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Batman Theology
07-08-2008
by Mike Donehey
Is it just me, or are comic books taking over our lives? Anybody feel me on this one?
The new Batman is coming out soon, and admittedly, I am a bit of a Batman fan myself, so I’ve been thinking about the last five or six movies lately, with good reason. During one such episode, a scene from Batman Begins came on in the movie-quote center of my brain. It’s a really quick scene and would probably go unnoticed by most movie-goers, but I am a bit of a theatre geek, especially when it comes to reciting cinema quotes, so of course, I picked up on it and just couldn’t let it go. What was really strange was the more I thought about it, the more I realized that a single line from Bruce Wayne could actually sum up the philosophy that most of our culture embraces. For the sake of time, I’d like to call it “Batman Syndrome.”
I don't know if you saw the Batman movie I'm referring to here, but if you haven’t, let me paint the scene for you. Batman has just finished a serious round of cronie pummeling (of course) when the lady of interest in the movie (in this case, Katie Holmes) comes face-to-face with the winged crusader. He's standing on a precipice of some sort (what I remember to be an open window of a very high skyscraper) and is about to make a grand exit, when Mrs. Cruise asks, "Who are you?” Being a superhero, he can’t resist the opportunity for an over-dramatic adieu and doesn’t miss a beat here. Batman smugly responds, "It's not who I am; it's what I do that defines me." Cue drastic whooshing sound. Enter symphony over a flying farewell, and that's the end of the scene.
Now, this is where the nagging voice in my head comes in: "Mike, that's not true."
“What?” I ask myself back.
“It isn’t true, and you know it.”
I don't know if this happens to you, but it happens to me all the time. Now, before you start worrying about my mental state, let me just tell you that I couldn't get through Iron Man without some social commentary interrupting my movie-going experience, so why should I think that Batman would be any different? Maybe I’m a schizophrenic? Well, we hope not. (there I go again...) In any case, the voice continued:
"Mike, that's not true anymore."
“What do you mean, self?”
“You’re not defined by what you do.”
“I’m not?”
“Of course not. That’s the good news that you say you believe. You’re no longer a sum of what you do. You are a sum of what has been done for you. Isn’t that the gospel, Mike? Isn’t that what you’ve been traveling around telling people? You’re no longer defined by your accomplishments or your mistakes. You are defined by what Christ has done on the cross. You don’t have to be a superhero anymore. You just need to let yourself be rescued.”
Hmmm. Let’s think about that for a bit, shall we?
This simple thought that came randomly into my head watching Batman has become THE question of my life lately. Do I really believe that I’m defined by what has been done for me, or am I still struggling to prove myself to people? Am I still under the pressure of being my own Savior? What defines me? Am I a singer? A guitar player? A comic book character? A songwriter? A screw-up? A hero?
No.
The gospel says I’m a new creation. I’m not the sum of my choices, and I’m not the result of my performance. I’m a royal priesthood. A holy nation. A child of God, holy and dearly loved. John the disciple called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” (Oh yeah, check it out for yourself. The only place he’s called that is in the book he wrote! The one disciple who out-performs them all chooses to be known by what had been done for Him, not by what He did.)
And so, I’ve got to remind myself that I am loved. I am new. In spite of all my failures and all my accomplishments, I am accepted and known based upon what has already been done for me, not on how much of a hero I can be.
What about you? Are you trying to be a hero? A rock star? A lover of God? Why don’t you let all that go, and let yourself be loved. It’s a much easier identity to keep up with, and you don’t even have to wear a cape. Wear His love, and let that be your alter ego.
Mike Donehey is the lead singer and guitarist for Tenth Avenue North. The band’s debut project is called Over and Underneath (Reunion). Check out tenthavenuenorth.com for more info.
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