The Good Shepard

Fewer video games in recent times have created such loved lead characters as the Mass Effect Trilogy. With the ability to fully customise the look, feel and even gender of the main character and then not only being able to make every decision in the game for the main character but also to choose what they say in each conversation, and thus being fully in control of the characters personality as well as image, no other game has been able to create this sense that the player “owns” the character and so build an intensely personal relationship with them.

Conversations, debates and forums have been over run with arguments about “what would commander Shepard do?” and it’s no surprise when it’s possible for two players to have two completely different ideas about what or who commander Shepard is.

This has many similarities to when Christians ask the same kinds of questions regarding Jesus. The four gospels themselves all display a different side and character to Jesus. Often these different sides appear incompatible and as a result people have built up their own ideas about who Jesus was and how he acted, their own personal Jesus if you will.

The similarities between Shepard and Christ don’t stop at how players/believers perceive them though.

Commander Shepard comes bounding onto the scene thrust straight into the action (much like Jesus in Marks gospel) and sets the ball rolling on a vast galaxy spanning quest to defeat the great evil hanging over creation’s head and thus liberate the universe from the fear of death.

Throughout this quest Commander Shepard encounters several situations that have similar overtones to those Jesus of Nazareth faced, not literally on a galactic scale or with the extinction of various alien species for example, but in how they both interact to these situations and with the people involved.  Both Christ and Commander dedicate a lot of their time to preaching about the soon to be end of the world and that it is now time to change our ways and live as if that future time was now.

Shepard often finds him/herself in situations where s/he is able to offer forgiveness and reconciliation between characters. S/he is able to end a conflict between two races by encouraging Tali the Quarian and Legion, a Geth, to forgive each other and their races and so allow the two species to be reconciled.  Shepard, like Christ, is also a healer helping to cure the Genophage, a decision which also requires forgiveness on the part of the two species involved. Finally after three massive games and constant battles against his/her foes Shepard comes to the end and eventually has to sacrifice him/herself to save the galaxy and usher in a new era of prosperity and freedom for all of creation.

Both Shepard and Christ show huge amounts of compassion during their ministries both for their inner circle of friends and for life in general. Rather then commit genocide Shepard can choose to release the last remaining survivors of an insect race and on several occasions Shepard can choose to show mercy to characters who many would believe to be deserving of punishment. However, as with Jesus, it’s not all love and happiness as Shepard is also prone to chastise his/her followers for not understanding the situation and violent displays of anger similar to those witnessed in Jerusalem’s temple.  

These interactions with the various inhabitants of the world are where some of the strongest similarities can be made. For their constant criticism of the ruling elite both Jesus and Shepard are attacked, vilified and labelled crazy and or dangerous, and whilst Shepard isn’t condemned to death, as Jesus was, S/he finds herself never truly being believed or honoured by those in charge until it is too late.

On the more positive side of personal relationships Shepard and Jesus have a lot more in common. Both famously build a strong inner circle of trusted disciples with which they carry out their mission. They also spend a lot of time teaching their respective disciples and through out both the Gospels and games we see the group of disciples grow and change as their leader helps them through the trials and tribulations of being a follower of Christ or Shepard.

The range of disciples the two leaders collect are also similar. Shepard doesn’t limit her/his choices to the human race or soldiers. Within his/her inner circle humans rub shoulders with Quarians, Turians, Salarians, Krogans and sentient machines EDI and Legion. Their skills range from soldier to doctor to scientist to computer hacker to assassin to thief  Shepards team is as varied as the galaxy s/he has come to save. Likewise Jesus’s diciples were a motley crew of people. He had zealots, tax collectors, jews, Galileans, Romans, prostitutes, men and women, young and old. Both saviours chose from the down-and-outs of society and made sure everyone was included and respected equally and so everyone can share in their victories.

Shepard doesn’t keep the relationship on a commander – troops level though. Like Jesus s/he lives along side them, sharing in their lives, like Jesus at the wedding at Cana or at the tomb of Lazarus s/he shares their joy and weeps at their passing. Shepard and Christ are both loving, caring leaders.

This is just a very brief, and rather shallow, write up of some of the similarities between Commander Shepard of the Normandy and Jesus Christ of Nazareth. There are also a lot more intricate and detailed similarities that could be explored, the use of the ancient Prothean knowledge mirroring the use of scripture for example, but I don’t have the time to go into that much detail here (maybe at college….).

Though one was based in Palestine 2000 years ago and the other on an interstellar spaceship 10,000+ years in the future, the similarities are startling (Shepard even undergoes resurrection at the start of ME2!). The fact that they both stood for peace and reconciliation, whilst enabling others to grow and develop and then eventually sacrificing themselves to save all of creation is enough for them both to be labelled the Good Shepard. 

