“From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-18 CSB – Read the chapter)

Between taking a break through the month of July and exploring different aspects contributing to a growing church, it has been a while since we have reflected on culture together. Well, if you’ve missed that, I’m not going to keep you waiting any longer. This summer, Hollywood managed to do something it had not accomplished in quite some time. It released a genuine superhero blockbuster film. And I don’t just mean a little blockbuster either. This one smashed what had become a bit of a superhero glass ceiling into a million pieces. It also served to finally get the monkey off of the back of Marvel Studios that has been plaguing the company ever since Avengers: Endgame came out. I’m speaking, of course, about the latest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Let’s talk about why this one was a grand slam in every way. And just for the sake of those who haven’t yet seen it, this will have spoilers.

Five years ago (although only four years in the context of the MCU) Peter Parker made everyone forget he was Spider-Man. Mysterio’s dying act at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home was to reveal to the world that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This, understandably, brought a whole world of complications to his life. Not only could he no longer go around freely in public without all sorts of reactions, but the people he knew and loved were in danger. It was because of this danger that he enlisted the help of Dr. Strange to cast a spell that would make the whole world forget.

The spell was ultimately a success, but it came at great cost. For starters, Aunt May was killed by one of the multiversal enemies brought to this world by the initial and failed attempt to cast the spell. Of equal significance for the sake of Brand New day, though, was the fact that it left Peter alone. No one knew who he was anymore. In an instant his entire support system was ripped away and he was left to bear all of the weight of being a superhero in New York by himself.

For four years he has apparently been doing okay, but two new threats suddenly make his life much more difficult. The first is external and takes the form of a mysterious new villain in the city. This new villain seems to have the ability to take control of people’s minds, allowing total control of their bodies and leaving them with no memory of what they did while being possessed. The villain is searching for something and using every resource available to get it.

Peter is overmatched by this individual who seems to be able to jump from person to person in an instant, allowing them to move across the city rapidly. How do you fight someone when you can’t actually find them to fight them, but instead have to fight a whole bunch of people attacking you who you don’t want to hurt?

This “villain,” of course, turns out to be none other than Jean Gray, one of the founding members of the X-Men, and the first member of the team officially introduced into the MCU. The secret of the character’s entrance was closely guarded, but everyone suspected correctly that the famously red haired character was the role being played by the famously red haired actress, Sadie Sink. From this performance, I think Sink will do a wonderful job playing Jean for many more years.

Meanwhile, on a much more personal note, Peter begins undergoing some sort of mutation. The spider aspects of his DNA are starting to become more assertive and take more control of him. This leads to greater strength, even more finely tuned senses, heightened aggression, and the development of organic webbing like Toby Maguire’s original Spider-Man had. Peter’s spider-puberty transformation completely freaks him out, and he starts scrambling for control leading to his developing an inhibitor technology that will absolutely become a key plot element in future X-Men movies.

While he is becoming this new thing that he doesn’t understand, Peter teams up with the Punisher to deal with Jean, forming a relationship that gives a ton of heart to the film, he winds up fighting the Hulk, which, honestly, was little more than fan service, but what wonderful fan service it was, and he is trying to rebuild his relationships with MJ and Ned so that he’s not alone. In the end, Jean winds up unlocking her full powers and stepping toward the heroic role she will have in the future, Peter makes some progress on reconnecting with his best friends who don’t remember him anymore, and, of course, he saves the day.

Simply put: this was a tremendous movie. I didn’t think anything could top No Way Home, but I was mistaken. This was better. Yet for as big as No Way Home was, this surpassed it (in quality, yes, but also in box office receipts) not by going bigger, but by going smaller. One of the best assessments of Brand New Day I have heard is that it is not primarily a Spider-Man movie. It is a Peter Parker movie. By going deeply personal and making the movie very character-driven (and by getting all of those characters right), director Destin Daniel Cretton delivered fans an absolute gem. Everything about this movie worked from the script to the cinematography (including the best web-swinging filmography ever) to the score to the performances to the myriad of little details that added depth and richness to the whole thing. It is no wonder that it is going to prove an even bigger commercial success than Endgame was. It may go on to be the highest-grossing film ever. Deservedly so.

