I remember
growing up as a kid that I had many heroes.
They were usually athletes. I
grew up a Yankee fan though I lived closer to Shea Stadium. But I could never bring myself to like the
Mets. The old Shea Stadium was just
awful with these ugly looking banners hanging on the outside, plus they lost
all the time in the late 70’s and the stadium could hardly ever sell out. Whereas the Yankees were selling out,
winning, the stadium had an aura to it, and who could ever forget the lineup of
that team. Chris Chamblis at first
base, Will Randolph at second base, Bucky Dent at Short stop, he was known in
Boston by another name which I won’t repeat here, Greg Nettles at third base,
Thurman Munson at catcher, Reggie Jackson in right or dh, Lou Pinnela in right
field, Mickey Rivers in center, and Paul Blair in left field, and some of the
pitchers were Ron Guidry aka Louisiana Lightening, Goose Gosage, and Catfish
Hunter. Those guys were my heroes.
I’m sure that young kids have
heroes, be they athletes, entertainers, artists – they are heroes we look up to
and we dream that one day we will be just like them. I would lay in bed at night before the Little
League season would start and imagine myself like Reggie Jackson hitting three
home runs in the championship game. As
we got older our heroes changed and they also became less for we realized that
our heroes were not much different than us besides the fact they excelled in
one area of life. We also began to learn
that they have some of the same weaknesses as us and they began to let us
down. It is unfair in some ways how much
stock we put in athletes, actors, singers, etc. because we imagine them to be
something they are not, bigger than life itself. And yet we would never crush a child’s dream
by revealing such, we allow them to dream and to aspire to greatness.
Why do I bring all this up? What does this have to do with the
Gospel? We are told that Jesus is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. As Jesus departs from John after his baptism
many could see the hero that Jesus would become. He is our hero, a hero who never
disappoints. Shouldn’t Jesus have the
greatest place in our hearts, both when were young and even now? He is so much more than a person who throws a
ball, records a song, or acts in a movie.
Do not misunderstand me I have the greatest appreciation for what
athletes and artists can do, they are amazing on many levels, I just happened
to find a hero who is better than all of that or better put, a hero of heroes. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world, what an awesome saying and more importantly to know that I
am loved by Him, awesome indeed.
Though Jesus is our hero he also
invites us to be lambs of God to others, a hero if you will to our children,
our friends, to our spouses, to our coworkers, basically to all our neighbors,
reminds me of the David Bowie song in which he sings, “We can be Heroes.” We may fall short just like athletes, actors,
or singers, but we must nevertheless be another Christ to our neighbor. We live in a time in which we need real
heroes, like Christ, go and be so for the world, for you are heroes. God bless you, FJ
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