Fit Soul Chapter 9 - You're Not the Hero

Hey, it's Ben Greenfield. Welcome to chapter nine of Fit Soul, my book from fitsoulbook.com where you can also get the book for free as a digital download or you can get a physical version shipped to you. But I'm also giving you a little audio chapter each week and this is chapter nine. If you enjoy these episodes then you can check out everything else that has to do with Fit soul book@fitsoulbook.com Chapter 9 you're not the hero. You've probably heard of it. Even if you haven't heard of it, you've probably witnessed it manifested all around you in nearly every smash Hollywood hit movie from Star wars to Rocky to Frozen, numerous literary works of popular fiction, from the Hobbit to Chronicles of Narnia to the Sorcerer's Stone, and even in Cinderella sports stories such as the underdog NCAA basketball team who claims the crown or the Come from Behind Ironman triathlete who battles injury to in his seminal 1949 book the Hero With a Thousand Faces, author Joseph Campbell coined the term monomyth to describe what I'm talking about, which is now more widely known as Drum roll please. The Hero's Journey Campbell notes after studying a vast array of mythological stories across different cultures and time periods, the fascinating fact that each of these inspirational tales all follow the same basic story pattern and share eerily similar overarching structures, types of characters, and universal themes. In other words, human beings spanning the planet across eons of time have been using the same basic story elements to communicate an epic tale with each other for what appears to be the entirety of our human existence. So what is the Hero's Journey? Well, the basic 12 steps of the so called hero's journey 1. The ordinary world 2. The call of adventure 3. Refusal of the call 4. Meeting the mentor 5. Crossing the first threshold 6. Tests allies and enemies 7. Approach to the inmost cave 8. The ordeal 9. The reward 10. The road back 11. Resurrection and 12. Return with the Elixir. Now, surely, for better or worse, you're familiar with at least a few popular Hollywood hits, right? Well, for the sake of a helpful visual example, if you grab the digital download of the book@fitzhoulbook.com I have it all mapped out how the Hero's Journey plays out in six popular movies and walk you through all of that via relatively entertaining infographic that I worked out for you showing how Harry Potter, Star wars, the Spider man movie, another superhero movie, one of the Avengers films, and the Lion King and Lord of the Ring all follow this same theme that might help you really wrap your head around it. Once you check that out, I think you'll be able to visualize the hero's journey. There are also some really helpful Google Image searches, for example, that will show you what this looks like in visual format. But the entire path that'll be walking you through using an illustrative example in today's audio is best summarized by Joseph Campbell himself, when explains in one single succinct sentence, a hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won. The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. You know, I first became familiar with the hero's journey while I was writing my first fiction book called the Forest. To develop the plot sequences for that book, I relied heavily on a really good book by Christopher Vogler called the Writer's Mythic Structure for Writers, which teaches teaches authors how to weave the hero's journey into their books, stories, and screenplays. So I've become familiar with the hero's journey over the past several years, and as mentioned earlier, I've seen it played out in books and movies, but also in my own life and the lives of those around me. The overweight office worker who dares to step outside the ordinary world of a cubicle and sign up for an Ironman triathlon. The parents and children who make a decision to venture outside traditional education and begin the journey of homeschooling or unschooling. The CEO who pivots and reinvents their business's product offering and mission statement to transform the business into an entirely different entity. Ultimately, these are all examples of people living out what seems to be programmed into our very DNA the feeling that, as a random Disney princess might say, there must be more to life than this, or I'm meant for something greater. And the subsequent decision to venture forth into the unknown, to cross a threshold, go to battle, find the elixir, and save ourselves, or save others. Some live this craving for the experience of the hero's journey by witnessing it in others, like watching their favorite sports teams engage in a season of competition, or engaging with epic movies and works of fiction, or following a politician, celebrity, or other pop culture icon achieving their own dreams. Others, those who often taste a much greater degree of adventure, excitement, success, fulfillment, and purpose, take a giant, daring step forward and live out the hero's journey in their own life. And while there's nothing inherently bad with living out The Hero's Journey There can be a Dark side to the Hero's Journey the Dark side of the Hero's Journey now don't get me wrong, I in no way desire to disparage the inspiration, story, value, and honorable tradition woven into the Hero's journey. But here's where the Hero's journey can get dangerous when we decide that our own version of it will manifest in some kind of grand