Captain America and his new shield - the dog's food bowl
10th Sunday after Pentecost
3rd Sunday in “Behind the Mask: Our
Christian Identity”
Captain America and Perseverance
August 2, 2015
Isaiah 40:26-31; Psalm 105; Romans 12:9-21; Luke 18:1-8
Today is week 3 out of 4 of our superhero summer sermon
series and this week’s superhero is Captain America. The beginning of Captain America’s story is
about Steve Rogers, which is his given name.
Steve was born in New York in the 1920’s. His parents were poor Irish immigrants who
both passed away before Steve reaches adulthood. When he’s in his early 20’s, World War II
breaks out and Steve desperately wants to serve his country and tries to enlist
in the U.S. Army. Unfortunately, he’s
something like 5 feet tall, 90 pounds, has asthma, and his medical record reads
like a 90 year old, so he is rejected. And
rejected and rejected and rejected.
Steve goes to 5 different recruiting station, each time lying about who
he is, because he is so badly wants to serve his country. All of his buddies have enlisted; he wants
to, too. When I was thinking of
different Christian themes to go with the superheroes, at first I wanted to say
integrity for Captain America, because he sticks to his principles and he’s loyal
and he does what he says he’s going to do.
However, in his desperation to enlist in the army, he keeps lying on the
form, a fake name, fake hometown, fake birthday, anything to make the army
willing to enlist him. And that
persistence, instead, won out over integrity.
Steve
Rogers is not too different from the widow in our Gospel lesson today. This widow keeps going to the judge, seeking
justice for her case, but the judge keeps refusing to hear her case. It says the judge “neither feared God nor had
respect for people”[1]; he was an “unjust
judge.” In the end, however, the widow
wears him down because she persists, she keeps bugging him about it, she keeps
pestering and nagging him, seeking justice, and, eventually, the judge grants
it. He says, “Even though I don't fear
God or respect people, yet because of all the trouble this widow is giving me,
I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don't, she will keep on coming
and finally wear me out!”[2] The widow persevered, and, eventually, the
judge granted her justice. Steve Rogers
persevered in trying to enlist in the army to fight in World War II, and, at
that fifth recruiting station, a scientist overhears Steve and his friend talk
about how Steve is going to forge his application again. This scientist, Dr. Erskine, has invented a
super-soldier serum and thinks that Steve is an ideal candidate to try it out
on. He approves Steve’s fifth
application to enlist in the army. Steve
goes into basic training with a small group of young men, all of whom are candidates
to receive this experimental super-soldier serum. What distinguishes Steve from the rest of his
class is his tenacity as well as his selflessness. The instructor tosses what appears to be a
live grenade into the group, and while everyone else runs away, Steve leaps on
top of it, willing to sacrifice himself to save the others. As a result, Steve is chosen to be injected
with the super-soldier serum and receive vita radiation that will enhance the
serum. He emerges a foot taller and a
hundred pounds heavier, solid muscle.
Because of his perseverance, Steve finally becomes a soldier. Because of her perseverance, the widow is
finally granted justice in her case.
Now,
the author of Luke writes that the story of the widow and the unjust judge is a
parable that Jesus tells to his disciples “to teach them that they should pray
always and never become discouraged.”[3] Anyone need to hear that word today? Pray always, and do not lose heart. It’s similar to our Epistle lesson this morning,
too. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in
suffering, persevere in prayer.”[4] Another translation says, “Be happy in your
hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to
prayer.”[5] Devote yourselves to prayer. What would happen if we did that? We’re used to being told to be happy, we’re
used to being told to be patient, but to pray all the time? That always seems like a bit much, or better
left to the “professionals.” Other
people are better at praying, other people seem to have their prayers answered
more often, I don’t need to pray. What
difference does it make? Well, beloved,
there are several people among us this morning who can tell you that prayers do work, that your prayers are needed and appreciated, that God does answer
prayer. So, keep praying! Persevere!
There’s an acronym about prayer called P.U.S.H., anyone know what it
stands for? Pray Until Something
Happens. Pray Until Something
Happens. Keep praying, keep trying, keep
submitting that recruitment application form, until something happens.
