Throughout history there have been countless romantic heroes. Some were made heroes by their writings, others for their heroic actions. Some Romantic heroes are real life historical figures, every day men and women like you and I. Other romantic heroes are mythological figures and the characters of many a story. One thing that is for certain all of the romantic heroes of the world leave a legacy behind. Their lives meant something, and regardless if that belief cost them their lives, they believed anyway. I believe that Jesus Christ is the greatest romantic hero of all time.





Introduction
For as long as there has been recorded history, we have had romantic heroes. Most of these heroes were just men and women like you and I. They did not necessarily have wealth or power, other than the power to learn and believe. Microsoft Word gives several definitions and examples of the word romantic. Now I am going to give you mine. To be romantic about something, a person must have a deep passion for whatever it is that they romanticize. There are a whole lot of people who think that a person can only be romantic about a person of the opposite sex and for sexual reasons. In the late 18th and 19th century men and women were romantic about their art their music and their literature. I am sure that that romanticism carried over into their love lives as well. But my romantic hero Jesus Christ romanticized me. And He also romanticizes you, even though you like myself are completely undeserving of such sacrifice, He was that sacrifice. That is why I believe that Jesus Christ is the greatest Romantic hero of all time.
The first reason I have for this belief is that Jesus Christ lived his entire life without ever sinning. From our text we read” Heroes, whether mortal or semi-divine, traditionally symbolized humanity at its best, most powerful, and most God like” (Fiero, 2006, p. 29). And Christ did exactly that, He being born of the flesh allowed himself free will, and with that came temptation and desire just like everyone else. But unlike anyone else, He never once gave in to the temptations, greed, and sins of the flesh.
Is a sinless Jesus possible? Yes, Jesus not only could, but did live his whole life without sin. 1 Peter 2:22 says, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 1 John 3:5 says, ". . . And in him is no sin." Then in John chapter 8 Jesus said of himself, "Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. . ." (Sinless Jesus, n.d, p.1).
Having lived His life without ever sinning, Christ allowed himself to be beaten, tortured and crucified because he loved us so much he not only died for us, but he was held accountable for our mistakes.
My second reason would have to be all of the love and compassion that Christ has, even for those who crucified Him. All through the Bible Christ heals and forgives people. When faced with ridicule or opposition by the Pharisees Christ did not anger. Instead he answered them in truth, with love and compassion. Often he spoke in poetic parables, or answered their questions with one of His own. But never did he anger or waste His time by arguing, He simply spoke truth.
Jesus did not seek glory from men, as all other heroes did, but from his Father alone. Jesus is completely and totally the Divine Son; there is nothing in him that he does not receive from the Father. Jesus’ obedience gives him the Name that is above all other names. The names of heroes—Gilgamesh, Hector, Achilles, Odysseus, Beowulf, Siegfried—fade into the mists of legend, but the name of Jesus grows louder through the millennia. (Podles,2008,n,d,p.6)
My final and most important reason to view Christ as the greatest Romantic hero of all time is because He did get spit on, He did get lashes, He did die on a cross, and He did all of this for me. Christ died because we fail, not because he failed. I cannot think of any other romantic hero that left their legacy behind, without them doing it in return for something. Whether it is recognition, or spoils of war every other Romantic hero had an agenda at hand, something to gain. Christ earns his rank as a Romantic hero, because everything that He did He did with our salvation in mind. Phil Donahue says this about His love:
Jesus is a relentless lover without limits. Even when we cannot, or will not, return his love, Jesus continues to love us despite our actions and our words, our ignorance and rebellion. Yet we cannot seem to fully believe it. We wonder if he will one day leave us, disgusted with our sin and many failures. Yet he remains at our side, loving his way into our lives. In this study, we will discover how Jesus expresses his love for us, and we will learn how amazing that love truly is. (Donahue, n.d, p.1)
The love and compassion that Christ has is so strong that even while He hung from a cross being mocked from below, yet He prayed that God could forgive them for their ignorance; that my friend is a hero.
In conclusion we have learned that romance goes much deeper than getting laid. More importantly we should have learned that Jesus Christ is the greatest Romantic hero of all time. And even more important than all of that, we should have learned a few valuable lessons on how we should conduct ourselves, how we should answer those who may verbally come against us, and forgive those who offend us, even if that offense is unto death. My tributes, respect, and honor go out to all of the Romantic heroes of the world; however there can only be one greatest, and that one is Christ. That is why I believe that Jesus Christ is the greatest romantic hero of all time.



References
Donahue, P. (n.d.). Relentless Lover. Retrieved November Tuesday, 2008, from Inter.Varsity press: http://www.ivpbooks.com/product/9781844741168.htm
Fiero. (2006). The humanistic tradition. New York City: Mcgraw-Hill.
Podles, L. j. (2008). Christ:God,man,hero. Retrieved November Tuesday, 2008, from Touchstonemag.com: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=14-09-019-f
Sinless Jesus. (n.d.). Retrieved november Tuesday, 2008, from all about Jesus Christ: http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/sinless-jesus-faq.htm