“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” –Ephesians 4:31-32
Hello, all! Sorry for being MIA on here for so long, but with the stress and work that goes into getting ready for finals week, I had other priorities on my mind. Also, it has been difficult to come up with a good topic I haven’t already written about….that was until I went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron (after waiting for it to come out for so long!!!!) It was fantastic! Some friends and I, being the nerds that we are, were discussing the story, new characters and any easter eggs we spotted. We eventually came on the topic of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
To be honest, before going to see Age of Ultron, I didn’t have much interest in either of them (I’m not the biggest X-Men fan). After I saw it, I became more interested in their backstory in the movie. (Yes, I know, I’m about to get nit-picky when I say that nothing about Magneto being their father was ever mentioned and their whole past was made up…so get ready for some spoilers) The brother and sister had decided to join Ultron in the fight against the Avengers. When Ultron himself was wondering why two humans would want to be on his side, the two told him their reason: Tony Stark.
When SW and QS were kids, their town was attacked. The two hid under a bed when a bomb came crashing into their home, reading Stark on the side. They waited for days for the bomb to go off as they were trapped. The two had lost their parents and their home. They blamed Tony Stark for everything and wanted their revenge.
Thinking more on it, I couldn’t help but notice how bitter and angry Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch seemed. They had become so bitter and angry that they had confused evil for good and revenge for forgiveness. They had spent their whole lives wanting to get back at Tony. I thought, “That’s no way to go through live. That must be such a miserable life if you decide to go through it with bitterness and anger…” And then I realized, that’s been me lately. I’ve been going through these past few months full of bitterness and anger towards someone else.
You see, there was a guy I really liked. I had high hopes for a dating relationship and I thought he was perfect. The day before Valentine’s Day, through a text, he told me it was over. That hurt. He had a girlfriend by the next week. That hurt even more. So I became angry at him. I was angry that he had dumped me in a humiliating way. I was bitter that it was another girl who got his approval and got to meet his family, not me. I developed such a strong disliking for him and soon began plotting my revenge. I wished the worst for him. Then, I saw Age of Ultron and realized that he was the Tony Stark to my Scarlet Witch. I took a step back and thought about all the lost hours I’d spent crying over him, all the insults I’d secretly thought at him and all the bitterness that had built up in my heart. What had I become? Was this any way to go through life?
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” –Matthew 6:14-15
This passage is much easier said then done. I feel like it relates a lot to what happens between the Avengers, Scarlet and Quick. Because of the bitterness that had built up inside them, the two saw Tony and the Avengers as bad. They found Ultron, who also hated Tony and the Avengers, and joined him, seeing him as good instead of the evil that he was. When we become bitter and refuse to forgive someone who’s done us wrong, we fight against God and what is good. We begin to hear the voice of the enemy more clearly because he agrees with us on our quest for revenge and hatred. (God=Avengers, Satan=Ultron)
My Scarlet Witch wanted to go along with Ultron because he agreed that what happened to me was wrong and I had the right to get back at him. But then Captain America (the Spirit) stepped in and convinced me otherwise. What happened to me sucked. Being bitter and mad at this person was my attempt at feeling better, but it was no way to live life. *SPOILERS* Even Scarlet eventually forgave Tony and joined the Avengers. I’m not saying it’s easy to let go of your bitterness and forgive the Tony Starks in your life, because it’s defiantly not. But if you continue to be this way, you’re only building your own prison.
“Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you”- Proverbs 20:22
Geeks of the Gospel 