salvation of humankind and we place a lofty and unnecessary burden burden upon ourselves to live our entire life as a hero, often to the detriment of personal development, family, sleep, and health as we get caught up in a perpetual cycle of achieving and doing rather than learning to be satisfied with the experience of being a human being. I call this White Night Syndrome or the Hero's Burden, and have certainly found myself caught in a state of excess stress, a mild guilt complex, and neglect of pressing personal and familial duties because I feel burdened to help all the hurting people. But the fact is, sometimes it's just as meaningful and glorious to save or be the hero for one person. You can create just as much meaning and impact, helping your neighbor weed their garden, calling your mom on the phone, or volunteering at a local church or homeless shelter as you can, stepping on stage in front of thousands of people to deliver your message of hope, or buying a plane ticket to Africa to volunteer in a needy village. Not that there's anything wrong with that too. And then the second part that's kind of the dark side of the hero's journey is when we view ourselves as the hero of our own story, it can sometimes lead to excess shame or judgment towards others. Because we, after all, are the champion, the lead star, the primary protagonist, and the principal character of the story of our life. If everyone else is simply there playing a supportive role, it's very tempting and oh so easy to fall into a selfish and hubristic pattern of placing yourself on a tall, shiny pedestal while looking down upon others as less of a hero. This shaming and judgment, which, based on David Hawkins book Healing and Recovery, is really the lowest vibrational state of human energy in which one can exist, can be quite a prideful state of existence that ultimately makes those who are around us feel inferior and excessively judged. Now, I'm not saying there isn't an enormous amount of value in living your life in a sort of hero's journey pattern, but you need to be highly cognizant of the temptation to place unrealistic expectations upon yourself and to judge or shame others who you may not perceive to be as much of a hero as you make sense. I personally have had to deal quite a bit in my own life with my own personal baggage of being brought up in a home where I was given the impression I was different, I was superior, I was meant for great things. And this, combined with my natural tendency towards egotism and arrogance, resulted in me spending many years charging through life with a focus on fame, power, achievement and hero status, while looking down upon others who might be thinking smaller or satisfied with less than my own perfectionist achiever personality thought sufficient. While I have no regrets in life and only gratefulness for the steps that have brought me to where I am now, I certainly feel as though I've spent years of my life stressing myself out with attempts to be enormously impactful while alienating others because I viewed myself as the ultimate hero. And jeez, what a burden, what a chore for others to have to put up with that kind of holier than thou mentality coming from me. But being the ultimate hero who will save the world is not a burden you and I need to carry. See, we don't need to carry the weight of the hero's burden. Sure, taking dares, making an impact in our careers and personal lives, stepping outside the comfort zone of our ordinary world and inspiring others with a fantastical tale of slaying the dragons of life can all be noble pursuits, but our identity need not be wrapped up in those pursuits. Frankly, it's not our calling to be the hero who will save the world. As I told you in chapter eight on how to find your purpose in life, our true calling, no matter how big or small our calling and career, is to simply love God by waking up each day and doing the very best, most excellent job we can with whatever God has placed upon our plate for the day, and to love others selflessly and in full presence, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. At that point you're enough of a hero. You can then hand off everything to who I would consider to be the true and ultimate hero. You can, as John Bunyan writes in the Pilgrim's Progress, remove your heavy burdens and simply pass them off to that hero, he says. Just as Christian came up to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, and began to tumble down the hill. And so it continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. There it fell in, and I saw it no more. The ultimate example of the hero's journey. The ultimate hero is Jesus Christ. So consider this God man for a moment. From the beginning of time, Jesus existed in the so called ordinary world of heaven, a supernatural realm in which he was no doubt comfortable, honored, worshiped daily by angels, principalities and powers, and sitting at the right hand of the throne of God. He then, based on God's desire to save his precious humankind and to fulfill prophecies of old, heeded his calling and crossed a threshold into our comparatively far more dangerous and broken world, taking on the form of flawed and frail human flesh and being transformed into all the messiness that goes along with that being a helpless baby, dependent on a mother to swaddle him and change his diaper. No doubt fighting sniffles, colds and flus as he aged, going through the pain and awkwardness of