Excellent

Thanks for posting that, Erin. I am a fan of Philip Yancey’s insightful writings! This invites further enquiry into the nature of the relationship between choice, obedience, and faith.
Also thrown into the pot is the nature of relationship between individual choice, obedience, and faith and the dynamic of those three factors in community!

My mind is reeling trying to make sense of this, and also how to connect this to the hero archetype as per Mike’s exposition.

For now, I’m thinking that it’s not necessary to separate acts of obedience from acts of faith.

Perhaps the Israelites were disobedient because they did NOT place their individual and community faith in the God who was giving them clear guidance (i. e. Pillar of Cloud by day, Pillar of Fire by night, plus a leader (Moses) who passed on messages to the people because they apparently didn’t have personal access to check in with God themselves???

Perhaps their journey was supposed to be faith formational in the sense that if one doesn’t place one’s faith in God and act obediently when there is clear guidance, then how can one be expected to do it when there is no clear guidance?
So, really faith is necessary in both cases… when there is guidance and when there is not. It’s always a choice and we, as individuals in community can become better at it as time goes on.

Even the Moses story has many elements of The Hero story pattern. He did become a special historical and revered Hero/Prophet in the development of Judaism. Religious leaders scoffed at Jesus because it appeared to them that he had pretensions of being greater than Moses! They thought their obedience to the complex religious requirements if their day assured them of salvation, but Jesus rocked such assumptions.

Anyways, to conclude with a reference to the Hero archetype, I’m thinking that the general Hero story, whether individual or league of heroes/heroines, seems to have the figures rely on their own sense of self and a reliance on their ‘special power/s’ that makes them ‘super-human’ or ‘demi-god-like’… not much ‘obedience’ involved, more about faith in the type of power-weapon they’ve been given, found or manufactured, and they’re too weak or ignorant without it to succeed against a malevolent threat of some description.

However, in the Christ-follower’s story, it’s different. We are encouraged to actualise relationship with God the Jesus Way… as individuals in community, obeying Christ’s teachings, emulating his type of obedience, choice-and-decision making abilities, his example of strength being perfected/completed in weakness, his way of making and maturing disciples etc through the power of the Holy Spirit he breathed upon his followers after his death and resurrection before his ascension – the same Holy Spirit breathed upon the early Church at Pentecost.

I’m all excited now… through this discussion, I’ve gained more insight about Jesus Christ as ‘supreme super-hero’ (dare I say it, Christ-Supremacy?!),
about the relationship between faith and obedience, individual and community power etc.
Am looking forward to more insights and revelations from subsequent participants!

Thank you, Mike et al!

One observation that has remained in my thoughts for a long time, was made by a ministry colleague in The Netherlands many years ago when I visited him and his wife whilst on a world-trip catching up with lots of creatives at various gatherings. This particular “mover and shaker” had been knighted for his service to the creative arts over years of dedicated service in the realms of training, facilitating, and advocating for artists of many kinds throughout Europe and beyond.
My paraphrase of what he said: As a generality, the concept of the “individual hero” (or Rescuer) figure seems to be very prevalent in the political landscape of the USA and related “democracies” spawned from or related to the Westminster system of government. In mainland Europe, the concept of cooperation and power residing in group collaboration is a much stronger and demonstrated phenomenon. c.f. broadly-speaking the American type of democracy with the strong President/hero figure leading a people steeped in a dominating, materialistic individualism and a “hero saves the world” mentality versus the European Union which is based on a cooperative, common good principle… the latter being something worth upholding and striving for after centuries (perhaps millennia) of conquest and bloodshed staining the pages of mainland Europe’s history.

I thought this was a very perceptive and interesting observation from someone native to the lands whose development of thought and practice dominated Christian arts/philosophy/theology during Renaissance and Reformation times, prior to what is termed the Enlightenment period, the forerunner to modern and post-modern times.

It’s also interesting that popular hero movies now often feature a league or cooperative team of hero-figures solving threats to the world!
Makes me think that perhaps Christ-followers in-cooperation, who emulate and somehow participate in “the heroic story of Christ’s birth, life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection” AND ascension, may hold the key to unlocking the door to a future where all (humanity and the natural envrions) may flourish in harmony according to our original design and potential!