Please note, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and Time and the Batman are rated T. In the past, we've seen Batman's final conflict with evil incarnate in the form of Darkseid. We even saw Batman being reaffirmed in his identity. In the course of this journey, though, Batman is directly attacked by Darkseid. He's infected with radiation from Darkseid's Omega Beams, and he's chased through time by Darkseid's Hyper-Adapter. He's directly impacted by the evil he faces. It even tries to make Batman forget who he really is. At the end of the journey, Batman has to be purified of evil's influence to the point of death. Only then can he be made whole. Only then can he continue his mission. In this world, we face evil around us everyday. It can seep inside us. It can lead us to do things that we don't really want to do, as Paul says in Romans. In times like these, we may need to repent. That means turning away from the road we've been on and turning back to God. Baptism is a form of doing that when we first join the Body of Christ as we die to sin and are reborn in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Along the path of life, though, times can get difficult. We might find ourselves in need of renewing our Baptismal Covenant. We do that through services like Reaffirmation, as spoken of before. Batman shows us that ridding ourselves from evil is possible. Just as with Batman, we never do this alone. We do this only through the help of Christ Jesus.
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Please note, Batman: Noël is rated T. Spoilers!!! Batman: Noël is a story framed around Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Like Scrooge in the Dickens tale, Batman is struggling to stay connected with the humanity, the same humanity he has sworn to protect. As he chases a down-on-his-luck father forced to work for the Joker, Batman fails to see this father himself is suffering and is capable of redemption. Fortunately Kal El, Superman, shows up to help Batman, just as the Ghost of Christmas Present does for Scrooge. He points out that there's a better way Batman can do things. Kal reminds Batman that he needs to look as closely at those he saves as he does with the criminals he takes down. Superman has this conversation with Batman in the context of "Lions" and "Lambs". This is a great reminder for those of us in the church. In John 10, Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd protecting the sheep from any animal that may wish to harm them. Those of us who are leaders in the church, no matter what our role may be, are called to look after our Lord's sheep for Him in this world. We are called to follow Jesus' example in tending to the sheeps' needs with tender care, just as we are called to protect them from danger, like Batman. Shortly after his encounter with Superman, Batman is caught in an explosion and captured by the Joker, who buries him alive. This acts as a type of Baptism for Batman. Part of Baptism is "dying to sin." Batman does so through a vision, his version of the Ghost of Christmas Future.
Batman sees an image of a Gotham without him. In this world, Gotham is torn apart by those who follow the Joker and those who follow the Bat. His legacy is people destroying Gotham in his name instead of saving it. Batman realizes the truth of Superman's words at this point: that there is a better way. He accepts the call to "feed the lambs", just as Jesus calls us to do. He accepts that there is a better way as he digs himself out of his own grave. Baptism helps us realize the same, that there is a better way through Jesus. It leads us to a new life. We die to sin and death and rise a new being in Christ Jesus. Batman ends by taking down the Joker and offering the down-on-his-lick father a new path, not one out of fear but one of redemption. He acts as an example of what to be. Jesus gave us an example of how to live in His own life. We are called, in turn, to be an example to others in our own change, just as we see in Batman. Batman: Noël shows the same sort of change we see in the recent film The Batman. In both, Batman realizes there is a better way than fear and vengeance. Hopefully we can learn this lesson too. Please note, The Batman is rated PG-13. Spoilers!!! The Batman starts out pretty grim. While the film gives us the smartest Batman we have seen to date in film, living up to his title of "Detective", this is also one of the grittiest movie versions of the Dark Knight. An early introductions to Batman in the film comes when a bunch of gang members ask who he is. After brutally beating one of their number, the Batman simply responds, "I'm Vengeance." Batman is an understandable reaction to Bruce Wayne's pain. As a child, Bruce saw his parents gunned down in front of him. He uses his childhood grief and anger to fuel his crusade against crime in the ever declining Gotham. The beauty of The Batman is it doesn't stop there. Throughout the film, Batman becomes transformed and sees he needs to follow another way. In his own words, he says: Vengeance won't change the past, mine or anyone else's. I have to become more. People need hope, to know someone's out there for them. As Gotham becomes a "No Man's Land" thanks to the Riddler, Batman steps up to no longer be Vengeance, but to become Hero and Rescuer. Batman's transformation mirrors our own that we find in Jesus Christ. Paul speaks of his own change through Christ Jesus in Philippians 3. Paul was once the strictest follower of the Law, as he reminds the Philippians. Yet he counts it all as naught in comparison with love, knowledge, and grace given from our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not that Paul stops following God after coming to know Jesus. Instead, he shifts. Batman does the same by continuing his crusade against criminals, yet leaning now towards inspiring hope rather than vengeance. As with Batman, it is easy for us to allow our past to bring out the worst of our demons. Through Christ Jesus, we have hope to transform that past, as Paul did, into something brighter in service to God and to our fellow human beings. My hope is that Batman shows you that is possible and that Jesus makes it happen for you. Please note, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne is rated T. Previously, we saw Batman’s final showdown with Darkseid when he was hit with the Omega Sanction. The result was Batman’s journey through time while his friends and Batfamily all thought he was dead. As Batman has travelled from the past to the future to the present, he built up radiation from Darkseid’s Omega Sanction that threatens to destroy the world. As a result, if the world is to live, “Batman must die”, as Diana Prince puts it.