puberty, enduring muscle soreness, aches, pains, cuts, bruises, bee stings, thorns, sunburns, and experiencing every other difficulty of living life on a sinful and imperfect planet. But that wasn't the only threshold he was to cross, for he was not only called out of his ordinary world and into ours, and did indeed cross that threshold, but the greater threshold for him to cross had yet to come. While refusal of the call might be a mildly inaccurate description of Jesus response to his calling, there's a scene in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening of Jesus's crucifixion, during which he prayed for hours, sweating not tears but blood and calling out to God. Because the resistance of his flesh and the internal struggles within him based on the extreme suffering he knew he was about to encounter, he didn't refuse this call per se, but he certainly prayed and begged. That he did didn't have to be the one to go to battle as the hero. He said, my Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. But Jesus then goes on to trust God's will and plan for his life, and finally accepts his quest based on God's will and plan for his life, yet not as I will, but as you will. Does he then encounter a mentor or ally? Well, absolutely in this case in the form of a supernatural aid of an angel. After Jesus prays for God's will to be done, God sends an angel to strengthen him for the unfair trial and extreme agony that awaited him. Luke 22:42 44 says, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him, and in his anguish he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. Then, after this prayer, came the enemies, a throng of Roman soldiers and officials armed with swords, clubs and torches, and led by Judas Iscariot, they sees Jesus, who gave himself up without any resistance. Even when Peter attacks one of the enemy, Jesus rebukes Peter and commands him to put down his weapon. More enemies then arise as Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin and is spat upon and brutally beaten. He's then bloodied and broken, sent before Governor Pontius Pilate, who found no guilty case against Jesus and sends him then to King Herod, who has Jesus mocked and beaten again before sending him back to Pilate. Now bear in mind that Jesus was forced to walk to Herod approximately two and a half miles after he had not slept and already been beaten, then was forced to walk back in the same state. So Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and he said to them, you brought this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I've examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither is Herod, for he sent him back to us. As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him. But the whole mob of unruly protesters who had gathered to witness this trial shouted, away with this man, release Barabbas. To us now, Barabbas was a murderer who'd been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and the mob wanted this murderer to have Pontius Mercy rather than Jesus. Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, crucify him. Crucify him. For the third time, Pilate spoke to them. Why? What crime has this man committed? I found him in no grounds for the death penalty, therefore I'll have him punished and then release him. But with loud shouts, they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released Barabbas and surrendered Jesus to their will. Then comes the approach to the inmost cave, which was an ordeal in and of itself for Jesus that came before the more intense and painful ordeal even began, and is visually detailed in all its disturbing gore. In the film the Passion of the Christ, Pilate commanded for Jesus to be flogged, which was required by Roman law before a crucifixion. For the flogging, Jesus was ordered to stand naked, and the flogging was administered from the shoulders down to the upper legs with a leather Whip sheep bones were usually attached to each end of the strip to dig into the flesh more deeply. In the middle of the strips were metal balls positioned to cause deep bruising to the underlying musculature. These whips were designed to tear out chunks of flesh and expose the bone beneath, leaving the skin torn away in long ribbons. Roman soldiers then placed a crown of thorn on his head and a robe on his back. The robe helped Jesus blood from the flogging to clot and to prevent so much blood loss that there could be a risk of him prematurely dying or going into acute shock before the actual crucifixion. They then repeatedly struck Jesus on the head to push the thorns from the crown more deeply into his skull and to cause damage to the facial nerves, which would cause intense pain down the face and the neck. Now, after that brutal torture, Jesus was unable to carry the cross to the side of the crucifixion, which was a hill about a half mile away called Golgotha. So a man named Simon of Cyrene executed this task in Jesus's stead. A whole cross weighed over 300 pounds, while the cross beam was about 100 pounds, a hefty weight indeed, that anyone accustomed to exercises like farmer's walks or loaded carries knows would be an extremely difficult thing to do for a half mile uphill. Carry no less in a sleep deprived, humiliated and beaten state. Then came the crucifixion. A crucifixion was a bloody, torturous spectacle and involved a slow, painful death, usually performed in public to dissuade any witnesses from committing similar crimes. It was very gruesome