The real hero of the Bible

While working on another (perhaps future) post, I realized that we often look at the Bible in a sort of skewed light. We read it and think we are reading about heroes. After all, doesn’t it work that way in literature and movies? Isn’t the history of America built around the adventures and deeds of great men like Paul Revere, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson?

We have a tendency to approach the Bible the same way and to think of Noah, Abraham, David, and Peter as “heroes.” And they were men of faith, men of God, but when we expect them to be heroes like Iron Man, or Spider Man, or Caesar, or Washington, or Jefferson, boy are we in for a shock! Unbelievers read it and throw this in our faces – “These guys are your ‘heroes’?

The other night, I returned to Luke and read chapter 22. I think God has sense of humor - I had been thinking about this subject and then, unplanned, I read this chapter.  Consider:

21  But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me [is] with me on the table.
22  And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!
23  And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
This seems to be true humility. Or at least I picture it going like this: “Who is he talking about? John? Simon? Bartholomew? Me?” So far so good.

24  And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
But then their pride takes over – strife over which of them is the greatest! Hardly people we want to emulate.

Then a little later on in the chapter, at the end of the supper, we read,

31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat:
32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
33  And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
34  And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. [see v 54-62]

Surely, the great Peter can not fail like this. But he does. This is terrible! People have stumbled over this from the beginning of the Church: “This is one of your foundational people? One of the chief people of this faith??” The thought is, What kind of hero is this?

Great question. But the question, and the stumbling, just goes to show that we misunderstand something very important. The Bible is not about heroes, or at least heroes as we think of them. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, James, John and Paul are not the heroes of the Bible. The real hero of the Bible is the grace of God! The Bible is about real people who stumbled and bumbled, fell and failed. But God, by His great grace, picked them up, set them straight, redeemed them, rescued them, changed them, and used them to accomplish His purposes.

Look at v 32 again. In the midst of His prophecy about Peter’s soon to come failure, Jesus said:
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Amen! The man we know as the Apostle Peter, that great foundation of the Church, that Rock of the faith, became that man only by the grace of God. That’s the point of the Bible!