The new series heroes on BBC 2 Is the next step in a progression of developments of the humanisation of our superheroes. Starting with Superman, who gives up his power for the love of Lois Lane, through Toby McGuire and his emotionally troubled Spiderman. Doctor Who in his latest incarnation has moved from being a confident saviour to a lonely seeker. In Heroes we reach the latest incarnation of the superhero. A group of flawed super people who struggle to make sense of their gifts.


Perhaps living in a world struggling with the War on Terror, having lived through the cold war, the war on drugs, the “Aids Epidemic” and BSE crises that all were meant to kill us in a generation has left us a bit cynical. Our belief in good and evil, right and wrong has faded. No longer are we convinced by a cowboy in a white hat.

Where does that leave our 2007 view of Jesus? Do we struggle with accepting his absolute goodness? Are we persuaded by those who would have him portrayed as a flawed hero?

What does it mean that Jesus was fully God and Fully Man. The perfection of Jesus is not a reflection of him being the best man possible. It is rather an verification that he is God. His perfection is found not in him being super human. It is found in him being a member of the trinity, with the father and the spirit. What is overwhelming is that God felt that a flawless expression of the perfect could be made in the form of a weak human being and in that life, death and resurrection humanity would find redemption.

Well the film is out and the final book published and before you panic, we’re not going to give the end away.

Harry and Hermione visit Harry’s birth place, Godric’s Hollow. It’s snowing and as they make there way through the village they hear a Christmas carol being sung in the village church, it’s Christmas Eve. It’s food for thought that while Harry Potter and the wizarding world are preparing for a great battle between good and evil, the church is an irrelevance to them, worth no more than a passing comment. It may come a shock to us to recognise that is how many see the church, a quaint, slightly comforting irrelevance to our lives and struggles. Perhaps we can even feel that way about church ourselves.

Just as this not the end of Harry’s visit to Godric’s Hollow it is not the end of the wizarding worlds connection with the Incarnation of the Dei, Jesus Christ. As Harry searches out the graveyard he comes across first the grave of Ariana Dumbledore and then that of his parents. He notices on both graves two quotes which he cannot understand.
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” and
“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”
Although Harry didn’t know it both these quotes come from the Bible.
The first first is lifted from one of the saying of Jesus. He said
“Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.”
Second quote comes from a letter Paul a follower of Jesus wrote.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all died so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ the first fruits; then when he comes those who belong to him…For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Could this mean that while the church is seen as being an irrelevance in the great struggles that the wizards are about to face there is an understanding that the great wizards have, they recognise that when they come face to face with the eternal in death that ultimately the relationship that counts is that knowing the incarnate Dei, being a friend of Jesus, Something that sets the direction and shape of our lives in the here and now. Is that something that is worth a moment or two of our own thoughts? Ultimately what is it that counts for us muggles.

The incarnation of the Dei is a theological way of saying God becoming one of us, that is Jesus

Spiderman is back and this time we are going to see his dark side!or at least so the producers of the movie would have us believe. Bitten by a Geneticaly Modified spider ( a radio active spider if your old enough!!) Peter Parker becomes something other than what he was. yet it is Peter Parker not spiderman who is has self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness.

At one level Spiderman plays to our fears of the unknown. whether that be radio activity or genetic modification. more interestinly Spiderman asks the more profound questions of "who am I?" "what made me the way that I am?" and "If things were different would I be a different person?"

These are question we can all have from time to time. there are no easy answers. St Paul writes something interesting on this topic. In a letter to some Christians living in Rome he confesses

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."
later he writes
"When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

Paul and Spiderman struggle with who they are. the nature of personal good and evil. while Spiderman struggle on alone, Paul answers his question "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" with the athemic response , "Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Paul recognises the for the Christian there is help in understanding the who that we are and that there is potential for change.