and typically involved being impaled on a stake or affixed to a tree or upright pole and crossbeam. Crucifixion was invented by the Persians between 300 and 400 BC and is one of the most painful means of punishment ever invented by humankind, usually reserved for slaves, revolutionaries, and the most vile of criminals. Indeed, many cultures across the world associate any kind of hanging from a tree in this manner to be the ultimate curse or form of humiliation one could ever place on a human being. The Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero described a crucifixion as a most cruel and disgusting punishment, and suggested that the very mention of the cross should be far removed, not only from a Roman citizen's body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears. He also said, it is a crime to bind a Roman citizen. To scourge him is a wickedness. To put him to death is almost parricide. What shall I say of crucifying him. So guilty an action cannot by any possibility be adequately expressed by any name. Bad enough for it. Now the person being crucified was usually stripped naked. Their legs were broken or shattered with an iron club. Jesus was nailed to the cross while lying down with the nails driven into his wrists, not his hands, because if they had nailed his hands, the weight of his arms would have caused the nails to rip through the soft flesh and his body to crash back down into the dirt. The enormous nails were 7 to 9 inches long and would have caused agonizing pain to shoot up the both arms due to the severing of the incredibly sensitive median nerve that travels up the arm and into the shoulders. As the cross was lifted to an upright position, Jesus's full weight would have pulled down on his bleeding wrist, causing his shoulders and elbows to dislocate. His feet were also nailed to the cross through the top of the feet above the ankle, with the knees flexed at about 90 degrees, which would have caused the weight of his body to push down on the nails, resulting in severe nerve damage to the dorsal arteries of the foot and causing searing pain to spread up both legs. In this position, a slow and painful suffocation also occurs, and this is because normally, to allow for an inhale, the diaphragm must shift downwards, then rise on the exhale. But in a crucified position, the weight of the body pulls down on the diaphragm, so exhalation becomes nearly impossible, and Jesus would have had to have pushed up against his nailed feet, causing excruciating pain to so much as exhale. Yet miraculously, or as a display of extreme tenacity and perseverance, he still manages to speak at least seven times from the cross, most notably to say in Luke 23:34. Forgive them. As the difficulty of exhalation continued on a cross, carbon dioxide would have built up in Jesus blood, causing respiratory acidosis and an intense triggering of a need to breathe, along with an elevated heart rate due to decreased oxygen supply, which would have then caused further damage to tissues and a hypoxic state that caused capillaries to begin leaking fluid from blood into tissues. This would have resulted in accumulation of fluid around his heart, a condition known as pericardial effusion and lungs called pleural effusion. Eventually, the lungs would collapse and the heart would fail from tissue damage or myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest, or even a bursting of the heart, a cardiac rupture. So in this manner, Jesus hung on the Cross for six hours, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon on a Friday after he uttered, or more likely moaned or even screamed in a loud voice, his final words. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. The Roman soldiers plunged a spear into his side to bleed him out like a dying pig and ensure he was fully dead. In his message, the horror of the Crucifixion, John Piper notes that you probably would have vomited had you witnessed this entire horrific scene. After he died, Jesus's body was likely beyond recognition. Isaiah 52, 14, 15 prophesies, he was so disfigured, he no longer looked like a man. His form was so marred, he no longer looked human. Thus, disfigured and marred, Jesus was taken down from the cross and buried in a large tomb carved into a rock. An enormous stone was then rolled over the opening of the tomb. And that was only the beginning, the ordeal. See, the ordeal for Jesus had only just begun. As noted earlier, Jesus hung on the cross until Friday afternoon. He was resurrected early Sunday morning or Easter Sunday. And so what happened during those 40 hours after Jesus was buried, I believe this was when the true ordeal occurred, which in religious literature is often referred to as the harrowing of hell. Allow me to explain. In classic mythology, Hades is an underworld inhabited by departed souls. In Greek, the word Hades and in Hebrew the word Sheol refer to this as the abode or dwelling of the dead, a place of darkness and gloom, and the same place described in Virgil's underworld and Homer's Odyssey. In some ancient Greek and Hebrew literature, it sometimes seems to represent this neutral place where the dead awaited for the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, sometimes referred to as a grave and a place where the dead reside, and also to a place where the wicked suffer after death or as a place of torment for the unrighteous. In Christian theology, the harrowing of Hell, translated from Latin as the descent