Monday Morning Music Ministry

05/18/2025

Some readers know that among the hats I have worn in the past are writer, editor, and cartoonist. Last summer, the folks at Comic-Con International in San Diego remembered this juggling act, and presented me with a lifetime “Inkpot” Award, of which I am still proud and will always be. Those three disciplines came together when I was Editor at Marvel Comics.

When I worked there – back when I was different, and the comics business was a little different too – the editorial meetings and bullpen sessions often centered on the powers and superpowers of the characters. The spinoff movies of Marvel and DC are constructed in similar ways, little different than fanboys’ chatter: “What If…?” and “Why Not?” and “How about…?”

Characters defy gravity; shift shapes; exert mind-control. “If you can imagine it, it is plausible in the (ever-expanding) Marvel Universe.” Characters come to earth from the heavens and have super powers. The greatest heroes have even died… and come back to life.

Well, it’s all fiction, of course; and every fan knows that. Or most of them do.

Stan Lee, whom I knew before my Marvel tenure and worked with afterward, used the phrase about the appeal of comic-book stories: The Suspension of Disbelief. Clever and correct, but I have met many fans who live on the edge of that line between Reality and Possibility. Movies employing CGI (computer-generated imagery) and the visual miracles wrought by AI make that easy. Our imaginations foster reality, either virtual or actual. Life, having become cheap and virtually without standards anymore, has to be, at least, fun. Right?

Back on Memory Lane, it always was amazing to me that creators could discuss the plausibility of characters being able to see through walls, and transcend space and time, and traverse the universe – granting fictional characters physical feats – yet when Jesus was raised, hoots of “impossible!” and “how could that BE?” and “Who believes THAT?” were raised too.

Yet Jesus brought the dead back to life; He was, Himself, raised from the dead; He walked on water and through locked doors; He read peoples’ minds. 

Especially on the days we think about right now, post-Easter, Jesus went into hyper-mode, a comic caption might say. It is recorded in the Book of Acts, and the Gospels, and in secular, historical accounts by Jewish and Roman writers, that His appearances included, in order, His Resurrection after three days dead; Appearing to Mary Magdalene; Appearing to the other women; Walking with two believers on the Road to Emmaus. Jesus appeared to Peter; He appeared to the Apostles behind locked doors; He appeared to the Apostles including doubting Thomas; He again provided a miraculous catch of fish. He reconciled with Peter and counseled him; He commissioned His Disciples to teach and baptize all nations; He appeared to more than 500 people at the same time; He  appeared to His brother James. Jesus ascended bodily into Heaven before witnesses.

For all of Jesus’s great acts – confirming to the public that He was alive; instructing His Disciples how to spread the Gospel; preaching and telling that Holy Spirit would succeed Him on earth and in the hearts of believers – what else did He do all those long 40 days? 

I have shared my opinion (inspired speculation is all I can claim) that Jesus walked and talked and ate and preached, this we know. But I believe it possible too that Jesus roamed back roads during those days. Likely on dark, quiet nights. He could have visited shores of the lakes and seas. He would have encountered the lonely and lost. He would have befriended strangers. He would have comforted the sick and the hurting. No fanfares. No rallies. No crowds.

Well, Jesus still is doing that. He loves you and me. Of course He still is doing that.

Comic-book gods who do supernatural feats are cool. Yet a True God who did (and does) supernatural feats is… what? We are told by many that the Son of God is a myth, impossible, a collection of fables, ignorant superstitions… and that self-delusion somehow soothes a lot of minds. 

“Somehow” is easily explained. Fictional gods are mutable. They can change. They can be superseded. You can close the comic book, or go to the next movie. The real God, however, does not go away. He always has been, is now, and ever shall be. How supernatural! He knows your mind, supernaturally. He created the universe (the real universe) yet loves you to the last atom of your being. 

Supernatural acts? I know one: he loved me, a sinner; sacrificed His Son to atone for my sins; and counts me as one of His children. A miracle right there – supernatural. Does He meet you in the midst of a flash of lightning, like St Paul or Martin Luther? Sure. Can He meet you on a dark highway or bi-way? Or near the sea billows? Sure. He owns them all, and He meets you when you are ready. Or now. You can ignore Him or even reject Him… but He still seeks you Out.

He loved us while we were yet in rebellion. He forgives us of everything when we believe in Him. Such a Savior is, literally, super-natural.

It takes belief, not suspension of disbelief. POW! 

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Click: God Walks the Dark Hills