From a Gospel standpoint, there are a whole variety of different threads we could pull, but one really stands out to me. Peter’s mutation (which I guess makes him a mutant now too?) is transforming him into something new. The old is passing away, and the new is coming. He tries to fight it, but when he finally embraces what is true he becomes vastly more powerful because of it. I couldn’t watch all of this unfold on the screen without Paul’s declaration of the newness that comes to those who follow Jesus in his second letter to the Corinthian church. In going back and looking at the verse yesterday, the Holy Spirit made a context connection for me that I hadn’t ever noticed before.

Paul’s wonderful and well-known declaration from 2 Corinthians 5:17 is that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come.” He starts that statement, though, with a “therefore,” which means that in saying it he is explaining something else. In the first part of 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is talking about the future waiting for believers after death. The short version is that we don’t know for certain what all the details about this are, but we know we will be with Jesus. We know that and trust in this because of His resurrection from the dead.

His death and resurrection has the power to make those who embrace it into something new. Having acknowledged this, Paul observes in v. 16 that “from now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.” That is, if we have embraced and been transformed by this truth that Jesus rose and we are now fit for eternity with Him by our faith in Him, we can’t see the world in the same way anymore. We can’t interact with it in the same way anymore. We certainly can’t engage with Jesus in the same way anymore. Everything has changed. We are not the same. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

But that’s not where this stops. Peter Parker’s driving mantra since his creation by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is that with great power comes great responsibility. This core creed is a big part of what has made him such an enduringly popular character. He is a normal person who suddenly finds himself in possession of incredible power, and rather than using this power for himself, he embraces the responsibility it brings with it (something he only does because of the presence of wise and godly counselors in his life), and uses it to serve and protect the people around him. In the context of the MCU, Peter has just been given access to even more power because of the transformation his new mutation has brought to his life.

When we accept our new creation by embracing the truth about the world and placing our faith in Christ, we come into possession of a great power. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us giving us access to all the power of God. No we aren’t suddenly divine, but He can work through us to accomplish incredible, kingdom-advancing things if we will let Him. And one of those kingdom-advancing things is to connect others to Him so they can share in the life we now live in Christ. This is the great responsibility our great power demands: sharing the life of Christ with others.

This is what Paul lands on starting in v. 18 and to the end of the chapter. Let’s just look at that first verse of the closer. “Everything [that is, all of this transformation] is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” With the great power of God’s Spirit living and moving in and through our lives comes the great responsibility of working to reconcile other people who are lost as we once were to God through Jesus.

As a follower of Jesus, when you go around on a regular day, you are surrounded by people who are not as powerful as you are. They are weak and struggling and so very broken. This doesn’t mean you are superior to them in any way, though, because you were once just like them. The only difference between them and you is Jesus. That’s a difference you can share. You can share it using all of the tools at your disposal.

As long as Peter tried to resist the transformation happening inside of him, as long as he tried to control it, as long as he tried to manage it on his own terms, he was held back. He couldn’t fight all the battles that were before him. It was only when he embraced the change and gave himself fully over to it that he was able to overcome what was lying before him. In a similar way, it will only be when we fully embrace Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit within us, refusing to try to accomplish anything on our own power any longer, and instead rely on His power which we do by keeping His command to love others after the pattern of His own love for us, leaving Him to take care of the rest, that we will find ourselves able to overcome all the challenges before us and carry out the ministry of reconciliation God has given us in Christ.

Spider-Man has always been a great hero. He’s a fan favorite for a reason. This particular story was one of the best I’ve seen told. If we will embrace the newness God wants to accomplish in us through Jesus, we will have great power like Peter does. And when we step up to the great responsibility that power brings, we will be a part of changing the world around us in the best ways imaginable. Let’s get to it. And go see the movie if you haven’t!