of Christ into Hell, is considered as the descent of Christ into Hades that occurs between the time of his crucifixion and his resurrection, during which he brought salvation to all of the righteous who had died since the beginning of the world. So many consider Hades to be kind of synonymous with Hell, and I suspect that might be the case. But more importantly, what exactly happened down there in Hell or hades during those 40 hours? In Dante's Inferno, the poet's guide Virgil tells him of how he had personally seen, quote, a powerful one come to retrieve the Hebrew patriarchs. In the 14th century poem Piers Plowman by John Langland, Christ's arrival to Satan's evil underground kingdom is depicted as a sudden explosion of light in a place that had known light only once before. Before when Lazarus had been summoned back to life by Jesus. The poem reads. Again the light commanded them to unlock. And Lucifer answered, who is this? What lord are you? Swiftly the light replied, the King of glory, the Lord of might and main and all manner of virtues, the Lord of power. Dukes of this dim place, undo these gates at once that Christ may come in, the King of Heaven's son. And with that breath Hell broke open and Belial's bars. In spite of any guard or watchman, the gates open wide. Patriarchs and prophets, the people in darkness sang St. John's song. Behold the Lamb of God. Lucifer could not look, he was so blinded by light. And those whom our Lord loved, he caught up into his light and said to Satan, lo, here is my soul to make amends for all sinful souls, to save those who are worthy. Mine they are and of me and so I may the better claim them. I will lead from hence the people whom I loved and who believed in my coming. Wow. In the non canonical Gospel of Nicodemus, it's described how Jesus, after his crucifixion, descended into hell and brought salvation to the souls of the dead who were prisoners there. When Jesus arrives, the Lord of the underworld, Hades bids his servants to bolt and lock the doors. But Jesus shatters the gates, enters, seizes Satan and binds him in iron chains. Then raises up Adam along with all the prophets and the saints, and together they all depart up out of Hades and ascend into Paris Paradise. But do you know what I think? I think the harrowing of Hell was an ordeal that went beyond the description I just gave you. An ordeal even more painfully intense for Jesus than the cross. See, the demons, evil spirits, rulers of the underworld and Satan himself certainly would not have given up their precious prisoners easily. They would not have simply extended their hands and wrists in meek submission to be bound by Jesus when he arrived and blew open the gates of Hell. They would have fought tooth, nail and claw against this righteous invader who suddenly appeared. I believe Jesus battled for hours against these spirits, suffering mightily in a fire more hot and intense than you could ever imagine in a place of such severe and extreme loneliness and disconnection from God his Father that it would have been an even more harsh tribulation than any that could be experienced on earth. I believe Jesus witnessed, felt deep in his bones and experienced every last shred of human wickedness, suffering and shame that has ever been experienced by any living soul, and that any living soul would experience for all time. I believe he lived the horrors of the Genghis Khan massacres, the Holocaust, the Crusades, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Rwandan genocides, the Soviet Gulags, every terrorist attack, every world war, every famine, every murder, every beating, every torture, every rape of a man, woman or child, Mountains upon mountains of whitewashed bones, skulls bloodied, shreds of flesh and horror, stricken faces, and every last atrocity, massacre, mass murder, butchery, ethnic cleansing, horrific sin and bloody shred of wickedness that humankind has ever committed, ever. I believe that he screamed, he suffered, he writhed in pain and agony and experienced every immoral act of past, present and future in the deepest and painful way beyond anything any of us could ever imagine. As Isaiah 53, 4:6 says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed, and we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Indeed the entire underworld of our existence must have shaken and trembled with with the deep, guttural, bone chilling screams of Jesus as he battled in such a way that the bravest, mightiest warrior amongst us mere humans could ever imagine. And then standing with bloodied sweat, ash covered skin and deep battle wounds, surrounded by the bloody carnage and aftermath of humbled and defeated demons, with the backdrop of the black smoke of the decimation of evil, and immersed amongst the echoes of the cries of thousands of conflicts, confused and bewildered dark spirits of the underworld, Jesus turned to a frustrated, enraged and shocked Satan, who is now bound in chains and shackles, smiled and said, I win the reward. With that, Jesus stepped back out through the gates of hell with the reward and returned to his human body of flesh in the tomb. And what was that reward exactly? Well, Colossians 2:1415 makes it clear what happened to the powers of evil. Through Jesus's death on the cross, defeat of Satan and subsequent resurrection, he canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside. Nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Hebrews 2:14 says