Into Every Generation, There Is A Chosen One...

Although creating Christ figures is considered a literary technique, there have been innumerable examples in all kinds of story-telling including video games, graphic novels and comic books, movies and television.  But as I consider the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, the one that springs most easily to mind is none other than Buffy Anne Summers, aka Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Again, I'm going to assume that if you haven't hunted down the 1992 film or the juggernaut of a television series, you probably have no intention of doing so now.  But just in case, this is your half-hearted spoiler alert!

I believe that Buffy was intended to be a Christ figure from the very beginning of the television series.  After all, what else do you call a unique person with special powers specifically intended for overcoming evil, who is the subject of prophesies and ancient texts, who's existence is meant to be the bane of all things demonic?  But even if she doesn't strike you that way from the beginning, the finale of the 5th Season,"The Gift," wherein Buffy intentionally sacrifices herself to save the world, and the opening of the 6th Season, "Bargaining, Part One," which depicts her subsequent resurrection should get you there!

So what kind of a Christ figure is Buffy?  Well, first of all, there are lots of prophesies and ancient texts and about the Slayer and therefore many, many expectations—many of which Buffy completely ignores or outright defies.

"The Slayer does not walk in this world."
"I walk.  I talk.  I shop.  I sneeze.  I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back..."

And the way she does that reminds me of Jesus.  Buffy is constantly hearing about what the Slayer is supposed to be like and what the Slayer is supposed to do and how the Slayer is supposed to behave.  And her responses are always, underneath the delightful snark, "Well I am the Slayer and this is who I am..."  If you substitute the word "Messiah" for "Slayer" who does that remind you of?

And part of who Buffy proclaims herself to be, despite all her impressive powers, is human.  Part of that is trying to fit into high school, some of it is proclaiming things like "I walk.  I talk.  I shop.  I sneeze..."  But part if it is also in the way the responsibility of being the Slayer weighs so heavily on her shoulders.

"Do you think I chose to be like this?  Do you have any idea how lonely it is?  How dangerous?  I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or... God, even studying!  But I have to save the world.  Again."

There's something in that heaviness and the resolute nature with which Buffy carries it that reminds me of Jesus setting his face towards Jerusalem.  Like in last week's Gospel lesson when Jesus says, "Let's go to Judea again." And the disciples reply, "Teacher, the people there were just now trying to stone you, are you really going to go back there now?"  But they do go back there.  They go back there and Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.  So human and so powerful!

And both of those things, battling expectations with the reality of who Jesus really is and carrying the weight of his responsibilities in very human, resolute ways,  remind me of the lesson for this Sunday—Palm Sunday.

The Messiah is supposed to be a king, an earthly and powerful king cut from the same cloth as King David!  By this point in the story there are many people who are (rightly) convinced that Jesus is the Messiah.  And so when he enters Jerusalem, one might expect him to ride in on a valiant steed with an army at his back to drive the Romans out once and for all!  But Jesus is the Messiah and he chooses to show them just what kind of a Messiah he is—the kind that rides on a lowly donkey surrounded by a bunch of his friends.

On the other hand, according to Matthew, even this act of defying expectations is a part of Jesus's responsibility, "This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 'Tell the daughter of Zion, / Look, your king is coming to you, / humble, and mounted on a donkey, / and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"  Of course, according to Matthew what happens next is a very Buffy the Vampire Slayer kind of moment, where he goes into the Temple and absolutely cleans house!

But perhaps most powerfully, I hear an echo of Jesus marching inexorably to the cross and leaving behind his final teachings in the last words Buffy speaks in "The Gift."

"Dawn, listen to me.  Listen.  I love you.  I will always love you.  This is the work I have to do.  Tell Giles that ... tell Giles that I figured it out.  And ... and I'm okay.  And give my love to my friends.  You have to take care of them now.  You have to take care of each other.  You have to be strong.  Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it.  Be brave.  Live.  For me."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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The scripture lessons for April 13th—Palm Sunday Year A—are:
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29—Matthew 21:1-11