I’m sure that somewhere, whether at the grocery store, on a bag of chips, on random commercials, or on tv, you have seen an incredibly cute twig baby. And maybe you just haven’t asked any questions of what or who the heck it is. First off, ask more questions because a little twig baby being all over everything needs an explanation. Second, let me inform you that cute twig baby you have seen everywhere is Baby Groot, and he is one of the many stars of the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Now that you know you aren’t crazy and haven’t been hallucinating a twig baby all over the place, we can move on.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is all about the Guardians of the Galaxy. A group of not so superhero’s that happen to come together to save the universe in the first epic movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. The group consists of the most dangerous woman in the universe, Gamora, the cute twig, Baby Groot, the ready gadget raccoon, Rocket, and the hilariously blunt destroyer, Drax. The Guardians are led by the comical Peter Quill, also known as Star Lord. This movie dives deep into Peter finding out who his real father is, as he was abducted and raised by a ravager named Yondu. In all ways the second installment of the series is focused around family and how family doesn’t always have to be blood.
*The following will include spoilers of the movie. Read at own risk*
With family being the primary focus of the movie, I want to focus on Yondu and Peter’s father-son relationship. After being abducted from earth, Peter never looked at Yondu as a father figure. Though something seemed to be different for the way Yondu viewed him. Peter never seemed to notice it, but Yondu kept him safe from danger and always stuck up for him. Whether Yondu would admit it or not, you could tell that he did indeed have feelings for the boy he had raised. This comes to life when Yondu is fighting alongside of Peter and especially when he makes the ultimate sacrifice. He decides to save Peter at any cost, even if it cost him his own life.
When Yondu paid the cost to save his son, it reminded me of how our own God was willing to pay the cost to save us. 1 Timothy 2:4-6 says this about God, “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people…” The cost God had to pay to save us was his own son Jesus. Just as the cost for Yondu was his own life. Through accepting that God paid this cost, and us admitting that we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), we gain a Father.
As a kid on earth, Peter had no dad. He talks about how he used to pretend that David Hasselhoff, from the series Knight Rider, was his dad. Looking for, and wishing that he actually had a real dad that was as great as Hasselhoff. At the end of the movie he realizes the similarities that Yondu actually had with David Hasselhoff. He says this, “I guess David Hasselhoff did kind of end up being my dad after all. Only it was you Yondu…Sometimes that thing you are searching for your whole life, its right there by your side all along. You don’t even know it.” David Hasselhoff represented all of the high expectations he had for a father, and Yondu fulfilled those for Peter just as God fulfills those for us. God actually fulfills those expectations we give him and more. How many of us don’t know that God is waiting for us to realize he is everything we’ve been searching for? He is waiting for us to claim him as our David Hasselhoff.