And
keep in mind, what we want to happen may not be what happens. God doesn’t always answer how we want him to. Steve Rogers persevered, and got what he
wanted, kind of. Instead of being sent
to the European Theater to fight, though, he’s enlisted in the United Service
Organizations and performs with showgirls, playing a soldier, Captain America. Steve doesn’t see any action until he’s sent
to Europe and, on his own, goes looking for some prisoners-of-war, including his
friend from the beginning of the movie. He
is successful, and now that he has proven himself as a soldier, he is finally
sent on a mission, with the division he just freed. It’s not the path Steve had in mind to serve
his country. He just wanted to be a
regular enlisted soldier. But in his
perseverance to serve his country, being willing to do it in any way that was
open to him, he became not just any soldier, but a super-soldier, Captain
America. And because of his tenacity and
his loyalty, he became a very good soldier, one ready to obey orders and one
good at planning and carrying out strategy.
Much later down the road, Captain America joins the Avengers and ends up
the leader of that group of superheroes, precisely because he is good and
trained at tactical strategies. He was
just trying to serve, and because of his persistence and willingness, he became
a superhero.
There’s
one more thing about that super-soldier serum, which is that it doesn’t wear
off. Somehow, Captain America’s body,
which is at the peak of natural human potential in terms of strength,
endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability, and healing, can also
regularly replenish the super-soldier serum.
It becomes part of his blood, and just like we naturally make more
blood, he makes more of the serum in his blood.
As a result, he heals really quickly when he’s wounded, he can run a
mile in 73 seconds, he can bench press 1200 pounds, and his stamina just keeps
him going far after a normal person, or even an athlete, would get tired.[6] Makes you a little jealous, huh? You’d have more energy than a two year
old! As Christians, we know that our
strength is renewed and replenished by God.
Our Old Testament lesson this morning tells us that “those who trust in
the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings
like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow
weak.”[7] Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? And it happens by intentionally spending time
with God. Praying every day. Reading the Bible every day. Listening to what God says by being still and
silent. You know, these are all
spiritual disciplines. Not the ones you often
hear about more, like fasting or taking a day of rest, but they still are ways,
that when done on a regular basis, which is what makes them a discipline,
because you need self-discipline to do them regularly, they draw you closer to
God.
To
persevere in prayer means to also persevere in your relationship with God. It means you want to grow closer to him, it
means you want to know more about him and about what he wants for your
life. It means you want to have a close
friendship with him, and not just someone you say hi to once a week. Those who trust in God, those who hope in
God, those who wait for God, those who persist and keep doing these things,
they shall renew their strength. They
shall run and not get tired. They shall
walk and not lag behind. You keep doing
these spiritual practices, these things that draw you closer to God, because
otherwise you’re going to wear out. What
happens to someone who’s not a runner when they run a marathon without training
for it? They’re absolutely exhausted,
dehydrated, and out of breath. Your
spiritual life is important to your overall health. Persevere in keeping it up, and I can’t
promise that you’ll have the same effects as the super-soldier serum, but God
will give you new energy and fresh strength for each day. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says that “each
day has enough trouble of its own.”[8] God will see you through each day, as well,
when you persevere in your relationship with him. He will give you enough energy to deal with
the enough trouble of each day.
There’s
a Christian song I’ve been playing on repeat in my car the past couple
weeks. It’s called “10,000 Reasons
(Bless the Lord)” by Matt Redman and the first verse goes “The sun comes up.
It's a new day dawning. It's time to sing Your song again. Whatever may pass,
and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.”[9] However the day goes, may I still be singing
God’s praise when the evening comes. May
I have the perseverance, and the energy, to get through the day, to keep
praying, in spite of whatever may happen, that at the end of the day I am still
praising God. At the end of the day,
Captain America is still standing. He
hasn’t gotten tired. Where are you at
the end of the day? Are you still
blessing the Lord? Did you spend enough
time with him? Did you pray all day
long, praying until something happened?
Or are you dead on your feet and about to lose your faith? Persevere, persist, keep at it; your faith,
your relationship with God, is one area where you really do want to be
stubborn. After all, stubbornness is the
word we use when we don’t want people to be persistent. Persevere in seeking God. Keep at it.
He may not answer how you want him to or how you expect him to. My prayer for you is that “all who seek God,
or a deeper knowledge of him… may find and be found by him.”[10] Amen.
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