We all have our heroes. I used to listen to adults in my church talk about Joe Dimaggio and John F. Kennedy and Shirley Chisholm a lot. Famous people who made it big, often out of nothing. Hero worship is nothing new, but it can be misleading. We set these people up on pedestals and when – if – they fall, it is pretty spectacular. The internet has enhanced our ability to do this, giving us a much farther reach and more choices of heroes to worship. It is also often remarkably one-sided. Charlie Kirk is a good example of this; when he was so brutally murdered, people either lionized him or disrespected him. All I wrote was that he had his good and bad points, and that we shouldn’t turn him into a demon or an angel. That’s up to God.
My heroes have been the not-so-famous examples of faithfulness. My Sunday school teacher who taught me about the love of Jesus, not the judgment of God. The lay leaders who volunteered to preach when the pastor was on vacation. The teachers who saw a scared kid and were patient with him. Most of the heroes who were well known were honored for their amazing skills at one thing; the real heroes in my life were the ones who stepped up and went beyond what was expected. Sometimes, they wore uniforms or suits and dresses – other times, they looked like they hadn’t showered in a week. All of them lived lives that matched their words – all of them were imperfect people who gave more than they had to.
Jesus wanted His followers to be good examples. He told people to “go and do likewise” when someone did something good for them. He taught His followers to pick up their crosses and follow Him. He encouraged people to bear good fruit and treat others – especially people in trouble or who were struggling – as if those others were Him. For Jesus, it wasn’t so much what people said – it was what they did. Like the guy who was forgiven a huge debt but wouldn’t forgive someone else’s small debt, Jesus taught that we are forgiven and judged in the same way we do those things for others. You don’t have to be famous to be a good example – you just have to care about others – to have empathy for every human being who is made in God’s image. We may never know that we made a difference in someone’s life, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the doing, not the accolades. Because our good examples help others to become good examples, and that is what allows us to leave the world in better shape than we found it. That, in itself, is a good example.
Prayer – Holy God, give us the courage to reach beyond ourselves when someone needs a lift or a hand up. Amen.
Today’s art is “Prayers” by Olga Krasanaki.