Let me set up the scene once last time. Spider-Man was finally free of the dark symbiote suit. But before this liberation, he had done terrible things. There were new enemies that wanted him to suffer and die. Eddie Brock – the next host of the symbiote – kidnapped Mary Jane, recruited Flint Marko (alias Sandman) and dared Spider-Man to rescue her and stop them. The final confrontation was epic.
As I described last time, Spider-Man was getting
pummeled, but Harry Osborn swept in and saved him. Soon he and Spider-Man were able to rescue
Mary Jane. At one point in the thrilling
fight, Flint Marko/Sandman was wounded; he needed time to regroup and
reconfigure. But Eddie (a.k.a. Venom)
was ready to brawl. He managed to bind
Spider-Man’s wrists, with his webbing, so that Peter’s hands ended up above his
head.
It was here that Peter tried to reason with Eddie to get
rid of the evil symbiotic suit. But it
did no good. Soon after, Harry flew in
with his glider to help again, but Venom yanked Harry off of the glider with a
web line. And then seconds later, the
pivotal moment: Venom proceeded to leap at a defenseless Spider-Man with
Harry’s own glider – with two sharp blades equipped. That’s when Harry stepped in and took the
blades meant for Peter. Harry died a
heroic, sacrificial death.
In a very real sense, Harry took Peter’s sin upon
himself. Venom was a product of Peter’s
bad choices. Under the symbiote’s power,
Peter had lived a life of revenge, pride, selfishness, hate, and greed. When he finally rejected the symbiote, it
bonded with Eddie Brock. Had Peter done
the right thing at the outset, Venom never would have existed in the first
place. Yet Harry paid the price of that
sin when he died in Peter’s place.
I’m grateful to authors Jeff Dunn and Adam Palmer, and
their helpful book “The Soul of
Spider-Man”. In their observations
on Harry Osborn’s sacrificial death, they cite John 15:13 where Jesus says, “Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends.” But they point out that it was the previous
verse, John 15:12 that gives the important context of Jesus’ words. John 15:12 says, “My command is this: Love
each other as I have loved you.” Dunn
and Palmer continue by saying:
“With that preceding verse, we see that, when Jesus
talked about laying down one’s life for a friend, He was talking about Himself.
That’s what He meant when He said “as I have loved you.” This was a Man who was about to lay down His
life, willingly…for those He loves…In a way, Harry does the same thing – though
his sacrifice doesn’t purchase eternal life and redemption for his friend Peter
Parker. But it does allow Peter to live,
and to live abundantly. Peter is
motivated by Harry’s death to defeat Venom and then follows Harry’s model of forgiveness
by forgiving Flint Marko a few minutes later.”
Essentially, unconditional love saved Peter in Spider-Man 3. There is a poignant, sacrificial Christ-like
love in Harry’s death. Peter had made
terrible mistakes. Incidentally, so did
Harry. I neglected to mention it until
now, but he went down his own dark path as the new Green Goblin (at one point,
Peter called him “Goblin Jr.” which is a designation I like, I must admit). But Jesus’ death was as the perfect, spotless,
and sinless God-man.
In conclusion, perhaps you can relate to the bad choices
made by Peter, Flint, Eddie, and even Harry.
You’ve made bad choices and you’ve subsequently made a train wreck out
of your life. Jesus paid the price for
every sin on the cross. Maybe you’ve
never placed your faith in Christ, let today be the day. Maybe you’ve let yourself stray far away from
the Lord, let today be the day when you return home. We’ve all made selfish, sinful mistakes – I
know I have. But there is hope in Jesus.
Kevin
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