What God are We Presenting to Students?
The most recent Disney+ show, Moon Knight, recently wrapped up its first season. Moon Knight is a broken superhero who functions as the avatar (a human vessel) for an Egyptian deity, Khonshu. There are many aspects of this show that are notable for youth pastor theologians to pay attention to, including discussions of mental health, justice, grief, and spirituality. A great place to start is with the most recent Thanos to Theos episode. What I’d like to focus on in this article is a question I had while watching episode 5, arguably the strongest and most emotionally powerful episode in the series: “What God are we presenting to our students?”
Marc Spector is Jewish (raised by a rabbi in the comics) and yet, as “Moon Knight,” he serves an Egyptian deity, essentially having abandoned his faith heritage. The Disney+ series provides a glimpse into the events that cause Marc to reject the god of his family and to embrace Khonshu. The most recent run of Moon Knight comics develops this even further. In Moon Knight (2021) #5, Marc explains part of his decision this way: “I put aside a god who had let terrible things happen to his people, a god who I had never seen, never heard, in favor of a god who spoke to me and promised: ‘Join me, be my son, and together we will get things done.’” As Marc observes his father’s passivity, he describes him as “a weak man serving an indifferent god.”
While the vast majority of our students will never read these comics to understand the full background of the Moon Knight character, many have watched the show and even more are asking similar questions about their own faith.
Moon Knight provides a platform for us to consider how we present God to students, and how to discuss these types of questions with them. In both our explicit teaching and the implicit ways we communicate who God is, it’s important for us to be intentional about “What God are we presenting to our students?”
A Few Burning Questions
At the center of Marc Spector’s struggle are a few familiar questions: questions such as, “How can I communicate with God?” “Does God actually care about justice?” and “Why didn’t God stop ____ from happening?” Whether our students are considering what it looks like to have a personal relationship with the God of the Bible or looking at the many injustices of the world around them, students are trying to figure out who God really is and if he is worth believing in and trusting.
As youth pastor theologians, we want to address these questions directly through our teaching and conversations. We can also re-examine what we are communicating when we’re not teaching. For instance, do our students see us treating Jesus as someone we actually live in communion with, and someone we want to be with? Or do they simply see us using prayer as a transition between different segments of youth group? Do we treat our faith with flippancy during casual conversations?
We could also consider the ways we respond to injustice. Students’ social media feeds are full of the latest mistreatment of a marginalized person, the most recent abuse scandal within the church. When we see one student put down another at youth group, how do we respond? Do we respond with indifference, complicity, and by circling the wagons; or do we present a God who cares about, and addresses injustice? May we not be like those who said the right thing but are passive regarding our pursuit of righteousness.
Presenting God For Who He Really Is
While we can understand the importance of presenting God accurately to our students, it’s another thing to know how to actually do that. What are some ways we can impart a biblically faithful picture of God to students? I want to offer two ways.
Lead Them To Jesus
While there are plenty of examples of God “showing up” in the Bible, it’s not surprising that students (and Marc Spector) would view God as someone who doesn’t care. The Israelites experienced slavery and captivity beneath multiple nations. There were long stretches where God seemed absent to them. However, because we live on this side of the incarnation, cross, and resurrection, we have the ability to show our students the fullest picture of who God is by pointing them to Jesus. He is the literal embodiment of God’s desire to be with his people, instead of staying far off. John begins his gospel this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us,” and his incarnation reveals God’s desire to be present and communicate with us. Even more, he sent the Holy Spirit who would receive the gospel by faith (John 14:16-18, Acts 2:1-4).
As we lead our students to Jesus, we are also showing them the best example of God’s hatred for injustice and his love in action. Paul describes the selfless love of God, demonstrated in Jesus, this way in Philippians 2: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). Instead of remaining indifferent toward the injustice, brokenness, and sin of our world, Jesus humbly sacrificed himself to atone for our sin. His kingdom is one in which justice and righteousness will be perfectly executed. There is no better place to point our students who are wondering “does God even care?” than to Jesus.
Provide Space for Doubt and Lament
As we lead our students to see Jesus for who he truly is, we may run the risk of presenting the truth in a way that excludes doubt and lament. We can be confident in the truth we’re teaching, which is precisely why we can also allow room for our students to question if it’s actually true and to properly lament the injustice and suffering they see around them. The gospel of John highlights several disciples of Jesus who experienced moments of doubt - most notably Thomas. Notice Jesus’ invitation to Thomas in John 20:27: “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’” Instead of shaming Thomas for doubting, Jesus invites him to move from doubt to belief. The most recent YPT Podcast episode dealt with this very subject, and is worth a listen.
Alongside allowing space for doubt, we can also help our students handle their grief in a positive and biblical way, through lament. Approximately 40% of the Psalms are categorized as Psalms of Lament, where a complaint is brought to God honestly and openly. As Jesus is hanging on the cross, he quotes a lament as he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46). If our ministries are a place where students are not able to safely ask questions, express doubt, and cry out to God about the brokenness they are experiencing, then we can’t be surprised if they have an incomplete picture of God.
While we may not have deep conversations with all of our students about the theology of Moon Knight, we are all presenting them with a picture of who God is. May we carefully consider what that picture is, how we are presenting the good news of our God, and may our students believe in the God who is present and cares enough about injustice to sacrifice himself. And may we go beyond simply presenting an accurate picture of God to our students through our teaching and embody it as we are present in our students' high and low points, loving them sacrificially because our God has loved us first.