that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil. Romans 3:24 26 says that by the four free gift of God's grace, all are put right with him through Christ Jesus who sets them free. God offered him so that by his blood he should become the means by which people's sins are forgiven through their faith in Him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people's sins, but in the present time he deals with their sins in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way, God shows that He Himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus. In other words, Jesus liberated humanity from slavery to sin. He paid our sins in full. He gifted us with the reward of free salvation. He defeated death to guarantee eternal life and immortality in forever bliss in heaven to anyone who simply believes that it happens and goes forth to live their life's purpose to the excellence of God equipped with that belief. This means that all the scars that cover you, all the wounds that you may have inflicted upon others, all the pains that you carry, any shame you've ever experienced, any sin you've ever committed or will ever commit, all of that was completely washed away by the massive heroic sacrifice of Jesus. It's that simple. That's the reward that Jesus claimed for you and I. The Resurrection in most versions of the hero's journey, the resurrection occurs after the road back. Joseph Cancel describes the resurrection as the hero first faces the resurrection, his most dangerous meeting with death. This final life or death ordeal shows that the hero has maintained and can apply all that he has brought back to the ordinary world. This ordeal and resurrection can represent a cleansing or purification that must occur now that the hero has emerged from the land of the dead. The hero is reborn or transformed with the attributes of the ordinary self in addition to the lessons and insights from the characters he has met along the road. The resurrection may be a physical ordeal or final showdown between the hero and the shadow. The road back is described as the hero must finally recommit to completing the journey and accept the road back to the ordinary world. A hero's success in the special world may make it difficult to return. Like crossing the threshold, the road back needs an event that will push the hero through the threshold back into the ordinary world. Well, here's where I tend to think the story of Jesus's hero's journey strays a bit from Campbell's model, as many versions of the hero's journey tend to to do. Sometimes there is no hard and fast rule that everything must occur in the exact sequence that Campbell dictates. Now, sure, the final showdown between Jesus and Satan and the forces of darkness could be categorized as a sort of resurrection based on Campbell's definition. And the road back could be classified as some kind of journey that happens before then. But to me, that just doesn't seem to make sense. Instead, I think Jesus's hero's journey works best as the resurrection coming first and the road back coming after. So in Jesus hero's journey, after he defeats death and claims the final reward, he's resurrected in this mighty triumphant return from the underworld. The resurrection is less of an ordeal than it is an astonishing victory. What happened between the harrowing of hell and how Jesus came back into flesh inside the tomb? Well, we don't really know what that looked like. It's a deep mystery at least. I'm personally unaware of any record in the Bible or other non canonical scripture of what actually went on in there in the tomb or elsewhere, or how Jesus traveled back from the underworld and into our world. We do know that the stone covering his tomb, which based on the size of stones used in Jewish tombs in those days, would have weighed 2,000 to 4,000 pounds, is somehow rolled away from the opening of the tomb by some supernatural force. We know there was a violent earthquake that likely signified an extreme disruption of the spiritual forces in our world. We also know that the Roman soldier soldiers who had been guarding the tomb were found shaking with fear and appeared like dead men. There are multiple accounts of this resurrection in Scripture, including in Mark 16:1 8, in Matthew 28:1 10, and in Luke 24:1 8. Each of those sections has expansive explanations of what happened. And I'll read one of them to you from Matthew 16:1 8. And the rest, of course, if you want to review all of them, are in the Bible. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Siloam, brought spices so they could go to anoint Jesus's body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? But when they looked up, they saw the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. And they entered the tomb. They saw a young man dressed in white robes sitting on the right side the and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said. You're looking for Jesus the Nazarene who is crucified. He is risen. He's not here See the place where they laid him. But go tell his disciples and Peter, he's going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. And again, Matthew 28:1 10 and Luke 24:1 8 tell other stories of what happened in that tomb, as well as John 21:13, which also tells the story that I just told you from a different perspective, as each of the Gospels are written from different perspectives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Anyhow, though on the road back after this victorious