There were 2 particular scenes which struck me as such an accurate and deliciously ironical parody of the human nature. The first showed Loki prancing around in his kingly robes ordering a crowd of cowering humans around him to kneel. He announces in condemnation, “You crave subjugation...It’s the unspoken need of humanity...you were made to be ruled.” And my mind went 'bingo' for a second... Christians would definitely agree to that. I recognize it as one of the deepest truths of why God created man in the first place - the created was meant to worship the Creator, we were meant to 'submit'.
The only difference is that Loki's brand of submission was total subjugation by force - he imposed his will upon others in cruelty. Whereas God prefers us to do it willingly out of love for Him, recognizing that submission to the Almighty is right, good and proper, as it's meant not to hurt, bind or make us miserable - the fact is submission actually brings the greatest freedom. We will always submit, its only a matter of what/who we choose to submit to. Paul puts it succintly in Romans 516: "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"
St Augustine talks about the vacuum in the human heart that only God can fill. Of coz humans will go around trying to fill it with other 'gods' that pander to our idea of what's good for us. That in essence was and still is the first sin of humanity - as Eve thought eating the forbidden fruit would be real good, since she was told it would make humans 'like God', and that would be certainly be good, so she chose to disobey. Since then all throughout the ages, we still claim to know what's good for us, and that's why we will keep on turning away from God, and refusing to submit becoz we want our 'independence'. God never created humans to be independent; tho He did give us freedom of choice. Jesus says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). But our pride refuses to submit to that truth. Yet the irony is we don't realise if we don't submit to God, we are simply submitting ourselves to other things/people/idols of our own hearts. We don't see it as submission simply becoz we want it. But desire doesn't make it freedom; giving in to our desire is already submission.
I remember the wise quote of a Christian author, "Unless you come to the end of yourself, God cannot begin in you." I found out the truth of that statement after years of 'bowing' to lots of things other than God. Of coz naturally if anyone had told me then I was 'submitted' to those things, I would have pooh-poohed the idea away, and quite happily gone on deluding myself that I was 'freely' exercising my independence. It was only when I finally surrendered to God out of desperation over a dying husband, when I acknowledged my human frailty that I understood what true freedom is. I don't kneel to a Loki, I bend my knee willingly and lovingly to my Creator, my God, my King, my Lord and my Master, and there in submission, at His feet, I find my fulfillment of a life abundant, becoz He really does know what's best for me, He really does love me.
The 2nd scene was equally thought-provoking as much as it was so funny; watching Loki stand up to the Hulk, to declare, "Enough!You are, all of you, beneath me. I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by…" and then Hulk simply picks him up and flattens him quite literally, muttering "Puny god". Haha, truly priceless words. In the pride of our hearts, we 'blow' ourselves up to be so high-n-mighty, so intelligent, so rich, so beautiful, so powerful, so right, so...whatever... when in fact and in reality, we truly are 'dull creatures' and 'puny gods'. God reminded those who say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev 3:17). God could so easily flatten us in a nanoo second for all our arrogant sinning, yet in His grace and mercy, He chose instead to love us and save us.
I guess even a Hollywood movie can contain some precious nuggets of truth amidst all the false gloss. Of coz good will always triumph over evil; and so in this movie, it takes a band of mythical superheroes created out of the figment of a fertile human imagination, combining the best of their individual strengths to overcome an impossible situation. There is even a poignant little twist of how humans are our own worst enemy, when man decides the best way to defeat an alien enemy is to nuclear-bomb an entire island of fellow human beings and disappear everybody altogether. The climax was when Ironman chose to fly off into the heavens, sacrificing himself to destroy the vortex that was letting in the enemy force. He drops back from heaven and everyone thinks he's dead, but hey presto, heroes don't die... he's alive. Again I find myself drawing a most apt parallel with what actually did happen in history 2000 years ago. When Jesus chose to sacrifice Himself to die, hanging on a cross to save us humankind, everyone thought He was dead, but the truth is He came back alive - and the joy of it all, He's coming back again!...Now that's a real super-hero that I can trust!
No comments:
Post a Comment