We do not need another vigilante

The world is undoubtedly full of injustice. The first things that come to mind for me are the extreme things like child soldiers in Africa, girls forced to live in brothels in India, the problems of poverty and aids. There is also common crime, so to speak, such as drugs, domestic violence, rape, murder, robbery, etc. etc. I don't exactly know how to categorize such things well, but I define injustice as an action that causes undeserved hurt of some kind (physical, emotional, mental).

In an imaginary world, we call for justice through the help of the superheroes. We pick them because they have abilities that are super human, meaning they can help us not only moments after we cry out for help (especially if we're a girl name Lois Lane), but also because their abilities allow them to overcome whatever evil may come our way. Right?

We love Superman's ability to fly and to hear us wherever in the world we may be; we love Wolverine's invincibility; the Flash's speed; Wonder Woman's ability to stop bullets with her arm bands. We may also love the fact that the actors that play these characters are good looking. I'm just sayin..

Something that is also true of many of the superheroes is the hedge of protection that they keep over a certain group of people. Superman watched over Metropolis for the most part, and Batman took care of Gotham City. Similarly, the Lord watched over the Israelites, and the stories from Scripture show time and again how He labored to save them not only from surrounding nations, but also from themselves.

For instance, the Lord used people called judges to save them. In fact the pattern of that book goes something like this: Israel sins, bad things happen, they cry out to God, he sends them a judge (check out the stories of Ehud and Deborah) who saves the day, Israel is happy. Lather, rinse, repeat.

But when Jesus comes much later, the story takes a dramatic turn. Jesus says a couple (understatement) of dramatic things:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

You see, our superheroes don't follow these ideas. When they go against violence, they are usually using violence. I have never seen a superhero turn the other cheek. He/She usually punches back, and much harder. And we get excited about the violence too, don't we? I loved as a kid watching the old Batman series, whenever Batman would punch a bad guy, and the screen would say POW! or KAZAAM! The best parts of modern day superhero movies after all, are the fight scenes.

There's a great scene in Batman Begins. It's when Bruce Wayne has finished his training to become a leader of the League of Shadows. But in order to prove his devotion to justice, as spoken by the man who trained him, Bruce must kill a man who is guilty of murder. Bruce is handed the sword, but refuses it.

He is told, "Your compassion is a weakness that your enemies will not share."

"That's why it's so important," Bruce responds. "It separates us from them."

Jesus is teaching a new way full of compassion, mercy and grace that Bruce is getting to here. It is so different from before. We must come to understand that ultimately, violence begets only more violence. We can not overcome evil with evil; evil can only be overcome with good.

In the real world, there was a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He's a Christian dude who lived during World War 2 time in Germany (the name makes that pretty clear). As a Christian, he believed that what Adolf Hitler was doing was wrong in every sense, and I agree with him. Bonhoeffer was involved in several assassination attempts on Hitler that failed. It is said that after one of the attempts, Hitler told his office assistant that because of his survival, he knew for sure that what he was doing was blessed by God. The use of evil (murder) to overcome the evils of Hitler was used as more motivation for Germany's Chancellor to continue in his evil! (That's a lot of evil) *

Our superheroes have a problem too. When they use their power and strength, it means the next guy has to be bigger and badder than the one before. Remember the time when Mr. Incredible worked on the island?

What would happen if we turned the other cheek? Someone suggested that in the act of turning, the person is forced to look into our eyes. What a way to stop someone in their tracks if we should also say, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do"!

And loving our enemy? What does that mean? We aren't just to tolerate him/her/them, but really love them, really pray for them? How?

We easily forget that we were once enemies of God. And instead of fighting us, He gave us this baby named Jesus (ooh..scary!). He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, Scriptures tell us (so much for casting a supermodel for that movie role). And this Jesus would live the perfect life, only to experience the pain and suffering that was the most unjust of all.

When Jesus looked at the crowds (his enemies, or you can just insert your name here), the first reaction is compassion. In other words, He understands our humanity better than ourselves. We are to live in the same way. I could go into the fact that our fight is not against flesh and blood, but maybe we first need to wrap our minds around the idea of pacifism according to Christ. Do we realize that we are strongest when we are on our knees? Do we recognize that Christ was exhibiting not only the most love, but also the most power by allowing himself to be murdered upon the cross?

Our lives are complicated amidst a broken world. And I confess, this is probably a lot easier for me to say having grown up in suburban America. Nonetheless, if we are to be the light of the world, we are not to be the next Justice League of America (or Watchmen, if you want to go there). We are to be full of compassion and love toward our enemies, because that is exactly what separates us from them.

*For more on Dietrich's complicated, but way cool life, click here.
p.s. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is an excellent example of what Jesus calls us to. see Rosa Parks, see Martin Luther King, Jr., see The Little Rock Nine.