Sunday Matinee #53 Logan

The reluctant hero is a universal human feature.

John 1:43-51 | Revised Common Lectionary | EnterTheBible.org
Second Sunday of Epiphany | 01.14.2024
Context: Jesus starts out in his public ministry calling his disciples to “come and see.” One by one, they hear him speak, then go out to find their friends and bring them to Jesus so they can hear him, too. Finally, a young man named Philip hears of Jesus and finds what he’s looking for in life. He seeks out his friend, Nathanael.

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Logan | 2017
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Logan (Hugh Jackman) is a superhuman mutant warrior long past his prime. Exhausted and on the run. He’s guarding his old mentor and fellow mutant, Prof. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and a girl named Laura (Dafne Keen) who seems to have powers and abilities similar to his own. On their road trip to escape the people pursuing them, they avoid a car crash and watch as another family whose trailer was nearly run off the road as well tries to get their horses together.

Charles Xavier: They need our help.
Logan: Someone will come along!
Charles Xavier: Someone HAS come along.

Commentary:

In each of the gospels, the four writings that begin the New Testament of the Bible, we read about Jesus calling disciples to follow him. Most of the stories match up, at least in the broad strokes, while others are unique to specific gospels or tell the same story but in a different way. After all, we don’t all remember things going exactly the same way, right?

“Come and see” could very well be the three words we need to beckon us into a new year. We can enter 2024 reluctantly because we already know it’s not going to be easy. Or, we can embrace that year can have just as much potential for us to do good, experience good, and share good all along the way. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells Philip to come and see. That is, to follow him and be a part of the good that will happen.

When Philip passes that message along to his friend, Nathanael, it’s after his friend dismisses the very prospect that Jesus is the real deal. What good can come from Nazareth? The same good that could come from whatever town your high school was rival to when you were growing up. Isn’t it amazing how much dismissal or hate or whatever “they” gave “us” against “them” from somewhere else?! Nathanael isn’t buying it.

Oh, those reluctant Nates, I tell ya. 

Philip presses him, giving him the same lesson Jesus gave him: “Come and see.” Come and see what I have experienced, the good that is now, and the good that is to come. Be part of this. When I read this, I always think of Philip and Nathanael as good friends because they do end up going. Listening to that invitation, to “come and see,” pays off for Nathanael. It’s worth giving it a shot.

Not every X-Men film is a sure thing, but Logan has a unique flavor that transcends the superhero genre. It’s a story of redemption that happens to have mutant powers at its core. On the run after some plagues and incidents wipe out nearly every mutant on the planet, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and his mentor, Prof. X (Patrick Stewart) are on the run as they protect a young girl named Laura (Dafne Keen), who is a mutant like themselves. Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, is reluctant to protect her, protects Prof. X, a.k.a. Charles, out of a sense of duty more than desire, and isn’t keen on helping anyone else, either.

Charles sees a chance for Logan to do some good for regular people who need a hand. Couldn’t he just give them a few minutes of his time? Logan is so used to saying “No” that he’s forgotten how to say “Yes.” Logan is a series of scenes where Logan says no, then says okay, fine! Looking back over all of the X-Men films, hasn’t that been his usual attitude all along? Don’t ask me to help! I’m on my own! Nobody helped me; I don’t help anybody. Comic book people will go back and forth on whether Wolverine should be the “main character” of the X-Men stories. But it’s clear that reluctant hero trope is not only alive and well in Wolverine, it’s really fun to watch his reluctance melt away as he comes to someone’s aid.

Particularly if it involves claws.

If “come and see” can bring us into the new year, maybe we could add Charles’s phrase right before it: “Somebody HAS come along; come and see.” 

Who has invited you to “come and see” something good? Did it pay off and how? Who do you invite to the most important things in your life? When have you overcome your reluctance and tried something new?