I could blame Hollywood and the Bible Story Book, but it really comes back to me choosing to believe what they showed me. Traditional storylines involve a hero, opposition, and overcoming, with some kind of satisfying wrapup at the end. Often, the hero(ine) embodies how we could be, or wish we could be. The opponents often embody our darker natures. We like to think we get better.
Good so far?
Heroes in the Bible aren’t much like the kid-stereotypes. Sometimes their flaws were real. Sometimes, people just thought they were flaws.
Noah was crazy, then drunk; Abraham was too old; Isaac was a daydreamer; Jacob was a liar; Leah was ugly; Joseph was abused; Moses was a murderer and a coward; Deborah was a “just a woman;” Gideon was afraid; Samson had long hair; Rahab was a prostitute; Jeremiah was too young; David pretended to be nuts, had an affair, murdered a man and ran for his life from his own son; Elijah was suicidal; Isaiah preached naked; Jonah ran away from God; Naomi was a widow; Job was bankrupt.
John the Baptist ate locusts; Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered; John was self-righteous; The disciples fell asleep while praying; Martha worried about everything; Mary was so Jesus minded she was no earthly good; Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed; the boy with the fish and five rolls of bread was too unknown (and still is); The Samaritan woman at the well was divorced – at best - more than once; Zacchaeus was too small; Paul was too religious and a murderer; Timothy was too young and had a stomach ulcer; and Lazarus was dead.
What a bunch of losers? Every one of them, God used mightily. The first time I read their stories for myself, I was amazed (“Why didn’t anyone tell me this?!”) and delighted (“They’re not so heroic – they’re like me!”)
The real power of those heroes isn’t that they were heroes. The power is that they became heroes. God seems to love taking the “worthless” and making us “worth.” Wow.