resurrection, Jesus then embarks upon a road back to his ordinary world. According to the New Testament, the road to Emmaus appearance of Jesus is one of the early resurrection appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion and the discovery of the empty tomb. And perhaps it's quite fitting for the purposes of the Hero's Journey description that it actually is a road. Here's how that's described in Luke 24:1335. Now, that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus and himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that happen there in these days? What things? He asked. Well, about Jesus of Nazareth. They replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word. Indeed, before God and all the people, the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but didn't find his body. They came and told us they'd seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it, just as the women said, but they did not see Jesus. He said to them, how foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, stay with us. For it is nearly evening, the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were open and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us? While he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us, they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they find the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, it is true, the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Well, to me this Road to Emmaus story is a quite fitting example of a road back, and reminds me a bit of Tolkien's the Hobbit, in which Bilbo Baggin erupts into song as he arrives back to the shire. Coming to the top of a rise, he sees his home in the distance and stops and says, the following roads go ever, ever on over rock and under tree, by caves where never sun has shone, by streams that never find the sea, over snow by winter sown, and through the merry flowers of June over grass and over stone and under mountains in the moon Roads go ever, ever on under cloud and under star yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen and horror in the halls of stone look at last on meadows green and trees and hills they long have known. Jesus's eyes have certainly seen Fire and sword and horrors in the halls of stone he had battled the forces of evil he had fought and defeated the dragon. Having secured the reward, the salvation of all humankind, he returned triumphant to a feast. And who knows, perhaps like Bilbo Baggins, he hummed his own pleasant tune as he walked down the road away from the tomb, smiling satisfactorily at the scars on his wrists. The Elixir of course, the final step of the hero's journey is the return. With the Elixir, we've already established what the reward is salvation for you and salvation for me, and all our sins and shame washed away so that our souls are as pure white as snow. But what is the Elixir? The Bible also gives us plenty of revelations about that. John 16:5 7 says, but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asked me, where are you going? Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly, I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. The word advocate here is translated from the Greek word paraklety, which is also often translated as comforter. It is universally considered in Christianity to refer to the Holy Spirit. The pronoun he is used because the Holy Spirit is a person. So Jesus said that when he went to be with his heavenly Father, he would send God's Holy Spirit to live in Every Christian. Acts 13:11 backs this up as it describes Jesus ascension into heaven after his suffering. He presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered around him and asked him, lord, are you at the time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee. They said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven. The Book of Matthew doesn't describe Jesus ascension, but does contain this definitive final charge to his followers in Matthew 28:16 through 20. Then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very End of the age. So as Jesus returns to his ordinary world in heaven, he not only leaves behind the Eastern elixir of the Holy Spirit, but perhaps just as magnificent is that now his ordinary world has become our world, just as it might have been when Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins brought the pleasant pastoral setting of the Shire to all of Middle Earth, or C.S. lewis's Aslan country of blue sky, lush green grass, colorful birds and beautiful trees had saturated all of Narnia and even passed through the wardrobe into our own world. Satan is defeated. Salvation is here. Jesus created heaven on earth and any of us who believe upon his name are now helping to spread that heaven throughout the earth. While anointed with the comfort, peace, love and joy of the Elixir of the Holy Spirit for all time, you don't need to suffer or shame anymore. God has weaved this entire hero's journey of the gospel story into our very DNA. See, we all crave to live, experience and witness a version of the this story. Whether we're intimately familiar with this story of Jesus or not, we certainly sense, even subconsciously, that we live in a messed up world, albeit one offered the free gift of salvation to anyone who would take it. That we're broken individuals living in a broken culture and that we're desperately in need of some kind of greater hope and meaning beyond our ordinary lives. A