It is easy to assume that great power, intelligence, or holiness will be accompanied by obvious outward signs, or come from family or educational backgrounds that predict success. However, some of our culture’s favorite stories point to the truth that this is not always the case.
Star Wars: A New Hope opens with Luke Skywalker as an unassuming rural resident of a backwater planet. In the Star Wars Legends novels, other characters sometimes refer to him as “farm boy,” alluding to this background. Although the recent movies and the Legends timelines diverge on his later history, both show that despite his rustic background, he grows in wisdom and power, becoming capable of extraordinary feats.
Clark Kent likewise grows up on a farm, near a small town. Other characters joke about his innocence and optimism, calling him “Smallville” or “the Boy Scout.” At the same time, Superman is one of the more powerful members of the Justice League, with nearly unmatched resilience and strength, plus an array of special abilities. The average person meeting Clark Kent has no idea the power they have encountered.
Both Luke Skywalker and Clark Kent face assumptions based on where they were from and how they appear. Jesus faced similar assumptions during His public ministry. The Gospels tell us that one of the first disciples quipped, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” when initially told about Jesus. When Jesus called Himself the bread that came down from heaven, people commented that He could not have come down from heaven, because they knew His father and mother. Throughout His public ministry, Jesus is repeatedly misjudged by people who think they understand Him based on some superficial facts about where He is from or who His family is.
In the case of Our Lord, unlike a superhero, this is not because He is trying to hide His identity. At His baptism in the Jordan, a voice from Heaven identifies Him as the beloved Son. His miracles are signs that point to the same reality. At the Transfiguration, He reveals His glory to a few. However, much of the time, His power is veiled. Even more so than the average person bumping into Clark Kent, many people meeting Jesus during His earthly ministry were completely unaware of the true power they have encountered.
Today, it is even easier to misjudge Jesus, because we see Him in an even humbler form: under the appearance of bread and wine. It is still not a disguise or a secret identity, since He tells us “This is My Body.” However, because He says those words through His ministers, it is easy to miss their full significance. Our senses still perceive a small piece of bread; only rarely does the visible appearance of the Host change. Yet every consecrated Host is the True Presence of Christ.
We hear the words of a priest, and it is the voice of the Son of God saying that He is giving Himself to us. We see bread and wine, and the reality is the Word, who was with God in the beginning, and through Whom all things were made. We taste and feel ordinary food, and it is the Redeemer of the world. In even a small piece of a Host, there is more power than a combination of the Justice League, the Avengers, and the entire Jedi Order.
In this Lent, many of us live in areas where public Masses are suspended due to the risks posed by the current pandemic. While we are unable to receive Holy Communion, we can and should contemplate the meaning of the Eucharist. We can pray an act of spiritual communion, professing our belief in the Presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament and asking Him to enter us spiritually and stay united to us. And we can eagerly look forward to the day when we can see, hear, and taste Our Lord again.
Matthew Heffron
Matt Heffron is an Iraq veteran and an attorney. He lives with his wife and nine kids in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and loves Catholic tradition, practicing martial arts, riding motorcycle, and superheroes.