TopDissertations
Jesus Christ, as described in the book of Matthew is a hero. This part of the Bible provides a narration of the life and the actions of Jesus Christ. From it, one is able to learn about the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ, the miracles that he was doing, his death and his uncanny resurrection from the dead. Some of the miraculous actions that Jesus Christ did include walking on the water, raising the dead, healing blind people, and other individuals who had various diseases and sicknesses. While carrying out these activities, the intention of Jesus Christ was to demonstrate that he was the son of God, and he came to redeem the mankind from sin. The heroic nature of Jesus Christ is therefore seen when many people follow him, just with the intention of listening to what he had to say, and to see the kind of miracles that he was doing. In fact, in one of the instances, a blind man called on Jesus for help, and the latter healed him. As a result, the testimony the blind man Barnabas gave concerning Jesus was that of a hero. In particular, he denoted that he did not know whether Jesus was a sinner or not. However, everything that he knew was that he was blind, and after the meeting with Jesus and his miraculous interference he was able to see again.
As for Odysseus, he is a hero in the Greek mythology. After the Trojan War, it took him ten years to journey through the Aegean Sea to his home in Ithaca. During this period of time, the man faced numerous challenges, which he successfully overcame. They included fights with the gods, nature and even evil spirits. Just like Jesus Christ, Odysseus had followers. Those were people who believed in him, and could come with him wherever he went. Therefore, from these stories, a heroic person is an individual who has disciples, and the capability of influencing the events. Jesus Christ as recorded in the book of Matthew and Odysseus as written in The Odyssey satisfy these provisions.
In the book of Matthew, Jesus begins his teachings in chapter 5. The proclamations that are in the mentioned chapter are known as the Beatitudes, and they teach people on the best way of living with the other individuals. Jesus begins his teachings by denoting that blessed are the people who are poor in the spirit, because the kingdom of God belongs to them (Matt. 5:3). To understand this verse, there is a need of realizing the mission of Jesus Christ. Actually, the book of gives us a clear explanation of what the mission of Jesus Christ was. In particular, it is stated that his began his teaching by denoting that people should repent because the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt. 4:17). Therefore, the mission of Jesus Christ was to promote the kingdom of God on the earth. This fact explains why the first words in the Beatitudes are that people need to be poor in spirit so that they may inherit the kingdom of God.
Moreover, this part of the Bible also shows that a large crowd followed Jesus (Matt. 5:1). This is basically because they were touched by the teachings that he was giving to the people. His ability to attract such big groups of people is an indication that he was a hero. Moreover, a hero must have followers, and Jesus Christ fulfills this condition as well. For example, Matthew talks about the ability of Jesus Christ to have disciples (Matt. 4:18-21). For example, versus 18 narrates that Jesus Christ calls Peter and Andrew as they were busy fishing. The two agreed to leave their jobs as fishermen just to follow Jesus. In any normal circumstances, a person will not leave his work to come with another individual. This will only happen if the person to be followed has extraordinary capabilities that will make other people view him as a hero.
Moving to Odysseus in The Odyssey, he was a hero because he had some extraordinary capabilities too. For example, the man had soldiers who were willing to follow him to whatever place he was going. To illustrate, after the Trojan War, Odysseus had 12 ships, and they set sail for Ithaca. However, they arrived at the island of the Cyclopes which was the beginning of the problems that he and his men encountered during the journey (Hillon, Smith and Isaacs 2013). This is because at the Island, Odysseus and his men met a man-eating Cyclops that began killing his soldiers. In a bid to protect them, Odysseus made a decision to engage the giant into a conversation. It was a risk because he did not know how the giant would react. Thus, it was very courageous of Odysseus basically because not everybody may have the courage and the desire of protecting and saving other people and interceding for them (Hillon, Smith and Isaacs 2013). This situations shows that the man was devoid of selfishness and the need to protect only himself; instead, Odysseus cared for the welfare of his followers. During one of his conversations with Polyphermus, Odysseus lied to him that his name was Nobody. This lie was strategic in the sense that it helped them escape from the island. What happened later explains the idea. The Cyclops was blinded and he called for help claiming that nobody had done this to him. Other giants refused to pursue Odysseus and his men because they thought that Polyphermus was getting mad. In this scene, Odysseus is a hero because of his capability to protect his men and save them from the jaws of death.
According to the Greeks, a true hero will stand for the community and his friends despite the dangers he will be facing. That is why Hector, during the Trojan War, was considered a hero contrary to Achilles. It is because he was fighting for his people, the Trojans, as opposed to Achilles who was struggling for his own glory. It is important to explain that Odysseus can be compared to Hector because he was striving for the glory of Greece and not for himself. This is reason of why he managed to convince Achilles to fight against Trojans, and king Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter for the purpose of appeasing the gods so that they would give them a safe passage to Troy (Hillon, Smith and Isaacs 2013).
Jesus Christ was also concerned with the welfare and needs of his people. This fact explains why he went about preaching about the kingdom of God and healing people from the various diseases that they were suffering from. The book of Matthew talks a lot about the healing acts of Jesus Christ. For example, one of the passages denotes that Jesus went about healing people who were suffering from different diseases. People who were possessed by demons also came to ask for help, and Jesus Christ saved them. It is because of these acts that many people came to see Christ with the hope that he will satisfy their needs. They considered him as their hero, and some of them even thought that he came to fight against the Romans because of the prophesy that God would send a Messiah, who would free His people from bondage.
your 1st Order
Solve your writing problems immediately
Additionally, Jesus encounters supernatural beings, and his ability to deal with them is one of the reasons he is a hero in the book of Matthew. For instance, after baptism, Jesus is taken to the mountains for temptations. It is there that he met the devil, and he gained a victory over him. In the first temptation, the devil asked Jesus to turn stones into bread, and the latter refused by telling that mankind should not leave by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Through these words, Jesus Christ was asserting that God is superior, and mankind should obey Him no matter what the circumstance they are in.
Odysseus also experienced a number of meetings with supernatural beings and similarly to Jesus Christ was able to overcome them. For example, he encountered Circe, a witch goddess who had the capability of turning men into animals. With the help of Hermes, he managed to defeat her and move out of her island that was a heroic act of him.
Conclusion
To sum up, Jesus Christ and Odysseus are considered heroes in the Bible and The Odyssey. The first one manages to satisfy the requirements of a hero because of the huge number of followers he had, and the miracles he did. The aim of those wonders was to help vulnerable people, and protect them from oppression. Odysseus is also a hero because of the concerns he had for his people, and the manner in which he managed to defeat supernatural beings. For example, through the wit and wisdom, he managed to protect his men from Cyclops and Circe, the witch goddess. Therefore, these two characters can be called heroes.