As seen in the previous post, the Justice League does this by freezing Batman to a clinically dead state. They literally put him in water to enact a sort of death. This is very similar to Baptism. While Baptism itself is all about our joining the Body of Christ, part of that initiation is renouncing the ways of evil, the world, and our own selfish desires before talking on the responsibilities of following Jesus. In Baptism too, we go down into the water as if drowning or dying to sin. We then rise up as if to new life in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus. Batman does something similar here. He is placed in the water to the point of death. In that death he is purged of the evil that comes from Darkseid. He rises again to new life taking on the mantel of the bat once again. Yet Batman already had an initiation of sorts into his life combating evil. Grant Morrison reminds us of Batman’s beginning often in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. This is a new sort of beginning then. We have something similar in the church. While we can only be baptized once, we all find ourselves in need of renewal of our Faith. Holy Eucharist serves as a weekly reminder of our Baptism, our continued need for growth, and the everlasting love and gift of God’s Presence that our Lord offers to us. However, there may be times, like the Prodigal Son in Luke, where we find ourselves in need of a special service of renewal. This is where Reaffirmation comes in. The service of Reaffirmation grants us the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to our Baptismal Vows. This is not a necessary service for all. As the old adage goes, “All may, some should.” Yet it should give us hope that this service is there if we ever feel that we need it. At the end of his journey fighting the greatest evil of his world, Batman rededicates himself as a crime fighter and superhero. He is reinitiated and reborn. There may be times when we need to do the same, and we are able to do so, just as Batman did. Please note, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne is rated T. Previously, we looked at Batman's ability to stand up to the evil of Darkseid. Now we see why he was able to do that. Darkseid's attack in Final Crisis sends Batman back in time, as chronicled in Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. During his journey, Batman makes new friends in the past while his friends in the present are working to help save him and the world from Darkseid's final plan. For Batman to come back from the worst of it, he has to come to a realization: The first truth of Batman, the saving grace. I was never alone. I had help. The same is true for us in our struggles with evil. Not only do we have God with us, we also have the whole Body of Christ supporting us. That is how we get through our darkest moments: with help. We are never alone. That is true for Batman, and it is thankfully true for us in our life of Faith as well. Please note: Final Crisis is rated T. Renowned writer and theologian G.K. Chesterton once said in Tremendous Trifles: Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. A popular paraphrase of this quote comes from Neil Gaiman in Coraline: Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. From Scripture, we know of the temptation the forces of evil offer us. We know evil has tried to tempt even Jesus Christ, though it failed.
While Jesus has gotten the final say over evil on the Cross, we still face those remnants of evil in our own lives every day. While through Baptism we become part of the Body of Christ, we are still flawed and frail creatures in this world. The constant battle against the forces of evil in this world can be intimidating. That is why Chesterton's words as a writer and a believer are so important. Sometimes we need a story to show us that evil can be defeated and that it can be defeated by us. This is where, on Batman Day, the Caped Crusader comes in. Batman is a hero who posses no superpowers. Unlike some of his colleagues in the Justice League, he isn't an alien or divine. The only difference from you and me is that Batman has a lot of money to fight crime, and perhaps a little more training to do so than the vast majority of us. Yet in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis, Batman goes head to head with Darkseid, one of the Justice League's greatest threats and one of the near embodiments of pure evil in DC comics. Darkseid, to hide his plans, has Batman kidnapped and tortured. It turns out he has a even had a hand in a lot of Batman's recent troubles, and some of his past hardships as well. Darkseid, it seems, has been looming over Batman as a bogey for just about his entire life. Yet Batman perseveres. He frees himself, delivering one of the final blows to help Superman finally defeat Darkseid for good. Batman faces his own perils in doing so, but there's only one word he has in the face of this terrifying evil: "Gotcha." This image from Final Crisis is one I've kept with me over the years, quite literally. It has been the lock screen from my phone almost since the series came out. It acts as a constant reminder to me that we can face evil head on, even with how flawed we are. It is a reminder that I can, in spite of my shortcomings, live out my Faith in the face of the evil that would try to destroy it and me in the process. Thanks to Christ Jesus, I know that Good has won out over evil in the end. It's thanks to the stories of Scripture, and others like those of Batman, that I know I can live into that victory each and every day, even though I am not perfect, at least not yet in this world. Please note that the shows mentioned here are rated TV-14. In The Flash Season 3, Barry Allen, the Flash, went back in time to try and save his mother from dying. The result was an alternate reality came into being that needed to be fixed. Unfortunately Barry couldn't fix everything well enough, and Cisco Ramon's estranged brother died in the reconfiguring of the past as a result.
