When Superman Day Falls on Good Friday - Episode 578

Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of Rick Lee James. As always, I'm your host, and I'm so glad that you're here with us for another special episode today. This week is a different kind of unusual convergence for the episode. It's coming out on a Friday, and the reason is why is it's Good Friday. And it's the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. But today is also, weirdly enough, Superman Day. It's a celebration of the world's most iconic superhero, at least in my opinion. And for most of my life, I have felt the pull of both worlds, the theological and the mythical, the deeply sacred story of the death of Jesus and resurrection, and the human longing that exists in myth expressed through stories like Superman's. And so today, in this brief podcast, I just want to talk about why these stories speak to us as human beings, or maybe they just speak to me that way. I find them haunting at times. I find them to be shaping in my life, formational. And so in order to do that, I want to borrow from Joseph Campbell. The author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Joseph Campbell famously gave us what is called the monomyth, or the hero's journey. And according to Campbell, all great hero stories, they follow a similar pattern, or a path, I believe he calls them. A call to adventure, descent into the unknown, death, or symbolic death even, and ultimately resurrection and return. Which sounds familiar, doesn't it? Well, Campbell, he didn't invent this pattern, but he did notice it across cultures and times and regions throughout history, that heroes die and rise. And why is that? Well, because we know, I think, deep down, that death is not the end. The sacrifice means something. So before we go too much further, let's— it's Superman Day. Well, it's Good Friday too, so Well, it's Superman Day. What should I talk about? Let's talk about Superman first. So in 1992, DC Comics killed Superman. The death of Superman, it was this global event. He died saving the world from Doomsday, this monster who was representative of pretty much nothing but brute force. There almost didn't even seem to be a mind in there. He was just there to destroy, to kill, to hurt, to cause destruction and pain. And Superman in that story, which goes over several issues culminating into this huge event, he didn't just fight, he gave his life. And it took months before he returned back to comic books. And we all wondered, is he actually gonna come back? At least I did. I was young. I wondered if it was gonna be, you know, like, is Superman really gone in the world? It It kind of felt like he was, kind of felt like he was gone. And months later when he did return, it was interesting because he didn't return untouched. He came back changed. In some ways I think, at least in my estimation, physically weakened. He was different. He was scarred. Well, that sounds like a myth. Well, because Superman is and always has been a Christ figure. He was sent from above. He was raised by humble parents, and he stood for truth and justice, and he gave his life for others. Even his creators, Siegel and Schuster, two young Jewish men in the 1930s in Cleveland, Ohio, they gave him messianic undertones. Especially, you might find it in, in Moses, one of the messianic figures of Scripture who brought his people out of slavery and He was Moses, and he was Jesus, he was all these characters rolled into one. But myths are not just fiction. I love how C.S. Lewis said, "The story of Jesus is a myth that became fact." And nowhere is that clearer than today, Good Friday. And I wanna be careful with the comparisons between Jesus and Superman, because I honestly think that they're extremely different. Jesus didn't have superpowers. Jesus was fully human, fully God, fully man. Jesus entered into suffering in different ways. I think the metaphor can only be carried so far, but it is interesting how so much of the Christ story inspires other stories, and so many myths throughout time seem to follow this similar pattern. And Jesus followed the hero's path that Campbell outlines in his book, and He left his home, he taught about a new kingdom, he healed the sick, he welcomed the outsider, he turned over the tables. He was arrested, not because he was violent, but because he disrupted the system. His trial was a sham. The Sanhedrin broke their own laws, holding it at night. Pilate washed his hands while sending an innocent man to death. Jesus threatened the status quo, not by wielding a sword, but by loving too well. Too generously, too freely, even loving the wrong people, not allowing people to be put into cages, even cages that religion would come up with, seemingly good cages at times, so to speak. But he helped people to be set free from those patterns. And the cross was Rome's final word. It was their humiliation and pain. It was their final way to execute a person in the most painful and gruesome way possible. But in the story of the Gospel, the cross becomes the portal, the abyss, the underworld, that part of the hero's journey where all seems lost, the harrowing of hell as church history calls it, when Jesus descended to Hades, to the dead. And yet, that's not the end. The resurrection is the return, But Jesus does not return as a conquering general. He comes back with wounds, scars in His hands, a pierced side. He did not return in full glory, but with humility, with weakness, we could say, with scars, with suffering. Jesus returns bearing the marks of the cross on His body. Jesus returns bearings the scars of love. Joseph Campbell wrote that the hero doesn't just go on the journey for themselves. The hero returns with the elixir, something that heals the community. In Jesus' case, that elixir is grace, mercy. It is the kingdom of God come to earth. But here's where the myth and the reality part ways, because Jesus didn't just symbolize resurrection, at least not for people of faith. He embodied it. He didn't just teach hope, he is hope. He didn't just escape death, death is defeated. And now when we die or when our loved ones die, death takes them, but Christ takes our loved ones from death. So why do we need stories like Superman? Here we are on Good Friday, Why do we weep when fictional heroes die and cheer when they rise? Why is it that we so resonate with these stories? I think it's because in some ways, they echo the truest story of all. They remind us that power can be used sacrificially, that goodness matters, that hope can be resurrected, And in a world where political powers still do sham trials, where leaders enjoy justice while denying it to others, where violence is glorified and love is minimized, where it's "justice for me but not for thee," we need to remember this. We need this reminder that the real hero, Jesus, not a superhero but a man, laid down his life, not just to inspire us, but to save us. One of the songs I've written over the years is called "Love Our Enemies," and it echoes this truth with these words: Jesus is our true example, showing us the face of God when he chose to die for sinners rather than to shed their blood. That's not just myth, that's gospel. So today, on Superman Day and Good Friday, I hope we can remember this: heroes wear capes, but the Savior wore a crown of thorns. Superman pulled his punches because he knew that his enemies, uh, you know, well, he knows he's a fictional character, but he knows his enemies are weaker. He pulls his punches so that he won't harm them. Well, Jesus refused to strike at all. Jesus died for the world in a fictional city. Jesus died for the world outside Jerusalem's gates. And both myth and Messiah rose again, because the human heart longs for resurrection. The human heart longs for a hero who doesn't abuse power, but empties himself and empowers others. And on this day, we remember that we have that person. His name is Jesus. Back to my lyrics of "Love Our Enemies." So we'll fight them with affection. We will conquer them with grace. Until our enemies see Jesus when they look into our face. And I might add to that, until we see Jesus when we look into their faces as well. Well, thank you for joining me here again this week on Voices in My Head. I know it's another short episode, but I'm grateful to have you here on this very strange combination of Good Friday and April 18th, 2025, Superman Day. I didn't want— they're both significant to me in oddly different ways, and I'm grateful that we had this time together today. So feel free to share this episode. You can find more of my music and my Reflections podcast, things like that, at rickleejames.com. You can also find me on Substack if you look up Rick Lee James. And wherever you are, remember on this journey that the hero's path, the true hero's path, it leads through suffering love, sometimes through death, but always to life. And through Good Friday to resurrection, I wish you today the grace of God upon your life and the peace. And as you enter into this holy weekend, pray you'll spend some time reflecting and come back Sunday morning ready to rejoice in the resurrection.