He doesn’t see it coming.
Peter and MJ are enjoying a romantic moment together, resting in a web spun between two trees in Central Park, watching falling stars. One of those “stars” falls all the way to earth, landing near Peter’s scooter. (And for some reason, Peter’s Spidey sense does not detect the crash landing of a meteorite. Is he so consumed by his love for MJ that he cannot detect danger?)
A slimy black substance crawls out of the crater made by the meteorite and grabs on to the back of the departing scooter. It somehow makes its way into Peter’s apartment and waits. And waits. And waits.
Then comes the day when Peter learns that escaped convict Flint Marko is the man who shot and killed Uncle Ben. That night, Peter lies in bed, wracked with images of his uncle gunned down by Marko. And the symbiote sees its chance. As Peter’s bitterness and hatred toward Marko grow, the symbiote latches onto him. Its black fibers crawl over his legs, his hand, his face. The next thing Peter knows, he is outside on the ledge, covered in a new black Spider-Man suit. It feels good. It gives him greater powers. He is stronger. But the nature of the symbiote will destroy Peter.
What is a symbiote anyway? In the fictional world of Marvel Comics heroes, a symbiote is a living organism that must attach itself to some other living being in order to survive. Dr. Connors, examining the black substance brought to him by Peter, says it has the characteristics of a symbiote. He says, “Sometimes these things in nature, when they bind, they can be hard to unbind.”
Once attached, the symbiote feeds off its host’s emotions, especially adrenaline. Thus, the symbiote encourages the host to do wild and crazy things in order to get the adrenaline pumping. Spidey, upon seeing himself clad in the new black costume, stretches and twists, then does a back flip off of a skyscraper, happily screaming all the way down to the street below, where he fires off a web and swings through traffic. He takes greater risks in the black suit. He is bolder, more confident in his own powers.
And he uses the newfound powers to hunt down and kill Sandman, a.k.a. Flint Marko.
The “old” Spider-Man (or should we call him “Spidey Classic”?) didn’t try to kill bad guys, but rather to catch and turn them over to the police. But black-suited Spidey does not pull his punch. He opens an underground water tank in order to wash Sandman away to his death. And he feels good doing it.
Have you ever felt like something has taken control of your emotions? You lash out in anger at a friend and then wonder why you did it. You shout something rude to someone without any real reason. You get angry at your parents and hold a grudge. Has a symbiote taken hold of you?
In the Bible we read about something similar to a symbiote. It is called the “root of bitterness” (Hebrews 12:5). Bitterness can occur when someone has wronged us. Of course, this happens every day. We get upset and offended by all kinds of things, big and little—and most of the time we are able to let it go, to forgive the offender right away. But sometimes we hold the offense close to us. We roll it over and over in our minds. Soon, the anger we are feeling has taken root and grown to a size that is much larger than the offence deserves. And you know what? The anger boiling inside makes us feel good—for a while. Because we are the “victim” of the wrong, we feel justified riding that angry feeling for as long as we can. It takes over our mind—we can’t watch TV, read a book or carry on a conversation with someone without anger being front and center in our thoughts.
We like holding onto anger; bitter herbs taste sweet at first. Have you ever tried eating uncooked mustard greens? They have a slightly sweet taste when you first start chewing them. But when you swallow, look out. A bitter taste overwhelms your tongue and mouth, chasing away the sweetness. That is the way anger is: It may be sweet at first, but the longer we chew, the harsher it becomes. Bitterness grips us firmly and affects every area of our lives.
If bitterness is the root, what will the fruit of the tree be like? An apple tree has apple tree roots. It produces juicy apples, good to eat. But if the roots are bitter, the fruit of that tree will be bitter. In other words, if you allow anger to take root, all areas of your life will eventually taste bitter. The symbiote, once it binds to its host, is very hard to unbind.
So how do we get rid of bitterness and anger in our lives? The world offers two solutions: Hold the anger inside, and the poison of it will make you sick—both spiritually and physically. Or you can spew your anger to others and spread the poison around. Neither option is particularly appealing.
God offers a third option: Come before Him and confess what you have done. Agree with Him that you have held onto anger, which has grown into bitterness. Ask Him to help you become free from the black suit. In order to be set free from the bitterness, we need to forgive the one who made us angry in the first place. Forgiveness sets us, and the one who offended us, free.
Spider-Man feels good, at first, in the black suit, but soon it overwhelms him. It makes him act in ways that scare him. He is not in control of his actions or emotions. And it’s not until he is back to the real Spider-Man that he is able to rescue Mary Jane and defeat his enemies.
Don’t let anger and bitterness take root in your life. When you feel that pull toward bitterness, take it to God and let Him eradicate it. And for heaven’s sake, don’t do what Peter does—don’t tuck it away in a suitcase in the back of the closet to pull out at an opportune moment. Instead, let it go. Forgive.
Truly forgive. Uproot the bitterness and plant forgiveness instead. You will love the fruit.