The fabled Superman of comic books, and movies. is that of a male baby who arrives from a planet beyond our universe and found in a barn by a childless couple. The baby is then raised on the couple’s farm near the obscure rural town of Smallville.
His adoptive father dies and the child, Clark Kent, grows to maturity and discovers his true identity. He leaves his aged mother and the town of Smallville for the large City of Metropolis, where he works as a reporter on The Daily Planet.
On seeing the crimes of evildoers, the mild-mannered Clark Kent finds a telephone box in which to shed his suit, and to reappear as Superman — “Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.”
The fabled Superman’s amazing feats make him a hero figure in Metropolis and since his superhuman body cannot be destroyed, law-breakers hate him as much as law-keepers love him.
The Superman fable is based to some degree on the story of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, and the baby’s arrival from another planet and his anonymity in Smallville are taken from those of Jesus of Nazareth, who is carpenter, and whose sudden ability to heal and to do miracles mark him as the promised, long-awaited Messiah.
The fictional Superman has his origin the Gospel narratives, which is why it resonates so well. The fantasy of a child who comes to earth from another planet is a parody of the genuine, biblical “word” that became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus, who is to most people a man, but to a few is revealed as the Son of God.
The real Super Man’s “goings forth” have been “from old, from everlasting” in the mind and purpose of God, until his conception and his virgin birth in Bethlehem to Mary. Jesus grew up in the small hill village of Nazareth, in Galilee, out of which had come “no good thing”.
At the age of 30, Jesus is baptised By John in the Jordan River and
introduced to onlookers as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
His fictional counterpart is the mild-mannered Clark Kent, who in moments of crisis in Metropolis, drops his hapless guise, flies into action, literally, and rescues people in distress. After doing so, he covers his bright Superman costume and resumes the disguise of one known to those around him as the likeable but helpless Clark Kent.
Who needs a fictional Superman? The real Super Man came 2,000 years ago, resisted Satan’s temptations, cast out the demons that he encountered, and what is more after his death by crucifixion rose from the tomb and later into clouds? The Hero from Heaven since has entered into the hearts of all who believe him to be the Son of God. Dwelling in them by the Spirit of God, Jesus acts through them to reach those around them.
The world created its own image of a superman, but there has never been nor ever will be anyone to compare with Jesus Christ, Son of Man and Son of God — the Extraordinary clothed in the Ordinary, the Super in the Natural, the original, authentic, Super Man!
It’s well past time to drop the false image of the comic-strip/movie character and instead believe in and follow the genuine Jesus. He reveals himself personally, to everyone who turns away from their sins and acknowledges him as their one and only Saviour and Lord.
Do you want God to forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life? Not to mention the ultimate “Up, up and away” experience that could well take place at any time. And that’s not all! Those who believe in Jesus and acknowledge him as their Lord are in the New Testament called “sons of God”; and as such are authorised and empowered to do the works that Jesus did! Like Jesus, they say, “I can do nothing of myself; it is He who lives in me that does these things”!
Unlike the fictional figure, we have no need to strip off our disguise as normal human beings, because the Super Man who lives in us can and does flash out in power through our hands and by his authority in our voices to save, heal, and set free those who are bound spiritually, sick physically, and addicted chemically.
So, why long for a fictional Superman, when you can have the Real One?