Eventually Barry has to tell his friends what happened. Cisco is, very understandably, extremely upset at the result of Barry's selfish actions. Their relationship is strained as a result. As often happens in the Arrowverse, personal issues are pushed aside to deal with crises. In this case, an alien invasion threatens Earth. To help deal with the invasion, Cisco is sent with other heroes to join the Legends of Tomorrow as they travel to the past to see what they can do to fix the problems they are dealing with in the present. Unfortunately their actions in the past lead to very invasion they are facing in the present. Cisco realizes he has done the exact thing he was upset with Barry for, and he starts on the path of forgiveness. Cisco's actions don't make Barry's better. What they show is that we are all prone to the same mistakes and sins as each other. In the Tanakh (also known as the Old Testament), we see many examples of sin and foolishness, primarily from the Israelites and more particularly in their wandering in the desert. It is easy to look at their actions and say "how could they be so foolish?" As I've grown older, though, I've noticed a lot of these actions I judged the Israelites for doing are the very same things I have done too. That doesn't make what the Israelites did better. It means that we should be less judgmental and look at their actions as a warning to us and a call to be better. That is the same lesson Cisco learned from his own time travel adventures. Again, it does not justify Barry, but it does help Cisco to see that he too is susceptible to the same flaws as Barry. Thank goodness for them both that this adventure leads them to restore their relationship as well. Please note, the Justice League Animated Series is rated TV-Y7. Previously, we saw Gorilla Grodd working like the evil one and poking at the Justice League members' frustrations with each other until the group went their separate ways. In the very next episode, Grodd uses the League's break up to take them all out one by one. Fortunately, J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, is able to escape and free the other League members. They then take down Grodd and his Secret Society together. Not all of the League is ready to get back together. As Wonder Woman states, "A lot of things were said." Green Lantern John Stewart has the best response: All we can say is sorry and move on. What Stewart is calling the League to do is to forgive. It doesn't mean that what they did or said wasn't wrong. It just means that they are choosing to acknowledge the hurt they've caused and accepting their desire to continue to work side-by-side doing what they are meant to be doing: helping others. Forgiveness is what we are called to do by our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that we are not hurt or that it ever comes easily. What it means is that we try to move forward so that we can continue to do the work God has given us to do, just like John Stewart did with the Justice League. Please note, the Justice League Animated Series is rated TV-Y7. Previously, through the Injustice Gang, we saw how a house divided will fall, and fall the Injustice Gang did. The Gang did, with the majority of its members, get picked up by a Wonder Woman foe for a couple of episodes, but failed due to their new leader's own machinations. After that, the Injustice Gang was no more. At this moment, Gorilla Grodd, a hyper-intelligent, telepathic gorilla steps in. Grodd starts a new group, the Secret Society, to take down the Justice League. Grodd is, in many ways, like the evil one. He loves to tempt others with what they want in order to use them for his own goals. Like a crafty demon, Grodd also knows how to sow division to instigate the fall of another group: the Justice League. On one side, Grodd attacks the League with his carefully orchestrated battle plan and Secret Society. At the same time, Grodd undetectably uses his powers to push each member of the League. He brings out the frustrations that the members already have with each other to the point that they can no longer contain their anger. As a result, the Justice League is no more. We have to be careful for those subtle attacks on us in our lives. These assaults, known as Spiritual Warfare, can tear us away from each other and even, if we let them, from God. The Justice League does recover from their falling out, and we can too. We just have to be open to listen to what God is trying to tell us. Please note, the Justice League Animated Series is rated TV-Y7. In Mark 3:25, Jesus says that famous line: If a house is divided against itself, it will not be able to stand. Jesus goes on to say in Mark 3:26 that "if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come." The Justice League animated series of the early 2000s has an episode that reminds me of these words. In "Injustice for All", Lex Luthor is finally outed as a super-villain and seeks revenge against the Justice League by forming his own team: the Injustice Gang. After a rocky start, they recruit Joker who helps them capture one of the original League members: Batman. However, throughout their short-lived tenure, the Injustice Gang has struggled to work together. Each has their own agenda. Batman takes advantage of this, pitting the villains against each other and even making deals that allow him to escape and contact the rest of the Justice League. This isn't the end of the Injustice Gang, although it is the last time they come under Lex Luthor's leadership. In fact, they are so unsuccessful that they fall apart after two story arcs, making way for the future Secret Society to take over the super-villain gang spot. It turns out that a house divided does fall, especially when that house is composed of self-interested egotistical maniacs. Jesus realized that back in His day. We would do well to see this truth in our own age. |
Please note, there maybe Spoilers in the Posts below!
The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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