The hero versus the saint.
From the time we are young, we look up to individuals with the connotation that they are our heroes. We love and idolize our heroes. They are fictional characters with superpowers, athletes, first responders, and parents. All people with extraordinary qualities and power.
Saints on the other hand, to a certain extent, seem marginal or quaint.
Let’s face it, most of us want to be the hero, we don’t really think about being the saint. I am not saying that we shouldn’t strive to be a hero. What I am saying is that we need to strive more toward exuding the qualities of a saint. I think being the hero versus being the saint at its core is a different way of viewing the purpose of life.
For the hero, the goal of living is self-fulfillment, honor, and respect. The goal is the achievement of personal excellence and making a contribution to society to make it better. Which is great, we should all strive to be someone’s hero. We should all strive to make a contribution to society and make it a better place.
For the saint, I think that purpose is to lead by love. Through love then comes creating bonds with our fellow human beings. The true expression of love is genuine concern and care that comes with learning how to love, even the most unlovable.
In John Ortberg’s book, Who is this man-The unpredictable impact of the inescapable Jesus, he talks about the impact Jesus had on every aspect of the human race from his birth, through his teachings which ultimately led to his crucifixion. He does not write this book from an overly Christian bias. He writes from the perspective that regardless of your feelings about Jesus as the savior of this world, it is absolutely astonishing how a humble carpenter from Jerusalem, has made an impact on everything we do more than anyone has ever done before.
Besides being the savior of the world and the son of God, from a purely objective perspective, why and how has Jesus become the most impactful person to ever walk the earth?
The answer is simple but complicated, but I am going to take a stab at it. Jesus exuded a life of a saint, not a hero. Jesus embodies what it means to be the saint, where the purpose of life is love and the expression of that love is in the form of care and compassion for our neighbor. The life of love that Jesus proclaimed in his teaching he lived in his suffering. At the cross, Jesus lived all that he taught.
Some of you are probably reading this saying “But Jesus is my hero!” I totally understand what is meant by that. But in the conventional sense, we miss the simple fact that Jesus did nothing heroic. How did Jesus contend with his enemies? Not in the heroic manner, but in a saintly way, the way of love and forgiveness.
I’ll give you one more thing to think about. Heroes tend to be heroes to only one side — their side. Heroes attain their glory in an “us vs. them” context.
