“And he answered me and said, “This is the word of the Holy One to Zerubbabel who says it will not happen by human tenacity or physical strength; no, my spirit will do this, says the Holy One, head of the heavenly beings” (Zechariah 4.6).
When I was five I went to see “Superman: The Movie” in the theater. Like most Gen X kids, I sat in there amazed by what played out on screen. Superman stops a falling helicopter, saves the Air Force One, and outruns a train. I believed, as the poster had promised, that a man could fly. I also knew those abilities were beyond me.
The words of God, recorded by the prophet Zechariah are about what humans can do. Amidst the strange and confusing visions that fill the first half of the book, Zechariah seems to, again and again, return to the message that what needs to happen is way beyond our abilities.
In contrast to the message of his contemporary, Haggai, Zechariah claims that human actions—their tenacity or their physical strength—aren’t enough to change the world. Where the act of building the Temple was necessary to the salvation of Creation according to Haggai, Zechariah tells that that people aren’t powerful enough to rescue anything.
Superman can be a difficult character to write. He can seem too powerful. What sort of enemy, what sort of situation can truly challenge someone who can fly at the speed of sound, bend bars of steel, and withstand gunfire?
But, as I recently heard noted, never in the whole of that first movie does Superman perform an act of violence against someone. He doesn’t use his superior abilities or strength to overpower, harm, or overcome someone. Those powers that seem to define him end up being nothing more than tools in service of who he is. And it’s that character, that spirit that is the truly powerful part of him.
It is not by human determination or physical strength that rescue and redemption will come, but by spirit, God’s spirit alone. In other words, the world will not be changed by the way humans view power—as a means to subdue and restrain others. Instead, it will be changed through the character, the very essence of who God is.
This doesn’t mean we humans have nothing to do. It is tempting to look upon the Divine as I did Superman as a child, thinking that such abilities were beyond me. And if our focus is only upon how we understand power, then it is all out of our reach. But if we understand power the way God does, the way Zechariah is pointing us toward, we find that the ability to change the world is well within our grasp. It is not about our bodies or minds but our hearts and the breath that fills our lungs, that can give us the ability to do what we never dreamt possible.
We might even fly.
Christ, it is not through me but you through me that can bring this world closer to you.