You are more than you seem to others

Many great stories share a common plot device. You can find it in ancient literature, in the classics taught in school and in such modern epics as Star Wars, or even Harry Potter.

Here is the basic storyline. The main character is more than people first realize. He or she has greater depth, more insight, strength of character and all around goodness than others see or appreciate.

During the course of the story you learn that he or she was adopted. The parents were not the real parents. The real parents are well known people who loved them and for reasons beyond their control they could not care for them. By the end of the story, everyone realizes who the person is and recognizes the greatness hidden within them.

This is definitely the story of the modern hero Luke Skywalker who enters the story as a farm-boy who dreams of taking part in the greater battles going on in the Star Wars. He will come to realize that he is the princess’ twin brother, about the time he discovers he is the evil Lord Darth Vader’s son.

This discovery of a secret identity is also the basic story in the ancient tale of Oedipus, which plays itself out with tragic consequences. You will find variations on the theme in fairytales like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, particularly in their written forms. The King Arthur legend also has this central element of the boy Arthur not knowing that he is the heir to the throne of England until he is the only one who can seemingly miraculously pull the sword from the stone.

Why is this such an enduring story? Do we want to feel we were adopted away from better parents? Or is it that we know that we might be something more than everyone else sees?

We want stories where the under appreciated person rises to impossible challenges to be the hero. Perhaps it is because at times we are all the under appreciated person who knows that we are more than everyone else can see and appreciate. That’s why we cheer for the under dog who was secretly the true leader all along.

There is a bit of hidden identity in the Gospels. Jesus’ story is perhaps not so different from this basic storyline. After all, Jesus was nearly put to death by the jealous King Herod at his birth and his family had to flee to Egypt to avoid the insecure monarch’s wrath. Then, when they did return to Israel, Mary and Joseph raised Jesus as a carpenter’s son in the backwater town of Nazareth where few know his real identity as the Son of God. For the first thirty years of his life, Jesus was more than he seemed, growing to manhood in the care of his Mom and stepdad.

Think about the appeal of this story. Now, I don’t mean to slight your real parents. But wouldn’t it have been cool to find out that you are really the child of the king and queen of some distant kingdom. You are really the princess or prince waiting the right time for your return.

That’s the story found in Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 8:14-17) and elsewhere in the New Testament. The difference is that in Paul’s letter to the Romans, you find out that it is all true. You are the hero of the story. Paul tells us, reminds us really, that the Holy Spirit bears witness with the spirit of each of us telling us that we are children of God. Not only are you a child of God, you are an heir—the one who will inherit the whole shebang. You are the heir to the kingdom of God, a joint heir with Jesus the Christ. It is the ultimate secret identity discovery and the amazing thing is it’s all true about you.

Paul says that you can call out to God saying, “Abba, Father.” The word Abba is now as it was when Paul wrote a loving term. To translate his phrase further into today’s language, you can cry out to God saying Daddy, or Papa, or whatever you would say to a loving father. That’s how close you are to God.

Saying God is father does not limit God to being male nor does it make God into any of the bad fathers you have known or heard about. What speaking of God as father did in ancient Israel was to open the idea that God can have heirs, people who inherit the fullness of what is God’s. For the Jews, they saw themselves as inheritors of God’s grace through their common ancestor Abraham. Jesus enlarged that idea and said that all of us, all humans, are children of God.

Paul highlighted the marvelousness of being God’s child writing that we can cry out to God as our “Abba,” our “Daddy.” You see it is not so different from the classic epic story line from the tragedy of Oedipus to the heroic deeds of Luke Skywalker.

People go around not understanding the real value of who they are because they don’t know that they are the beloved children of the creator of all that is. We could avoid the tremendous emotional and physical damage we humans do to each other, and to ourselves, if we could truly see ourselves as God sees us and then to see those around us as God sees them.

Your secret identity has been revealed. You are not some nobody from the back of beyond. You are really and truly a child of God set to receive an inheritance beyond your wildest dreams. You are princesses and princes, joint heirs to the kingdom. When you speak to the king, be sure to address him as Abba, Daddy.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.) 

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