Necessity of Community
Community is something we all need and seek to varying degrees. Social media spins the lie that you can find community with people virtually. Though you can certainly connect with people, it is not the same thing as face-to-face connection and community; it’s not enough to watch from afar. We need people we trust and love who will keep us rooted.
Peter tries desperately to help people as Spider-Man, taking action to do the right thing and save everyone, even sparing the villains he fights. His commitment to save everyone is why Spider-Man and Frank, The Punisher, clash throughout the movie. Spider-Man wants to help everyone, while Frank seeks justice at all costs, regardless of who might get hurt. Trusting no one and isolating from everyone, Frank comes across as a bitter, cold person. Gradually, his interactions with Spider-Man change him from a cold, heartless man into a friend by the end of the movie.
We need people we trust and love who will keep us rooted.
This change in Frank can be seen most clearly when he tries to stop a renegade tank. Frank couldn’t care less who he hurts in order to stop the tank, including Spider-Man. By the end of the movie when Frank tries to shoot the antagonist, Jean Gray, Peter takes the bullet instead. Frank drops everything and gets Peter to the hospital. We see that Frank has grown to trust and respect Spider-Man, and when he finally learns Peter’s true identity, he acknowledges that Peter is who he always thought he was: a nice kid. Frank and Peter become friends and their friendship changes Frank.
When we allow trustworthy friends into our lives, they have the potential to change us. This is evident on a small level between Peter and Frank, but it is true for all of us. We need friends who not just make us feel good but who we can trust to tell us the truth about ourselves, exhorting us to change because they love and care for us. Peter becomes the friend who challenges Frank to change, extending the same kindness on a small level to the film’s antagonist, Jean Gray.
Jean is a telepath on a mission to find something from Damage Control. It’s not until later in the movie that Peter finds out the ‘something’ is Jean’s sister, Sara. During his time tracking Jean down, Peter is faced with the question of who he is. Is he Spider-Man or Peter Parker? He struggles with the continuing mutations that threaten to push him to the edge of himself. Jean questions why he’s holding back. She has fully let go of any restraint in order to get what she wants.
In the final confrontation, she pushes for an answer from Peter: Will he deny who he is or will he give in? At a crossroads, Peter chooses a third way: he is both Spider-Man and Peter Parker. By exercising self-control and restraint, he remains true to his identity to do the right thing and help everyone.
Peter only remains rooted to his identity because of the people in his life like his Aunt May. May instilled in Peter that helping people is part of his identity and his responsibility with the powers he has. Here Peter recognizes his need for people, he needs friends he can trust in order to continue serving others as Spider-Man. The movie ends with Peter beginning to take steps to rebuild his community by making friends with Ned and MJ.
We Need the Church
Just as Peter needs good friends and community, so do we. It can be far too easy to try to strong-arm our way through life, doing it on our own without others. This is especially true in our individualistic culture. Finding friends we can trust who will love us well and truthfully is vital to our flourishing. As Christians, we are specifically called to be a part of a community like this: the church.
In Galatians, Paul encourages the church to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,” and in Hebrews, Christians are to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…,” (Galatians 6:2; Hebrews 10:24-25). Gathering together with fellow Christians is not optional, but necessary to our growth and flourishing.
Finding friends we can trust who will love us well and truthfully is vital to our flourishing.
There is no such thing as a lone-wolf Christian, as much as we might like to think so. We need other Christians to help us to love others and walk in the faith. Throughout the movie, Peter tries to do the right thing alone while also shouldering his own burdens and grief from losing everyone he loves. We can also fall into the trap of trying to do the right thing while bearing all our burdens on our own. Yet we have been called into the community of faith. We are instructed to walk alongside each other and bear one another’s burdens, to encourage and spur one another on to obedience and love. We all need people. And as Christians, we need the church.
By Lynae Ackley