Movie clips to show or tell
Spider-ManRated PG-13(Columbia Pictures, 2002)Scene begins at 1:30:25Length: 2.5 minutesIncarnation, Sanctification,TransformationRomans 8:29, 12:1-2;John 1:14
Set-up: Nebbishy Peter Parker has undergone a transformation. Bitten by a spider that’s been subjected to genetic experimentation, Peter develops superpowers. Beneath his lycra union suit beats the heart of a hero who nightly swings between the skyscrapers, looking for some endangered soul to rescue.
One he helps is Mary Jane, a young woman he secretly loves. And she falls for Spider-Man—but not for Peter Parker. Mary Jane (M.J.) doesn’t know who Spider-Man really is—even when he comes to her rescue.
Just after Peter and M.J. part company outside a diner late one night, four thugs approach M.J. and back her into an alley. Peter watches as one of the men pulls a knife on her. M.J. tries to defend herself for a moment, then, suddenly Spider-Man appears, spins a web, and the four bad guys are all tied up. Later, M.J. and Peter discuss her mysterious rescuer, and she confesses her love for Spider-Man.
Synopsis of scene (show or tell): Mary Jane is impressed to learn that Peter “knows” Spider-Man. In fact, Peter admits he’s had a “conversation” with Spider-Man about Mary Jane. She presses him to know what Peter told her hunky heartthrob.
Peter searches for the right words: “I said, um, ‘Spider-Man,’ I said, ‘the great thing about M.J. is when you look in her eyes, and she looks back in yours, everything feels not quite normal, because you feel strong—and weak at the same time. You feel excited, and at the same time terrified. The truth is you don’t know the way you feel, except you know the kind of man you want to be. It’s as if you’ve reached the unreachable, and you weren’t ready for it.'”
Concluding statement: What Peter describes is the same phenomenon we experience when we come to know Jesus Christ. Looking at the God-Man, we feel weak, but he makes us strong; we are terrified, and at the same time more exhilarated than we’ve ever been in our lives; and in him we see the person we want to become.
Submitted by Lisa Gertz, Carol Stream, Illinois
New movie clips are available each week from PreachingToday.com, our online journal and illustration service.
Coach’s Stubborn Belief
Alumni and fans made UCLA football coach Pepper Rodgers’s life miserable during a season when his Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody would hang out with him.
“My dog was my only true friend,” Rodgers said. “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. She bought me another dog.”
Rodgers can be rigid in the face of adversity. When his players were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he’d installed and the school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, Rodgers didn’t budge. The wishbone, he said, “is like Christianity. If you believe in it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe in it in the first place.”
Source: Washington City Paper (10/26/01)2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 10:19-23, 35-39; Hebrews 11Faith, Loyalty, Trust
History’s Turning Point
In Questions I Would Like to Ask God, Ravi Zacharias writes:
I have often referenced the quote by the talk show host Larry King, in his response to a particular question: “If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?”
King said he would like to interview Jesus Christ. When the questioner followed with, “And what would you like to ask him?” King replied, “I would like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.”
Zacharias says when he requested permission to quote the talk show host, King sent word, “And tell him I was not being facetious.”
Submitted by Aaron Goerner, New Hartford, New YorkIsaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-7; John 1:14Birth of Christ, Christmas, Incarnation
Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
