Batman Begins

"Be careful," Jesus said to them.
"Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
(Matt 16:6)

I will throw my hat in the ring and say that I am so glad BATMAN BEGINS means Batman redone! Out with the old and in with the new takes on an even fresher meaning with BATMAN BEGINS. I really loved the complexity of this movie, but what really MovedMe was the theme of guarding against subtle false teaching.

SUBTLY FALSE TEACHING

Bruce had a calling…to fight injustice. We know this because we know the story, but for Bruce, the calling came to him through tragedy, training, and desire. In Batman Begins we see the tragedy of his parents gunned down in front of him as a child. Then we get a glimpse of Bruce’s street fighting training in the prison fight with 6 (or more) tough guys. Last we see his desire to fight injustice when he declares his intentions to be trained to fight crime before Ra’s Al Ghul and Henri Ducard.

We know, because we’ve seen so many versions of this story, that Bruce Wayne will become Batman. We know that in the end he will fight injustice, fueled by his past. But this version puts an interesting twist to the story…subtle false teaching meant to derail Bruce from his true calling. What’s even better is that the false teaching comes from sources that at best are good intentioned at worst are evil clothed in good.

The first two examples aren’t as sinister as the last, and in fact, they are well intentioned. First, Thomas Wayne’s example, though benevolent and kind, does not lend itself to Bruce’s ultimate calling in life. To be blunt, he defined “milk toast�. He was a softy allowing others more “interested� to run his family business while he played doctor and benevolent monarch.

Ultimately, he was a terrible example in the mugging that caused both his death and Mrs. Wayne’s as well. When he dropped his wallet, I half expected him to put on some Kung-Fu moves and at least go down fighting. Thankfully, in this regard, Bruce did not follow in his father’s footsteps. Carmine Falcone (saying he begged for mercy) and Ducard (saying he did nothing when mugged) were right on in their assessment of Thomas Wayne.

The second example of subtly false teaching is Rachel Dawes’ naiveté regarding the courts being all that is needed for justice to reign. As she is driving Bruce home from the trial and murder of Joe Chill, she lectures him on the courts ability to hand out justice, ironically while taking him to Falcone, whom she admits the DA cannot touch. No, Gotham needs something other than just the courts. It needs even more than just one clean cop and the courts… the crooked city needed a caped crusader.

Last and most menacing, is the League of Shadows. First comes the offer…we’ll help you heal your past wounds and train you to take on injustice. Sounds good right? Except the fine print reads, the way we fight injustice is to destroy it. No remorse, no grace, no compassion, just pure annihilation. While he’s burning down Wayne Manor, Ducard exclaims, “If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.� But brilliantly, Bruce Wayne sees right through it. After Ducard tells him that there is no room for compassion, Wayne tells him, “It separates us from them.� I, for one, am glad Bruce rejected this subtle teaching, for if he had accepted it…no Batman.

Jesus warned his followers, in the verse quoted above, to guard themselves from the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus knew what he was talking about. Subtle false truths were flying at him left and right throughout his time here on earth. He had to contend with the leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees and Sadducees, whose ineffective ministry was actually killing those they were leading under a burden of rules. Jesus had a follower (Simon Peter) who tried to keep him from his true calling to die and he had to tell him off, even calling him Satan for doing the work of the enemy to deter him. Last and definitely not least, Jesus contended with Satan himself being tempted by him in the desert to join his own League of Shadows.

Jesus had to maneuver through all of these subtle traps, and I do too. In my life, I have had to contend with generational sin. None of us are immune, thus the sayings: black sheep in the family and skeletons in the closet. Uncontrolled Anger, Lust, Passivity, etc these are all things past down from generation to generation. I need Jesus daily to show me the way out of these “inheritances�. Thank God I have him to guide me through the healing and being set free from these.

I am constantly having to discern whether people (no matter how well intentioned) are actually speaking for God or for the enemy. It is quite difficult just as in Bruce’s (Rachel) and Jesus’ (Peter) cases I have to even be wary of beloved people. Just as in Jesus’ case, it’s really not their fault…the enemy might be using them. I know I have a unique calling from God on this earth, right now it is to lead men at our church to follow Jesus. Many things (sometimes good things) can distract me from that calling and again I need Jesus to help me wade through all that comes at me to know what HE wants of me.

League of Shadows for me is the modern day Pharisee and Sadducee, one author calls it the religious spirit. This spirit is anything that should bring life but instead brings death. Jesus came to bring abundant life (John 10:10), to set captives free (Isaiah 61:1). My natural tendency is to forget that as a Christian my calling is to do the same. Many times as I’m meeting with some men and one admits to some struggles I automatically want to start chastising him. It’s my first reaction, “Why don’t you just get it together?� And it’s wrong, it brings death. Instead God ever teaches me to empathize with them, this brings life.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I said it before and I’ll say it again…this movie is wonderfully complex. In an industry of “formula� movies this one actually made me think. Thankfully they believed that there are still thinking people out there. This movie is so complex that I could have easily filled two or three blogs this length full of thoughts…they are still rattling through my head as I right this.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite complex scenes, it was the final scene between Bruce (Batman) and Ducard (Ra’s al Ghul). In the back of my mind I was wondering, “How will this end? Will Batman kill Ra’s al Ghul his friend turned arch enemy?� In the end, he leaves him to die saying, “I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.� That left me with so many delicious questions like, “Did he kill him by not saving him?� or “Was that the right thing to do?� and even “What would Jesus do?� Well it’s complex…but in the end it’s really the only thing we can do with subtly false teaching, fight it and let its end be what it is.