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Batman Good and Evil
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 17th August 2008. Matt 15.10-28
Revd. Matthew Vernon
There's a fabulous Hong Kong scene in the new Batman film.
Its nighttime and Batman stands on the top of IFC 2.
He leaps off and swoops down
• then smashes through a window in IFC 1 to apprehend a baddie.
There are also scenes on the Mid-Levels Escalator and in The Centre.
It's a very good film, but a disturbing one too.
In particular, the Joker – famously played by, now deceased, Heath Ledger.
The Joker is the embodiment of anarchy;
• creating mayhem and destruction and death wherever he goes.
First in a bank robbery,
• later escaping from Gotham City Police Station,
• and then blowing up Gotham General Hospital –
• fortunately after everyone is evacuated.
The Joker's heart is full of "evil intentions, murder … theft, false witness, slander."
Harvey Dent is the white knight of the film.
Gotham's District Attorney who is cleaning up the city by putting away the crime bosses.
His character becomes disturbing after his nasty run in with the Joker.
The Joker shows how, given a push, the good fall as inevitably as gravity.
Chisel jawed, bright smiling, white knight Harvey Dent is terribly disfigured
• and becomes Two Face, hell bent on revenge and murder.
Another character defiled by evil intentions
• in this film of murky morals where even Batman resorts to torture.
The Joker is an evil, disturbing character, but is so extreme that he seems inhuman.
In the real world psychopaths do terrible things,
• but the Joker is a cartoon caricature.
It's less easy to distance ourselves from the corruption of Harvey Dent.
We like to view bad people as different to us.
We put evil out there –
• a label for other people.
The reality is they are human too and if we were in their place we might do the same.
In this mornings passage from Matthew's Gospel has Jesus saying "what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander."
These strong words echo the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel.
In Matthew's account, Jesus sets a very high standard:
'You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, "You shall not murder"; and "whoever murders shall be liable to judgement." But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council"
"You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Jesus knows about the human heart and the dark, disturbing things that lurk there.
He knows the thoughts and intentions that pass through the hearts and minds of his listeners.
And human nature has not changed since.
Speaking of adultery, you know the one about Moses and the 10 commandments.
Moses comes down the mountain.
"Guys do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is I've got them down to ten. The bad news is adultery is still in.
A few months ago, I read a powerful article about the French Buddhist scholar, Francois Bizot.
He was the only foreigner to survive imprisonment under the Khymer Rouge in Cambodia.
In 1971 he was imprisoned for three months in Camp M13 close to the Thai border.
During his captivity, Bizot became close to his captor, Comrade Duch.
Duch was Pol Pot's chief executioner
• and later the director of S21, the infamous torture camp in Phnom Peng.
Bizot owes his life to Duch
• because he wrote a detailed report that convinced the Khmer Rouger the Frenchman was not a CIA spy.
"I was afraid of him but when we discussed things I realised what I saw when he dropped his mask was much more frightening. I saw a young guy like me; he was the same."
Bizot says that it's too easy to portray other people as evil.
They are human too, and we all have the capacity for such atrocities.
He says "To realise the monster is as human as you may be yourself is the most frightening thing. We cannot accept that. We absolutely want the killer's nature to be different from ourselves."
He says "Our only hope is to humanize our monsters, to say they are no different from you or me, and to be aware of it."
"The question is not about trying to forgive him. He is totally responsible and he is guilty."
But we can lean about ourselves by listening.
It is difficult for us to relate to the extreme circumstances of places like Cambodia under the Khymer Rouge.
In some ways they seem to be like fantasy films – like Batman.
It's hard for us to imagine a situation in which if you did not kill you would have been killed yourself.
Thank God we have not lived in such situations.
But we can learn from those abnormal events.
Here where we live we can be more aware of the motives in our hearts.
And we can cultivate love and compassion towards other people to heal the intentions that defile us.
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