Returning Loyalty
By Anthony Casperson
8-3-24

In the very beginning of the Pixar classic, The Incredibles, we see Mr. Incredible perform numerous acts of heroism. This includes saving a person who was plummeting to his death off a building.

But shortly thereafter we’re shown that same man in a neck brace due to injuries sustained during the rescue. And he’s suing the superhero because Mr. Incredible ruined his attempted suicide. The rest of that story continues from there.

However, we’re going another direction.

This specific action not only pokes fun at the American legal system and our sue-happy culture, but also is meant to subvert the typical trope where the one who was rescued becomes a staunch defender of the superhero that saved them.

When a person is saved from a deadly or highly damaging end, the normal response is thankfulness. And the installation of a desire to either return the favor or pass on that heroic act forward to others. Even when smaller damages are done, once the person rescued realizes what otherwise could’ve been, they seek to prove thankfulness.

Any other response makes us judge the unthankful rescuee as rude or disrespectful. Because when someone goes out of their way to protect and preserve another, it is only out of a desire for the betterment of the one saved. And that self-sacrificing care is something we all would hope to dwell inside of us.

What we certainly wouldn’t ever think to do is call a potential savior “angry and judgmental.” Yet that is exactly what we do with God when we look to his actions in the Old Testament and claim that they are nothing like the love and grace shown in the New Testament.

Over the summer, we’ve been looking at the repeated biographical statement about God. “A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” We’ve seen time and again that God’s loyalty to his covenant people remains true. He seeks to save his creation from the destructive end that our sin leads us to. And his offer to rescue repeatedly extends—even to the point of generations later—waiting for us to finally accept his forgiveness as we repent.

Grace and love and mercy ready for us throughout the bible. As long as we accept it.

So why is there this repulsive reaction to God’s rescue? I think it comes down to our human tendency to crave our sinful habits. And even certain aspects of sin’s destructive end look good to us. Thus, when we witness God reaching out a hand to stop us, we become like the person rescued by Mr. Incredible, essentially saying, “He ruined my attempt to kill myself.”

All we can see is finally getting what we think we want while God gets in the way. Instead of realizing the terrible end that we will reach, if we don’t accept the forgiving hand the Savior.

Instead, if we accept God’s extended hand of grace and mercy, if we reach for his covenantal loyalty, then thankfulness should be our response. A returned loyalty to that same covenant he offers us. A pursuit of a holy life, not in order to earn his grace, but as a natural outgrowth of our thankfulness to being rescued.

In the book of Nehemiah, we see the people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah return from Babylonian exile. Not only had the Northern Kingdom of Israel reached the point of judgement and exile, but almost 150 years later, Judah had also met its punishment for rejecting the ways of God. And now 70 years after that, its people are sent home by the grace of God.

As they rebuilt, the nation’s spiritual leaders called for the people to return to God’s ways. In Nehemiah 8, the people stand around for much of the day hearing from the books of God’s Law, which were written by Moses. And the spiritual leaders also explained the words. It’s a day-long sermon we’re talking about here.

And the people weep. Not because of how harsh and judgmental God is in it. Or that they’re gonna miss lunch because the preacher’s gone long. Rather, they weep because of how badly they had failed to uphold the covenant of their Savior. These were tears of repentance.

Then a couple weeks later, in Nehemiah 9, the nation gathered once again for the reading of Yahweh’s Law. For a quarter of the day, they listened with undivided attention. And for then next quarter of the day, they worshipped their God.

After this, the spiritual leaders of Judah recounted the history of God’s faithfulness to his covenant with Israel. Major event after major event in Israelites history. Over and over—even despite repeated failure on Israel’s side to return the faithful loyalty—Yahweh remained faithful. Always holding out a hand as he waited for their return.

Nehemiah 9:17 specifically speaks of the regular manner in which Israel treated God and his ways. They had been stiff-necked in their refusal to obey Moses, even attempting to appoint another leader to bring them back to slavery. But even then, Yahweh was “ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

Even when the people pushed away the hand of God, he refused to forsake them.

On account of the God whom those returning exiles saw in their history—the God who always remained loyal to his covenant people—the spiritual leaders called for the nation to return that loyalty back to God. How they would do that was by agreeing to return to the covenant.

Essentially, they committed to following God’s ways once again. The outgrowth of their being forgiven was to reach toward holiness. Commitment to spiritual growth, not so that they could earn his forgiveness, but because they’d already received that forgiveness.

For us today, the covenant Yahweh offers to us is through the cross of Jesus, sealed with his blood. In his loyalty to his creation, God offered us forgiveness. And once we have accepted that offer of forgiveness from the gracious and merciful God, let’s stop calling him harsh and angry and judgmental just because he has a standard of holiness. Instead, let’s return that loyalty back to him as we seek to be holy and he is holy.

Let’s become staunch defenders of the super-est of all heroes.