Good Guy or Bad Guy? By Rev. Samuel Schuldheisz
I
admit it. I am a nerd. I enjoy reading comics and graphic novels, watching superhero movies and shows on Netflix, and occasionally imagining that I’m the hero in whatever boardgame I’m playing.
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 20
Why do we enjoy watching, reading or acting out stories of conflict between good and evil? To be sure, it’s entertaining and enjoyable; good stories awaken and speak to our imagination, all of which are part of God’s gifts of creation. Some of the best stories go further, however, by telling us a tale of good versus evil, redemption, and hope that points us to greatest story of all: Jesus’ death and resurrection for us, where good triumphs over evil once for all; where our redemption is won; and where we find true and lasting hope, and comfort. One of the many reasons we can’t get enough of the kind of stories where the good guy kicks the bad guy’s butt and wins the day is that we want to see ourselves as the hero. We want to see ourselves in the story, as the good guy. We want to be Batman swooping down on the Joker to foil his plans yet again. We want to be Captain America thwarting the evil schemes of Hydra. We want to be Superman saving Metropolis from the dastardly plans of Lex Luthor. We want to be the Avengers preparing to take on Thanos and rescue the universe. Like wicked Queen Grimhilde in Snow White, we look in
the mirror and ask ourselves, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” And we expect the answer to be: “Why, you of course!” Sure, maybe I’m not perfect, but at least I’m not as bad as that guy over there. The Scriptures, however, paint a rather different, more realistic picture of our human nature. It is less like a magic mirror, and more like the hideous portrait in the classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, that revealed Dorian’s true self-destruction. St. Paul puts the mirror of God’s Law before our faces in Romans 3 and declares: “None is righteous, no, not one.” Thankfully, that’s not the end of our story. St. Paul also holds the cross before our eyes and declares: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). So who are we? Are we the villain or the hero? The bad guy or the good guy? Sinner or saint? Scripture’s answer is that we are both—in this life, that is. That’s the key phrase. In this life, we are both the villain and the hero, the bad guy and the good guy, sinner and saint. We are at once condemned in sin and justified by grace through faith in Christ. We are like Dr. Jekyll, constantly battling our inner Mr. Hyde. We are like Smeagol, daily warring against our inner Gollum, our corrupted, fallen nature. We are like Eustace Scrubb who was un-dragoned in C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The truth is, we are baptized, undragoned, and the cure has begun, yet, we are wearied by our own sin. The Lutheran reformers even coined a helpful Latin phrase to summarize Scripture’s teaching. In this life, Christians are simul justus et peccator. We are simultaneously justified and sinner. Listen to how St. Paul speaks about the baptized Christian in this life:
