The Wolverine character in the ‘X-Men’ movie would seem to be a poor choice to remind us of the Lamb of God. We first encounter him as a vicious wrestler and for the whole of the movie, he has a chip on his shoulder the size of an oak tree.
Yet his saving of Rogue(a fellow X-Men) towards the end of the movie, is as dramatic a reminder of the Cross as any I have seen in recent times.
For the uninitiated, the Wolverine character in the movie, possessed a self-healing ability. He had the ability to heal himself of any physical wound in a matter of minutes.
Rogue, on the other hand, had the power to absorb the powers and memories of anyone she touched. The Rogue character had been badly wounded and was close to death.
To save her, Wolverine touched her, knowing full well that she would absorb his self-healing ability. Wolverine touched Rogue so that she would absorb his self-healing power and be healed of her horrendous wounds.
However, in doing so, he lost his self-healing capacity, at least for awhile. But Wolverine had also sustained mortal wounds. He was only able to keep on going because of his self-healing power.
As his self-healing power flowed into Rogue, we see Wolverine’s own wounds reappearing. Graphically, we see deep wounds materializing all over his body.Without the self-healing power that he was loaning to Rogue, he himself would die. He gave his life to save Rogues’
By his wounds she was healed.
His ultimate sacrifice was just one of many echoes of the real ultimate sacrifice to be found in popular media. It would seem that instinctively, humankind understands that:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that free from sins,we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
I do not think that that scene would have anything close to the dramatic power it now has, if Wolverine’s saving of Rogue did not cost him that dearly. And if Wolverine did not try to save his friend at all, we would have felt betrayed. It would have been lousy scripting!
Thank God that the script of our lives was properly written.
- We were all dead in sin.
- Jesus gave his life on the cross to save us from our sins.
- Because Jesus really did die and rise again, we can be fully assured that we have been saved from our sins and possess eternal life.
- Now, following Jesus’ example, we give our lives in the serving of others.
Not all of us may have the privilege to give our lives for someone in one dramatic act.
But each day lived is one day gone.