Heroism

Everybody has a hero. Whether it be a parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, pro athlete, musician, actor, actress, or something else, everybody has a hero, or more than one. Growing up, one of my biggest heroes was my youth pastor, Nate. He was a very godly man and he guided me in my relationship with Christ. Your hero may be somebody similar, they may be somebody completely different, but to you, they're a hero. In Homer's The Iliad, there is an underlying theme of heroism, conveying feelings of the culture at that time.
During Homer's life, Greece was in a sort of dark age. The people looked up to the heroes of old, such as Achilles and Odysseus. Stories like The Iliad were told to give people hope. Achilles was a huge hero of the people. They looked up to him and wanted to be like him. In addition to having heroes, we want to be heroes. That is another part of what being human means. We all want our lives to mean something. That is a choice that Achilles faced in The Iliad. He had to choose whether he wanted to live long but not be remembered, or die and be known as a hero everywhere. Achilles, of course, chose heroism.
Without a doubt, the greatest hero of all time is Jesus. He dies so that we wight have life with him forever in heaven. His death was terrible. He was tortured and then hung on a cross to slowly perish. While extremely different, I couldn't help but notice multiple similarities between the story of Jesus and the story of Achilles, the main one being: Achilles loved his country, so he went in willingly, knowing he would die, just to help his people and avenge his friend Patroclus. Jesus loved us so much that he went in willingly, knowing he would die, to save us from eternal hell. Achilles love for Patroclus was great. When he learned Patroclus was dead: "A black cloud of grief came shrouding over Achilles. Both hands clawing the ground for soot and filth, he poured it over his head, fouled his handsome face... Achilles suddenly loosed a terrible, wrenching cry" (book 18, lines 25-27, 39). Jesus' love for us is even greater. The scene of Achilles screaming reminded me of a scene from Green, a novel from one of my favorite authors, Ted Dekker. Elyon, a personification of God, is looking down on the world from a vantage point high above. The people have turned against him and have into battle against each other. Elyon gives a display similar to Achilles (only with godly proportions) when he realizes many of his beloved people had turned to Teeleh (the devil) and were about to die. "The man [Elyon] lifted both arms and wept at the sky. His shoulders shook with his sobs and tears ran down his face, wetting his beard... And then Elyon screamed, full throated, at the sky. His hands knotted into fists and he trembled from head to foot with such wrath that Thomas [main character] could not stop his own body from quaking" (Dekker 327). Elsewhere, there is an earthquake. This scene shows the love that God has for us.
These sections from these two heroes' stories demonstrate that heroes are most definitely human. Achilles was human, and so was Jesus (although he was also fully God). Just because somebody is a hero doesn't mean they are above everybody else (exception: Jesus). We are all everyday heroes, performing works that people are inspired by, just like the Greek people were inspired by Achilles. We, as Christians, need to “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5-6). We must be the heroes of the world because we have the greatest hero of all time, Jesus Christ, working in our lives. We will be a light unto the world while it is shrouded in darkness. I pray that we would all be heroes, just like Pastor Nate was to me many years ago. God bless.