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A few weeks ago, our Gospel according to Superheroes Sunday School class with the youth covered part of Captain America: Civil War, specifically concerning T’Challa, also known as the Black Panther. In the film, T’Challa relentlessly chases after Captain America’s buddy, Bucky, who has been framed for killing T’Challa’s father.
Towards the end of the movie (and consider this your Spoiler alert), T’Challa discovers who really killed his father, a man named Nemo. As T’Challa confronts Nemo, claws ready to strike, Nemo tells him why he did it. He was mad at the Avengers because their last big fight, against a bad guy who was trying to destroy the world by the way, ended with the death of his family. T’Challa looks at him and says, “Vengeance has consumed you. It’s consuming them. I am done letting it consume me,” and T’Challa sheaths his suit’s claws and lets Nemo live.
In that moment, T’Challa sees himself in his enemy. That’s what shakes him out of his thirst for vengeance. It’s what allows T’Challa to be able to forgive Nemo, which was what our Gospel according to Superheroes session was really all about. T’Challa sees himself in his enemy and decides that’s not what he wants to become.
In the midst of all our end-of-the-world readings this morning (just slightly ahead of Advent), we get the description in 2 Thessalonians of the man of lawlessness (the lawless one in the NRSV), who exalts himself to the status of false prophet or chosen one, even going so far as to declare himself God. If this person is not our enemy, it would be hard to say who is.
Some of the manuscripts for this passage have a different term for this being, “the man of sin”. That’s not a bad way to look at this figure, for sin is really just separating ourselves from God. Really sin is putting ourselves first saying, “I know better than you, Lord.”
All of us have said these words at some point in our lives, whether aloud or in our thoughts (or even in a sermon, like I am now!). All of us, if we’re really honest, have looked at this enemy, this man of lawlessness and sin, this servant of the evil one, and seen our very selves.
How do we prevent that from happening? How do we prevent ourselves from becoming our enemy? How can we be like T’Challa and lay down our arms and find a better and different way?
The answer comes from the practices and teachings of Spiritual Direction. Spiritual Direction is a tool we can use to hear what it is God is saying to us. It is often done in the care of a Spiritual Director who listens and occasionally asks questions. The idea is that the director is there to facilitate our listening to the Holy Spirit, nothing more and nothing less. This is what I have been receiving training in with Metagem Institute here in the Diocese of Alabama.
I believe the tenants of Spiritual Direction apply to every aspect of our lives, regardless of whether we are currently meeting with our Spiritual Director or whether we even currently have a Spiritual Director. The idea of Spiritual Direction is to listen to what God is saying to us, and we are called to do that every day and every moment of our lives.
That may seem like a tall order, and that is why Spiritual Directors exist because sometimes we need a little help in doing that listening. We listen to God best when we stop and and ask ourselves “where do I see God in this?”, and that is ultimately what Spiritual Direction is trying to get us to do.
We can become so busy doing that we forget to see where God is present in our lives and in our actions. When we become uncertain of ourselves or frustrated even, asking where we see God in this event or action can give us clarity and focus. If we when we ask this question and our answer is “I’m not sure”, that’s a sign we need to stop, rethink what we are doing, and recenter ourselves in our Lord. This is a process that takes time and, possibly, the help of others.
Only in finding where God is in our lives can we avoid putting ourselves above the Lord. Only in discovering God’s presence can we avoid becoming a lawless one, that is becoming our worst enemy.
We avoid becoming our worst enemy as we avoid doing or becoming all bad things. We stop, reflect, and listen. It is by examining ourselves that we see where we need improvements in our lives. It is by looking inward that we see just where we have stopped following God’s way and instead followed our own, and when we see where we have strayed from the path, we can find a way to get back on the right course.
Our worst enemy is the man of sin and lawlessness, the one who seeks to follow his own way and puts himself above God. Sin causes all of us to do that from time to time, but if we take the time to stop, listen, and examine where God is in our life and in what we are doing, then we can move away from this wrong direction. There is always hope for us, but we have to be willing to let God back into our lives. We have to be willing to stop blindly doing as we wish, to stop following our own ways, and to listen to God so that we might follow the Lord’s way instead.