Batman Expresses Our Deepest Desire

Ok, maybe not Batman, but Ben Affleck, the actor currently playing Batman on the big screen. Speaking of the appeal of superhero movies he said in an interview published in US Today:

We certainly are in need of heroes in 2017. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world, from natural to man-made disasters, and it’s really scary. Part of the appeal of this genre is wish fulfillment: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was somebody who can save us from all this, save us from ourselves, save us from the consequences of our actions and save us from people who are evil?

Someone to save us from this world of troubles, to save us from ourselves, to save us from evil and the consequences of our own actions — the actor is right, this really is one of humanity’s deepest wishes. And we have within us a great moral intuition and longing that there really should be a savior out there for us all. The good news of the gospel is that there is such a Savior.  The gospel cry of hope to a lost and dark world is that He has come and that He has risen, and that He is calling. As the apostle Paul said:

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all…I found mercy…as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” (1 Tim. 1:15,16)

This is not the imaginary hope of escapist novels, movies and comic books, but the real and living hope of all who know Christ. So we say: 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).