Bruce Banner is a man struggling with what to make of life in the beginning of the Incredible Hulk. Terrible events have result in a loss of purpose and the love of his life, Betsy Ross. He is trying to pick up the pieces of his broken life when his blood drops into a soda factory in Brazil and ingested by a consumer in Wisconsin. This sets Ross’s dad, General Ross on a man hunt to find Banner.
Banner gets away from Ross and his soldiers, but he turns back into the thing that has become a part of him: The Hulk. The Hulk to him is just a nuisance, a thing that has taken him away from so many things he wanted in life. He can’t see that the anger and rage inside of him can be a way of him fighting for his place in the world and for those he cares about the most.
Banner in many ways, is like the character Jacob in the Bible. Jacob has been dealt hardship after hardship in his life. He has had fleeting glimpses of purpose and peace in his life. After he deceitfully stole the family blessing from his brother Esau, God spoke to him in his brokenness. He gave him the promise of His purpose and presence in his life. But now that glimpse seems to have fade, even though that promise still remains present in his life.
In Genesis 32, we find Jacob about to face his brother Esau after years of separation. However, we find him wrestling with a man until daybreak, perhaps letting off all the anger He has harbored in his soul for too long. The wrestling is about to go to an impasse, when the man touches the socket of Jacob’s hip, wrenching it in the middle of the struggle.
We think that the fight is nearly over, when Jacob says to him, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” (Genesis 32: 26). Then after giving the man his name, he says to Jacob, “Your name will not longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome (Genesis 32:27).
Jacob’s new name, Israel, was born in conflict, showing that his anger and pain had a redemptive purpose. From Jacob, the nation of Israel is born, from whom the Messiah will come, showing us that God uses every part of our stories for his glory and fame.
Banner eventually thinks he has gotten away from ever being the Hulk again. The thing
that has caused him so much grief and sorrow will forever not be apart of his life again. However, a solider of Ross has been transformed by various experiments in a Hulk-like monster. Banner decides to fight this solider even though he doesn’t know he will become the Hulk again. It is in this choice that he discovers that in his rage and anger, he can fight for his place in the world and for those he can cares about the most.
He defeats the solider, as he becomes the Hulk again. He saves the world from destruction, but it is this same world that causes him to go on the run again. He wants some desperately to fight for his place in the world, but he doesn’t know how to do with his two identities.
We don’t have to be like Banner today. Through the pain and struggle of our lives, we can hear God saying to our hearts, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is once we rest in his grace, we can discover for perhaps for the first time, that God wants to uses our brokenness to bring us closer to Him.
It is only through our brokenness, that God’s light can shine the brightest. It is through the embracing of it, we discover that God can use every part of our stories to advance His glory and fame. Through telling of the story of God’s work in us, we point to the one who can speak to them in their brokenness.
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