A few days ago I was playing with my 6-year old grandson. He was gathering props for a story he was going to make a video of.

He picked up an action figure of a warrior that was about 5 inches tall and told me: “This is a good hero.”

I thought this was an excellent opportunity to teach my grandson wisdom. I asked him, “What makes the hero good?”.

My grandson replied immediately: “He’s real good at fighting and killing!”.

Determined to impart wisdom to my grandson, I asked: “But what makes him a good hero?”.

With some exasperation at my stupidity, my grandson repeated: “He’s real good at fighting and killing!!!”.

I tried one more time. “But what makes him good???  What good things is he fighting and killing for?”.

Losing all patience with my stupidity, he shouted, “He’s good because he’s good at fighting and killing!!!!!”.

I gave up.

But I thought, “Isn’t this much of what’s wrong today? People root for a political or national hero because their hero is real good at “fighting” and “killing”.

For most people, this figurative “fighting” and “killing” by their heroes is limited to nasty postings on social media and to rude interviews on cable news.

But some evil people crave heroes who literally fight and kill.

In either case, I ask again, “What do you think makes a hero good?”.

And, unlike a 6-year old child who is playing with action figures, you better have a wiser answer than: “They’re good because they’re so good at fighting and killing!!!!!”.

A good way to think about a wise answer to this question is to ask: “What makes Jesus a good hero?”.

After all, Jesus never fought or killed anyone.

For example, Jesus rebuked his disciples when they wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village full of people with a different religion and ethnicity. (Luke 9:51-56).

Furthermore, when a disciple wanted to fight to keep Jesus from being arrested, tortured and executed, Jesus told his disciple to put his sword away. (Matthew 26:52).

Why?

Because “all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52).

Or, as this wisdom is often expressed: “A person who lives by the sword shall die by the sword.”

Jesus wasn’t a good hero because he was good at fighting and killing.

No!!!!!

Jesus was a good hero because he did for others what he would want done for himself. (Matthew 7:12).

Jesus was a good hero because he proclaimed good news to the poor. (Luke 4:18).

Jesus was a good hero because he proclaimed freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind. (Luke 4:18).

Jesus was a good hero because he set the oppressed free. (Luke 4:18).

Jesus was a good hero because he sacrificed everything he had—even his own life—so that other people could have life and could enjoy life to the full. (John 10:10-11).

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For more of my thoughts along the lines of this blog, please read my blogs “Immanuel: Jesus” and “Jesus Climbs the Temple Mount”.

For my thoughts based on other insights sparked by my grandson, please read my blogs “Honoring God with Only Our Lips”, “Video Game Strategy: Getting ‘Crucified’”, and “Sprouting Seeds Takes Patience”.

For my thoughts based on an insight sparked by our dog Toto, please read my blog “Toto Begging For Food”.

For my thoughts based on an insight sparked by our cat Bootsey, please read my blog “The Star of Bethlehem Was a ‘Can of Tuna Fish’”.