Zap! Bam! Pow! Biff! This was the silent dialogue of my childhood fantasies of which Batman was the star, the superhero of my world and the model of my young life. I would watch his TV show with rapt attention like an apprentice studying a master at his work. And in between episodes I would create my own adventures with Batman, Robin and myself, battling villains and fighting for truth, justice and the American Way. Yet time has locked these glorious adventures into the closet of my memories, placing Batman once again into the realm of comic book creation. But for all of that, the Darknight Detective of my childhood is still a hero, with all of the courage, strength and honor the word implies. He's just not my hero anymore. I believe this reflects our society as a whole. The heroes we create or who earn the right to be called a hero don't really change or lose their heroic banner with the passing decades. They are merely placed further and further towards the back of our admiration file. We are the ones who change, whether it is cultural change, attitude change or just growing up. But there is one man who has been able to resist this natural inclination of society to cast off its heroes, from generation to generation. He remains as great a heroic figure now as He was two thousand years ago. His name is Jesus Christ.

Because of His quiet manner and passive teachings, few people, including many of His followers, cast Him into the heroic mold. Yet His life was one of quiet courage and strength. He was simply a man made of flesh and blood and bone and sinew who laughed and cried and felt sorrow and joy and who ate and drank and slept, just like we do. Being the Son of God made Him no less human, for aren't we all in a sense sons and daughters of God? He accepted a certain path and followed it, knowing what lay at the end of the road, yet He strode on boldly with purpose and determination. One thing that makes Jesus Christ special to us as a hero is that He is real to us, not a comic book character who does incredible feats of derring-do.

One of the fates of a hero is that people want to imitate them. What other man in the history of world has been so worthy of being copied? He taught of love for your fellow man and practiced it by accepting outcasts, thieves and prostitutes as brothers. He suffered with the pain of loneliness, the quiet wrenching pain of being different, like some of us do, and did so without complaint. He was the target of ridicule and scorn and felt the cold shoulder of rejection, yet He felt no hatred or bitterness. He was betrayed by one He trusted and humiliated in a public exchange of His life for that of a thief's. Yet before He died He prayed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) Christ said, "Greater love hast no man than this, that a man lay his life down for his friends." (John 15:13) Then He called us friend.

Two thousand years have passed, yet the short life of a quiet man continues to affect and change lives today. Webster's New World Dictionary says a hero is "any man admired for his qualities or achievements and regarded as an ideal or model". The public image of a hero is a man who risks life and limb to save someone from death or destruction. Jesus Christ was surely all of these things and more. The Bible says, "For the Son of Man is come to save that which is lost". (Matthew 18:11) The word hero is being misused today with such expressions as rock and roll hero, movie hero and hero sandwich. But no other man who lives, has lived or will live has more justly earned the right to be called hero.

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