Spider-Man: Homecoming: Finding Inner Strength

Comics have a long history of experienced Superheroes mentoring younger Superheroes. You see plenty of heroes who have a sidekick. Even if the younger hero isn’t a sidekick, you see times when the younger hero needs to mature in their abilities before they can venture out on their own. The recent Spider-Man movie dealt with mentoring. I really liked the way Spider-Man: Homecoming approached the idea of mentor and trainee (and I am not just saying that because Iron Man is my favorite Superhero). After an introduction about the new supervillain, the movie has scenes about Spider-Man’s involvement in Captain America: Civil War. Peter Parker is reveling in the fact that he was able to go on a mission with Iron Man’s Avengers. After Tony drops him off in New York, Peter starts waiting anxiously for his next Avengers’ Mission. Every day after school he patrols the streets and catches criminals. He calls in reports every day because he wants to impress Iron Man.

Months go by and Peter still hasn’t heard anything. Tony Stark has taken a very hands off approach as a mentor. In fact, Tony hasn’t even said a word to Peter in all those months. Tony had his assistant Happy Hogan handle the communication and Happy hasn’t talked to Peter except for a few times. Finally a big opportunity comes up. Peter discovers criminals in New York using really advanced, high tech weapons. While trying to catch some of those criminals, Peter encounters the Vulture. The Vulture quickly disposes of Spider-Man in their first encounter and Tony Stark rescues Spider-Man by sending a remote controlled Iron Man suit.

Tony tells Peter that he should ignore this Supervillain and just focus on street level criminals. Tony doesn’t want Peter to make mistakes that could endanger many people. Peter doesn’t see it that way. Peter still wants to prove himself to his mentor. Peter eventually gets word of a weapons deal on the Staten Island Ferry. He tries to stop it as Spider-Man. Unfortunately, because of his carelessness, the Ferry is split in two and it looks like civilians are about to pay the price for his mistake. Iron Man shows up to rescue the Ferry and save the civilians.  

Iron Man rebukes Spider-Man. Peter gets upset and says that if Tony really cared he would have showed up. At that point, Tony walks out of the armor. Tony shows that he has been listening to all of Peter’s reports. Tony then takes away the high tech Spider-Man suit that he gave to Peter. Peter says that he is nothing without the suit. Tony suggests that if he needs to rely on the tech, then he really isn’t a proper hero. Whether or not you agree with the method of Tony’s mentoring, it was the push that Peter needed to become a hero. Later, when Spider-Man confronted Vulture, Peter used his very low tech original suit. When Peter was being crushed by debris, he realized that he couldn’t rely on anything but himself. He summoned his inner strength, pushed his way out of the debris, and went on to defeat the Vulture.  

Quick, safe and effective treatments are cialis professional cipla available with null side effects on your body with Unani treatment against erectile dysfunction. You will receive your order at viagra online no rx home in some days by shipping. Ron Arrest made a boneheaded play on Wednesday, basically giving a clothesline to Jose Barea at the end of the game, as opposed to behind the game. http://davidfraymusic.com/events/schubertiade-austria-3/ viagra online You are not wrong reading sildenafil online davidfraymusic.com this. The themes of mentoring and finding inner strength remind me of messages from the Bible. There are many examples of mentors on the pages of the Bible. Jesus called together 12 disciples and then trained them for ministry. Later in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul mentored several young men and trained them for ministry. Silas, Timothy, and Titus would be three examples of Paul’s trainees. There are two letters to Timothy that gave him instructions for how to be a pastor. These letters are beneficial for us when we think about how to conduct ministry.

As I think about the idea of inner strength, I think about some of the words that Paul wrote to encourage young Timothy. In 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Paul said this, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Paul was encouraging Timothy to use the gifts God had given him. Paul wanted Timothy to not be afraid as he carried out his work. Paul reminded Timothy that his power came from God.

Our spiritual power is very different than the power that Spider-Man has. Spider-Man ultimately looked to himself for strength. Paul reminded Timothy that he had to look to God for strength. To me, this is just another reminder that the gospel is contrary to our human way of thinking. In many of our endeavors in this world, we can look to ourselves and our own ingenuity or strength to accomplish the task. Many Superheroes rely on themselves to win the victory. That works when they are fighting Supervillains. But that doesn’t work when it comes to the path to heaven.

We can’t rely on our strength to win us forgiveness and eternal life. We sin throughout our lives. I could give many examples but just a few will suffice. We sin through greed, lust, jealousy, hatred, and gossip. There are plenty of others. Even one of these sins puts us on the path to hell. We need the forgiveness that Jesus won for us. He won us salvation through his perfect life, death, and resurrection. The forgiveness of Christ becomes our motivation to live for God. The strength that we have through Jesus gives us the ability to endure many difficulties in this world. When we are weighed down by the burdens of this world, the message of forgiveness and eternal life give us the strength to persevere.

When Tony took away Peter’s Spider-Man suit, he didn’t know if Peter would be able to find his inner strength and become a hero. After Peter succeeded, Tony does pat himself on the back for giving Peter the push he needed. When the apostle Paul encouraged young Timothy, Paul was confident in the Lord’s strength. Paul knew the power of salvation. Through God’s power, Paul was confident that Timothy could carry out ministry. Superheroes can succeed by relying on inners strength. As Christians, we succeed in our life of faith not by trusting in ourselves. We succeed when we trust in the power of Jesus. Inner strength for the Christian  comes from Jesus.