Born Again
The Slow Burn of Discipleship
Mild spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again
The series revival of Marvel’s Daredevil comes several years after the first of Marvel’s gritty and adult oriented television series first debuted. Disney has gained control of the former Netflix Defenders properties and I hope they decide to tell more stories from those series. Daredevil is a good beginning because it was the first and most complex of the Defenders.
Born Again brings a very different attitude and begins with Matt Murdock hanging up the Daredevil suit after personal tragedy and horror, at his own violence frightens him. Murdock is a complicated character. He is an orphan, visually impaired (with the caveat that he can see with his senses), he has a deep faith shaped by his orphanage days, and he struggles with his desire to bring justice through the means of vigilante violence.
The renewed series is a slow burn if you want to see Daredevil in action, but not if the legal drama brought by Murdock’s day job as a lawyer to those who cannot defend themselves is your jam. We still have the grand dance between Murdock and Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) who becomes the mayor of New York City on a platform of reforms and an end to vigilantes. We are even treated to a diner meeting between the two men who despise and respect each other. Fisk tells Murdock they are not truly different in their propensity for violence, but Murdock insists he is done with the mask.
But each episode builds upon Murdock’s pain and loss while highlighting the danger of a city without Daredevil. Episode six: “Excessive Force” is the match which lights the fires of revival and the rebirth of Daredevil. There is a serial killer on the loose in NYC who has been using his victim’s blood in graffiti art. Murdock is compelled to consider the danger a serial killer presents and we see Fisk’s anger rising as the sanitation department discovered the killer first as they attempted to clean the graffiti. This leads to the “baptisms” of both Fisk and Murdock into the rebirth of their true selves.
Fisk gives into his own violence and invites his wife’s lover to fight. As this scene develops, Murdock dons the Daredevil suit and pursues the serial killer who has taken a young woman whose father was killed protecting the city in his own mask. The preceding episodic build climaxes in twin scenes of violence and bloody vengeance. Daredevil is reborn, but so is Kingpin. Both men give into the violence they crave and become that which they feared through a rebirth.
Amongst the violence and pain, I realized something. Daredevil gives us a picture of slow burn discipleship. Of course, the result of violence and anger is not a true vision of rebirth, but the long work toward that can be. But even the violence tells us something. You see, we often think of rebirth for Christians and violent and sudden. I came of age when what I term testimony porn became popular. Ministers and others told increasingly tragic and horrid tales of being rescued from a horrible life. These testimonies always ended in a flash of forgiveness and rebirth. There was always a sudden turning away and into a new life.
I do not discount the testimony of the instant rebirth, but it is not the usual path for most Christians. Sure, there is a recognition of sin or of a life lived out of sync. Yet, most have never had that tale of the rogue who becomes a paladin. Most are more like the older brother in the tales of the two brothers and that is OK. Even older siblings needs Jesus. When we look back on the ancient church, there was a time when it took about three years to become a full part of the Christian community. There was a twofold reason for this. The first reason was the danger to communities when they invited strangers in during times of persecution. But the other reason was that the early Christians took the way of Jesus as a serious journey that required thoughtful reflection and commitment. They would not recognize our revival influenced moments of decision as conversion experiences without demanding a follow up of catechism and deep discipleship.
The major difference between the born again nature of a Christ follower and Daredevil is that the violence is absorbed in the cross rather than the catalyst for birth, as in Daredevil and Kingpin. Even if these are events of immediacy, there still needs to be a slower burn of discipleship. This is where I find great joy as a pastor of discipleship; watching lives and hearts transformed - even when it is slow. In fact, I would rather see people who commit to the long haul of discipleship rather than flashy numbers of conversions. Why? The latter may be measurable and look good on paper, but the former will be where the world is changed. Deeply rooted discipleship is far superior to flashy numbers. When you see the lightbulbs ignite and the hearts healed, the slow burn is worth every painful moment.
What is being born again? Let me tell you a story…