hero, a resurrection, a reward and an elixir. From the beginning of time, Jesus has known of our suffering and our crippling pain and experienced it himself in an intimate way when he took on flesh and lived the hero's journey you've just heard about. His response to that pain of our world manifested as an intense act of selfless love to enter into our oppressive reality, to die a brutal and unjust death, to take the burden of all our sins and shame upon himself, and ultimately to save sinners like you and me with the free gift of salvation. Because Jesus lived the greatest hero's journey that could ever be lived, we also do not need to bear the burden to be the Savior of our own lives or of others lives. He is the Savior already, and we no longer need to bear that responsibility. Neither do we need to cast shame or judgment upon others who we deem to be less of a hero than ourselves. Instead, as Jesus so clearly stated before his triumphant return to heaven, our greatest calling in this life is to simply magnify God's excellence and Jesus hero's journey by doing the very best job of we can each day with whatever task God has placed upon our plate. Then go forth and tell of this great hero's journey through daily action, word or deed, in full acceptance and selfless love for every fellow human being. If you really want to help all the hurting people, simply live an extraordinary life to the glorification of God. Live your life's purpose as I taught you about in chapter eight. Then shout this greatest hero's journey story of all time from the rooftops with every last breath that you have. Does this mean you can't live the hero's journey in your own life? After all, it is built into your DNA and a meaningful part of the experience of the adventure of being a human being. Well, you can certainly live your own hero's journey and be inspired by the journey of others. You can enjoy inspirational epic hero's journey films and books like Star wars, the Matrix, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Chronicles of Narnia. You can witness the insurance inspiring Cinderella rise of sports teams and athletes who defy the odds and become champions. You can challenge yourself to new levels in your own personal life by stepping outside your ordinary world and starting a business, learning a new instrument or defying fear and signing up for a triathlon or a Spartan race or a gym challenge or anything else that scares the hell out of you and rips you outside your comfort zone. But remember, the dark side of the hero's journey threatens to set in when you place undue stress on yourself trying to be the ultimate one white knight or savior of all humankind. In the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote has a similar complex in which he believes he needs to do brave stuff to prove to others he's important. But there's a certain darkness involved with this Don Quixote complex that can in the long run lead to nervous breakdown, isolation, speculation, and so on. Trust me, I've lived with that burden and complex for years before I finally realized that I could put my trust in Jesus to save people. And my greatest responsibility was to simply tell the great story of Jesus that I just told you. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against missionary work or helping starving kids or volunteering in your local community or any other activity in which you're helping all the hurting people. But these strivings must always occur in the context of and with the realization that the ultimate hero is Jesus. And if you're helping those people, then the very best thing that you can do while helping them is to share with them the hope that is within you and to tell them the story of the greatest hero that ever lived. In addition, as you learned earlier, the dark side of the hero's journey also rises when you judge or shame others who you don't perceive to be living their own hero's journey as fully or completely or at as epic a level as you think they should be. So yes, live your hero's journey, but with no self shame or other shame. When you structure and live your life in full excellence and love and people know you are doing that because you love Jesus, love others, and have a deep hope within you for eternal bliss and rest in heaven, others will come to know who the true hero really is and find the deep hope and peace this bestows upon their own lives. And that's the very greatest gift you can give to anyone. Jesus saved all the hurting people. All you need to do is tell them and live your own hero's journey in full excellence and selfless love. So cast your burdens on Christ. Then go forth and love others with no judgment. Well, I pray that you're encouraged by these words that you unleash any burden of self judgmental heroism you may have been carrying upon your back for so many years. You release any feelings of shame towards anyone because Jesus died for every last one of us and that you go forth to tell as many people as possible of the hope that now lies within you while living your life's purpose to full excellence and the glory of God in selfless love towards all. You'll need plenty of spiritual muscles to do so. So in the next chapter I'm going to give you all the training tools that you need to develop those muscles. In the meantime, for resources, references, links and additional reading and listening material for this chapter, you can visit fitsoulbook.com chapter9 that's fitsoulbook.com chapter9.