![\"jesus-wash-feet\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2013\/02\/jesus-wash-feet.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGreater than Superman.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how many of us think about God.<\/p>\n
If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today, you would hear many of the same things about God\u2019s sovereignty repeated over and over again..<\/p>\n
God has to be the biggest, strongest, greatest, most awesome being in the universe otherwise God can\u2019t be the God of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n
In some sense, God does have to be \u201cgreater\u201d than the rest of us or God would be no different than the rest of us.<\/p>\n
However, Jesus throws a cog in the wheelhouse of \u201cmy God is bigger than your god\u201d<\/p>\n
In Jesus we see the infinite enfleshed in the finite, the transcendent incarnated in the immanent.<\/p>\n
The God who should be greater than Superman became a mere human in a backwater town, in a conquered country, on a small planet, in a remote corner of the universe.<\/p>\n
Worse yet for those of us who need our God to be the biggest, baddest, most ultimate sovereign being in the universe, this God who by all rights should have come as king, instead became a humble carpenter. This God who by all rights should have been surround only by the greatest, most holy people in the world, instead surrounded himself with fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of all sorts.<\/p>\n
Then, in the ultimate insult to our greater than Superman theology, this God who by all rights should have had the world bowing at his feet, instead chose to let that world conquer, humiliate, and ultimately murder him.<\/p>\n
Despite this portrait of God we are presented with in the gospels, there are many among us who simply want nothing to do with sort of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Or at least that\u2019s the message they present.<\/p>\n
The Jesus that has come to dominate so many corners of evangelicals is a Jesus who, by necessity of a particular theology, must be a manly man who takes nothing from no one, leaps over buildings in a single bound, destroys his enemies with a look, and occasionally jumps into the octagon to show off his MMA skills.<\/p>\n
Some of this Jesus is greater than Superman rhetoric comes from our American ideology which insist that we and everything we have and believe in must be the biggest and the best. Some of it also stems from the aforementioned particular form of theology that, contrary to a New Testament narrative that describes a Jesus who made himself nothing and became a servant to all, instead insists that Jesus must be a manly destroyer of his enemies in order to sustain a patriarchal, manipulative, and wrathful theological framework.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, though, this Jesus (or God) is greater than Superman theology is an echo of the Garden of Eden.<\/p>\n
As we all know, Adam and Even were kicked out of the Garden for eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Most of us assume they were kicked out for simply breaking the rules, or for stealing.<\/p>\n
But there was a deeper, much more serious issue at hand.<\/p>\n
The sin of Adam and Eve wasn\u2019t simple rule breaking. Their sin was about power, control, and, ultimately, idolatry. In taking the fruit from the tree they were, in the words of the serpent, attempting to become like God.\u00a0They simply couldn\u2019t handle a world in which they weren\u2019t in control.<\/p>\n
The thing about theology, and particularly theology that\u2019s all about a God who\u2019s bigger, badder, and in control of everything, is that it gives us a sense of control over the world because it convinces us, or deludes us, into thinking we have everything figured out and, thus, everything under control.<\/p>\n
A God who isn\u2019t bigger, badder, and in control of everything simply won\u2019t do because it doesn\u2019t satisfy our most ancient desire to be in control.<\/p>\n
But if Jesus is our guide, then control is exactly what we\u2019re called to give up, along with our desire to be greater than everyone else.<\/p>\n
As Christians the good news of our message is not, \u201cMy God is bigger, badder, and more awesome than you can imagine.\u201d As Christians, our gospel proclaims \u201cMy God is smaller than yours. In fact, our God is so small that, even though he is God, he<\/p>\n
did not consider equality with God\u00a0something to be used to his own advantage;
\nrather, he made himself nothing
\nby taking the very nature\u00a0of a slave,
\nbeing made in human likeness.
\nAnd being found in appearance as a man,
\nhe humbled himself
\nby becoming obedient to death\u2014
\neven death on a cross!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis isn\u2019t a negation of God\u2019s greatness. It\u2019s an affirmation of it. God is great enough to became small enough to put on flesh, dwell among us, and redeem the world. In other words, for God, true greatness lies not in God\u2019s ability to smite, conquer, and destroy, but in God\u2019s humility, servitude, and self-sacrificing love for creation.<\/p>\n
Which means portraying Jesus as a manly man, who takes nothing from no one, leaps over buildings in a single bound, destroys his enemies with a look, and occasionally jumps into the octagon to show off his MMA skills isn\u2019t just cheesy, misogynistic, terrible theology.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a false gospel.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greater than Superman. That\u2019s how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today, you would hear many of the same things about God\u2019s sovereignty repeated over and over again.. God has to be the biggest, strongest, greatest, most awesome being in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
My God Is Smaller Than Yours<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My God Is Smaller Than Yours\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2013\/02\/jesus-wash-feet.gif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/\",\"name\":\"My God Is Smaller Than Yours\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My God Is Smaller Than Yours\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My God Is Smaller Than Yours","description":"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My God Is Smaller Than Yours","og_description":"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":448,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2013\/02\/jesus-wash-feet.gif","type":"image\/gif"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/","name":"My God Is Smaller Than Yours","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-01T16:05:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":"Greater than Superman. That's how many of us think about God. If you were to listen to many of the conversations going on in evangelical circles today,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2013\/02\/my-god-is-smaller-than-yours\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My God Is Smaller Than Yours"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}