger.  Ritter had somehow got stuck wearing the superhero costume–covered only with a trench-coat as he heads home.  He stops at a small store, run by an elderly couple, to pick up a few things.  While Ritter is in the back of store, a robber comes in and threatens the elderly couple.  An instant later, Ritter puts on the full costume and foils the robbery.  The elderly couple still have no idea that he was just a washed-up actor who drives a cab for a living; to them, he is a superhero.

That night, as Ritter is watching television, he discovers that he is all over the news.  Ritter finally finds his purpose once he realizes that his actions have inspired others to take a stand against crime and injustice.  (Thankfully, no one gets too carried away.)  While tuning in to the police scanners, Ritter hears of a crime taking place close his home.  He gets in his cab, arrives on the scene before the police, and steps out in full costume.  But the criminal shoots him in the arm.  Suddenly, the purpose Ritter thought he had wasn’t so easy to live up to.  No one knows who this real-life Captain Avenger is so Ritter refuses to go to a hospital, instead he seeks out a friend who becomes the film’s female lead (played by Anne Archer).

Later, another robbery takes place on a moving freight train.  Miraculously, Ritter appears out of nowhere and once again foils the robbery as Captain Avenger–this time, with no trouble at all.  The people applaud and are once again inspired.  The people love Captain Avenger so much that the mayor of the city wants to have a Captain Avenger Day, with Ritter making an appearance during election season.  But, as it turns out, the train robbery and the rescue were staged.  And Ritter is soon exposed as a fraud.  The crowd that once supported his heroics as Captain Avenger quickly turns on Ritter and mocks him.  Facing the furious crowd, Ritters shouts, “I’m not important!  It’s what Captain Avenger stands for!”  But the people don’t want to hear it; and Ritter is soon driven into shame.

In the climax of the film, a building is on fire.  With the flames spreading and the structure becoming dangerously unstable, the firemen won’t allow anyone back into the building–despite a mother’s deserate cries that her children are still inside.  Suddenly, on the rooftops, Captain Avenger appears.  As he heads toward the burning building, people wonder what the heck he’s doing.  Doesn’t he realize it’s dangerous inside?  He could get killed!  But Ritter has always wanted to prove that common people really do have uncommon courage–and he will risk his life to prove it.  A few moments after going into the burning building, Ritter comes out with one of the children.  The mother is eternally grateful, but there is still another child trapped in the building so Captain Avenger goes back inside.

Moments pass.  Ritter doesn’t come out.

Finally, a man says, “I’m going in.”

The firemen protest, but the man is determined.  Another man follows.  Shortly after they head in, a section of the building expodes, but a few minutes later the first man emerges with Captain Avenger and the other man emerges with the lost child.

Ritter had proved his point:  the message is more important than the man.

In John Chapter Three, we read that the disciples of John the Baptist came to him because Jesus was baptizing more people than he was.  These disciples had made the same mistake as the fickle crowd in Hero At Large.  They followed a leader instead of living the message.  But John rebukes them:

You yourselves know how I plainly told you, “I am not The Messiah.  I am only here to prepare the way for him.’  It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows.  Therefore, I am filled with joy at His success.  He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

He has come from above and is greater than anyone else.  We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but He has come from Heaven and is greater than anyone else.  He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what He tells them!  Anyone who accepts His testimony can affirm that God is true.  For He is sent by God.  He speaks God’s words, for God gives Him the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves His Son and has put everything into His hands.  And anyone who believes God’s Son has eternal life (vv. 28-36).

Like the disciples of John the Baptist, we too often put our faith in leaders instead of listening and living what we have heard.  Whether that leader is a president or a pastor, they too only “speak of earthly things.”  And yet, John the Baptist clearly points out the importance of staying true to our Teacher instead of the students; for “The Father loves His Son and has put everything into his hands.  And anyone who believes God’s Son has eternal life.”

And yet, there are times when we confuse our own point of view with the one Christ has taught.  But, like John the Baptist, we must realize that the message is more important.  It is not now, nor has it ever been, our commission to convince people to go to “our” church, to attend “our” Bible studies, to believe “our” beliefs; like John the Baptist, we are only messengers.  And we, too, must be willing to accept that others are called to be greater than ourselves.  Far, far too often we put more stock into a what a leader says instead of what he does; and it is that point of view–our own–that we try to force on others.

Instead of teaching, we simply end up driving people away–especially when we know that people in positions of power–like the mayor in Hero At Large and just about every other politician in the real world–want to use the social popularity of the church to win an election and so shape their campaigns accordingly.  But Christ had no political aspirations; He earned His crown with His obedience to The Father, not with a vote or a donation to a political party–which, of course, only would have been divisive.

And when we make our differences into divisions, we are only sowing chaos and confusion amongst ourselves and those who do not yet believe.  When the attention is on the divisions within the church, it is NOT on The Gospel.  This has been a problem since The First Century:

Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.”  Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”  Has Christ been divided into factions?  Was I, Paul, crucified for you?  Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul?  Of course not! (1st Corinthians 1:12-13).

And if I should say, “It is raining,” but you should say, “The sky is blue,” can we not let that be the end of it?  Besides, in a world as big as this, is there ever day when it is not raining somewhere while the sky is blue elsewhere?  And if Earth itself is just that big, how much greater The Almighty?  It is for this reason that we must never forget the foundation of The Good News:

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17).

Christ laid down His life for all of humanity.

Are you willing–are you truly willing–to lay down your life for what Christ taught?  Or has your faith been reduced to following a human leader?

[Note:  The Bloggers' Bible Study is categorized under Living Water.]