P.S. I am aware of the glaring omission of the fact that Jesus didn't use guns or spaceships in my comparison between the two. 

P.S.S. I am also aware that these comparisons only work if the player plays a "good" Shepard. You can actually play the game and make decisions and comments that would make Shepard more anti-Christ then divine savior. 

Ascension day Sermon... is this the end?

“on the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father”

The simplicity of these two lines from the creed that we recite here every Sunday, seems to play down the huge significance of the events that happened nearly two thousand years ago. The two statements bookend many other events taking place over the course of 40 days and so to only include those two key events does a great disservice to that hugely busy and exciting time.

So much can happen in 40 days…..

If we look back at what has happened here in this church alone, we’ve had a soup lunch, a concert, hosted a vocations weekend, held 2 film evenings and collectively worshiped at more services then I can count. And that only scratches the surface of what we’ve done since Easter morning.

If we look at what happened in ancient Israel 2000 years ago with the disciples and the various resurrection experiences it is equally as busy. Jesus made two appearances on Easter morning, he ate supper in the looked room, accompanied a pair on the road to Emmaus and gave fishing advice to those struggling on a boat amongst many other acts that are apparently too many to number.

So why then did the authors of the creed choose to only include his death and resurrection and leave out the bits in between? Why not include the line “he appeared to his disciples” or “he cooked fish on the beach”? Is it simply because they lack the poetry or grandeur of the rest of text or that they don’t quite fit in with the writing style?

Or is it because the ascension in to Heaven over shadows all other post resurrection appearances?

Christ’s final act on this world is the summing up of his earthly duty. He has taught in the synagogues, challenged the religious and political status quo, suffered under Pontius Pilate, been crucified, died and buried and then on the third day has risen again.

Then with his various appearances during the 40 days, he has proven his resurrection is not just a trick, or ghostly apparition.

However it is his ascension alone that proves that his is the ultimate victory. By ascending to Heaven he shows beyond any doubt that he has defeated death, conquered sin and is fully resurrected.

He entered the world in silence and secrecy; he leaves it in fitting pomp and ceremony – ascending through the clouds to take up his rightful place at the right hand of the father in glory. He has been transformed from the wandering rabbi from Nazareth to the eternal Prince of Peace, king of the universe.

 

If he had not defeated death, if he was still merely mortal, he would have had to suffer another death in order to leave this world. On the other hand if his mission was not complete he would have had to continue working in the world, constantly appearing and teaching people. No, by ascending he proved that it was finished. His victory secured and his work done.

But what then?

What happens now that Jesus has finished his Fathers work, death is defeated and sins are forgiven?

What about the disciples?

 For the second time in just over a month their leader, teacher, friend is willingly leaving them. This time however he leaves them in glory. Their reaction to this parting is reversed, rather then despair there is joy, instead of weeping they rejoice. For they know now why he must go. They know the ending of the story, Jesus has told them “the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead” he has “opened their minds” to the scriptures, all is revealed. And unlike last time he is leaving them with clear instructions. The great commission as it has come to be known; that

“repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations”.

Rather then leaving them scattered he gives them a simple instruction, go into the world and tell them about me.

This new commandment is greater then anything he has given them before. His earlier teaching was localised to themselves, their own lives or Judaism alone. Now however he has ordered them out to proclaim the good news to the whole world not just to the Jews. It is because of this that we have Paul’s great statement “there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free” Jesus commanded his disciples to start at Jerusalem and work out, to the ends of the earth to ALL Nations and this has happened right up to the present day.

The task of spreading the news to all nations could not possibly be achieved by the few that were present when Jesus was speaking and so it is a task that must be taken up by all believers.

As Jesus’ disciples we too fall under of the great commission. We too are called to go out and proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name.

Spreading the Gospel message is a task that we can all under take, no matter who we are or what nation we come from. The disciple’s lives and teaching as recorded in the next great story, found in the book of acts, is our hand guide.

It is something every Christian can and often is, already doing. To spread the Good news is not to stand on the street corner with a megaphone in one hand and a Bible in the other it is much more then that. It is to live. To live as witnesses to Christ and to follow his teachings to the best of our abilities.

Jesus has commissioned us to live our whole lives as witnesses to his resurrection and all that brings with it just as the disciples did thousands of years ago. We can proclaim forgiveness and repentance of sins simply by the way we live and act in our community. That is the truly great Christian story that we are part of.

And so though the ascension in to Heaven is the end of Jesus’ story it is also the beginning of our story as his disciples.