Batman. A hero. For him, it's all about the people of Gotham. After all, he is willing to constantly put his life at risk for them in order to save them. I personally believe that there is a very unique image of the gospel to be seen in this super hero comic.
Jesus is our hero. Jesus legitimately gave up his life to save us, to set us free from evil. He valued our lives and our eternity over His own life. For Him, it was all about us and having a relationship with us.
But if Jesus is Batman, who are we? The people of Gotham?
Not exactly.
You see, when He gave His life, Jesus created a way that we might be adopted into the kingdom of heaven. We are children to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We have been adopted by our hero. He loved us so much that He not only gave His life for us, but He loved us enough to make us heirs to His throne. He loved us enough to make us a part of His family by calling us His sons and daughters.
That's right. We are Dick Grayson, aka Robin.
You see Bruce Wayne adopted Dick Grayson. He empowered Dick by making him into Robin. He gave Dick a new identity that was associated with him. Bruce gave him a purpose. He gave Dick a reason to fight and all the resources to do it.
Because of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, we are adopted. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. We have a purpose- to spread the gospel and the love of Jesus and to serve Him whole-heartedly. We are given a new identity. We are now called righteous and redeemed. We are now God's children. We are eternally and unconditionally beloved. We also have a reason to fight. Ephesians 6:12 says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
And, we have all of the resources to fight. Ephesians 6 goes on to say in verses 13-17, "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
However, despite the great power given to us through Christ, we, like Dick Grayson, tend to try things on own. We venture out independently, thinking we can handle life or just simply a particular situation on our own. This is when we get into trouble and when Robin gets captured by the Joker or the Riddler.
You see, when Robin tries to take down the bad guys by himself, he gets caught. When wants to show Batman how independent he is, he ends up in a position that he cannot escape on his own. When he thinks he can handle things by himself, he simply fails.
The truth is, we cannot succeed without Jesus. We can accomplish nothing without Him. Typically, when we try to, we end up in a bigger mess than we were in before. Then God has to come to our rescue. He has to save the day. He has to deliver us from the mess we've created.
So what can we learn from Dick Grayson? Take your "I've got this" and change it to a "God's got this." He will use us, but we have to be willing to listen for His direction and guidance and we have to be willing to act in obedience. Even when we don't agree with what God is telling us or when we simply think we can handle something or fix something on our own, we still need to surrender it to Him. His power and knowledge and experience far exceeds ours.
Like Batman, God kicks butt (spiritually, of course). And, in order for us to kick spiritual butt as well, we need to fight with Him rather than trying to win the battle on our own. I couldn't possibly ask for anyone better to be fighting my spiritual battles alongside. After all, God is the ultimate kicker of butts.
