More than Superheroes

Spider-man: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Spider-man wallpaper

Not that long ago, Marvel Studios announced that Spider-man is going to be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is big news because the movie rights for Spider-man had been exclusively with Sony. Now they have cast a young actor to play Spider-man and he will be in Civil War next summer. There is even a rumor that there may be a reference to Spider-man in the new Ant-man movie. So before one bug hero (Ant-man) comes to theaters this summer, I want to go back and revisit some points about Spider-man from the movie back in the early 2000’s.

The Spider-man movie from 2002 is a great introduction to Peter Parker and his life as a superhero. It does a good job of showing us why Peter becomes Spider-man. He made the choice to become a hero. He could have easily gone down a different path after receiving his powers. He had been blessed with a great power. An interesting point with Spider-man is his motivation for becoming a hero. At least in part, he is motivated by guilt. Let’s briefly look back at a pivotal moment in his life.

After he was bitten by a genetically engineered (radioactive in the original comic) spider, Peter received his spider-powers. At first he wanted to use these amazing powers in selfish ways. He wanted to get some money to buy a car and impress a girl. His selfishness led him to avoid stopping a robbery. That robber then went out and killed Peter’s Uncle Ben. When Peter realized what had happened, he was devastated by the fact that he could have saved his Uncle Ben if he had acted. He remembered what his Uncle Ben had said to him a few hours earlier, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

At least in part, guilt motivated Peter to use his powers for good. He felt guilty that he didn’t do the rightSpider-Man2002Poster thing when he could have. Because of his lack of action, his Uncle Ben had been murdered. Now he was going to honor the memory of his Uncle Ben by dedicating his life to responsible use of his power. He decided to be a hero who would help those in need.

We don’t go through exactly the same events but we can relate to Peter Parker. Think about it, can we see ourselves in Peter? Have there have been times that we should have done the right thing but we didn’t? Has our action or inaction led to something worse? Peter’s inaction led to the death of his uncle. Perhaps there is a part of him that feels he can get rid of his guilt by doing good works.

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Now we have been given a different power. We didn’t get this power through a spider bite. We have something better than the proportionate speed and strength of a spider. We have a power that we can easily overlook. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We didn’t get this gospel power through a radioactive Bible but we did get it in a supernatural way. Jesus gives this power to his believers. Jesus gives us the power of the gospel of forgiveness through the Holy Spirit working in us. This gospel power is talked about in Romans 1:16. There it says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

We need this gospel power to remind us that we are forgiven for those past failures. For those times that we sinned by hurting our neighbors with vicious or slanderous words, the cross of Christ has taken away our guilt. We don’t have to make up for those sins by doing many good deeds in the future. Once we realize that we have this power, it completely changes our motivation for helping others and doing good. We don’t serve others from a sense that we are compelled to help in order to take away our feelings of guilt. We serve others motivated by love.

We are motivated by the love that our God has shown to us. He has forgiven us for the terrible mistakes that we have made in the past. He takes away any burden or compulsion we might feel to try to make up for our sins. This is gospel freedom. We have the freedom to help others solely from a heart of faith. We appreciate what God has done for us and we want to joyfully help others. We can even help them by letting them know that our Lord Jesus wants to help them.

Jesus strengthens us in our faith. He increases our gospel power and he helps us to serve others. Unlike great-power-great-responsibilityPeter, we don’t serve others out of a feeling of remorse. We serve others because we are joyful and thankful that our heavenly Father continues to forgive our sins. Spider-man realized that it was his responsibility to use his powers to help others. We use the power of the gospel to help others. We do this because God has helped us through that same power. He has forgiven our sins and guaranteed us eternal life. We want others to know that joy. Remember that with great gospel power comes great responsibility.

Spider-man History

Spider-man started back in 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15. Peter Parker was a high school student who wasamazing fantasy 15 bitten by a radioactive spider. He received many amazing spider-powers. At first he did not his powers for good. Rather, he used them for selfish gain. One of his choices led to the death of his Uncle Ben. Peter had the power to stop a criminal but he didn’t. That criminal killed his Uncle Ben. When he realized what his actions had cost, he vowed to use his powers for good. His Uncle Ben was the first person who told him, “With great power comes great responsibility.” That phrase becomes the main reason that Spider-man continues to fight against criminals.

Spider-man has been in many TV shows and movies. Most recently Spider-man has been in 5 blockbuster movies. Spider-man 1, 2, and 3 came out between 2002 and 2007. Amazing Spider-man 1 and 2 were in theaters in 2012 and 2014.

I am a Lutheran pastor who is currently serving at Trinity in Belle Plaine, MN. My wife is Megan and my daughter is Elizabeth "Libby". I have two dogs (Labradors) - Samson and Charlie. In my spare time, I train for and run in marathons, I cheer for the Green Bay Packers, and I love the Comic Book genre of entertainment.

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