thoughts by ruby

Hercules and Jesus - champions

In Grade five I had this fixation on Greek Mythology... into my teen years, I watched Hercules, the animated series. When Hercules, the Legendary Journey series (with Kevin Sorbo) made its way to television, I tuned in. I had this thing for Hercules... (and for Kevin Sorbo) Hercules was a hero, a lover of mankind, a champion against the forces of darkness. Son of Zeus, he had love for people and a bitterness toward the reigning gods of his time. Hercules only half god himself, found his path crossing frequently with his evil family... his wicked stepmother, Hera (queen of the gods)and his half siblings. His relationship with his father was strained at the best of times... Yet Hercules triumphed the cause of the human race he was also apart of. That's a hero.

I thought of Jesus and just how similar and how different He is from Hercules

Here is another champion that came from Godhood to manhood.

He was different. Hercules was half God, half man (not knowing if he was immortal or mortal) .. Jesus is fully God, fully man (knowing who He was). Hercules had a distant relationship with his father. Jesus and His Father were one. Hercules defied the godhead of his time. Jesus was the Godhead and did nothing on earth without His Father.

But I like the similarities. My favourite episode of Hercules was one of the movies that was made in the first season -- Circle of Fire. (I just picked up the first season on DVD) Hercules was willing to sacrifice his immortal/mortal self for the sake of the humans he had grown to love. The whole world was going to freeze to death because Hera had stolen Promethius's torch... which supplied fire to the earth. In an effort to release the torch from Hera's stronghold, Hercules put himself at the mercy of Hera. Only because Zeus intervened was Hercules spared.

Jesus put himself at the mercy of Satan. But His Father didn't intervene. Jesus died. This was the sacrifice in its fullest. Only on the third day did God intervene by raising Jesus from the grave.

Champions. The thought occured to me that even with an abundance of gods in the Greek culture... they were still looking for one champion.

posted by Ruby Voigt @ 6:03 AM