The Batman/Jesus Fight against Sin & Death

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
December 7, 2025
2 Advent, A
Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Matthew 3:1-12

In the 1984 movie, Ghostbusters, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson played the heroes of the movie, the titular, “Ghostbusters.” They were three scientists and one brave man who joined up to get a steady paycheck, who fought ghosts together in New York. They were pretty good at it, caught a lot of ghosts and kept them locked away in their own custom containment unit.

Then, one of the city inspectors got upset with what they were doing, shut down the containment unit, releasing all the ghosts, and landing the Ghostbusters in jail. Then things went kinda wonky, and the mayor asked the Ghostbusters what they thought was going to happen. They described Biblical disasters: seas boiling, fire from the sky, 40 years of darkness, the dead rising from the grave, and then Bill Murray culminates their list of terrors with “dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!”

I bring this up because, one, wouldn’t you start a sermon by quoting Ghostbusters, and two, because that’s what I thought of when I read today’s passage from Isaiah. “The wolf shall live with the lamb,” and “the cow and the bear will graze together.” That’s crazy, and yet, Isaiah wasn’t mass hysteria brought on by ghosts, but peace brought on by God. Now to be fair to Bill Murray, “dogs and cats living together, [that would be] mass hysteria,” but the rest of it, the wolf and the lamb playing together, and the bear and the cow sitting down to a nice brunch, that’s how Isaiah described God’s peaceable kingdom.

We’ve got these beautiful images, crazy, but beautiful images of such a fantastic peace throughout the world that wolves even give up eating the yummy, yummy sheep. You ever had lamb chops? It would take divinely inspired peace for me to say that ain’t tasty any more, but those are the kinds of images Isaiah gives us for God’s peaceable kingdom.

“What’s God’s kingdom of peace going to be like?”, Isaiah asks us. It will be like a baby playing right beside a venomous snake with no fear of being bitten, because the snake would no more bite the baby than the baby would eat the snake.

Don’t try that at home.

Isaiah is giving us an image of what God’s peaceable kingdom could be like. 

Now, we’re not going accomplish do this. We’re not actually going to be able to make bears eat grass or wolves frolic in the meadows with sheep. I don’t care how peaceful you feel, don’t anyone start the Rattlesnake-Nanny Childcare Center.

The image of the snake-baby-besties party is an image of just how deeply God intends to heal the world. 

Remember the unfortunate events in Genesis 3? The serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit which God told them not to eat, and as a result, the serpent would always be the enemy of Eve’s offspring. The serpent would bite our heals, and we would crush its head. 

So, a baby playing around with a deadly snake? Yeah, that’s a reversal of Adam and Eve eating the fruit. A baby playing with a deadly snake is a reversal of the serpent tempting Adam and Eve in the first place. Isaiah’s images, which Bill Murray would call mass hysteria, are really a return to Eden. That is how much God intends to heal the world.

That is how much, one day, God will heal the world. It will be like Eden, once again, where we walk with God in the cool of the evening breeze. No fear. No worry. A life of love and being beloved. Being held. Being cared for. That’s what God will do.

With that return to Eden in mind, which God will accomplish, we now turn to John the Baptist, who said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

For us, my question is, “Repent of what?” Well, big picture, we have some pretty big ills in our society which need repentance. We have economic injustice, with the ultra-wealthy getting rich off of the labor of the working poor. 

We have drug epidemics, gangs, organized crime selling poison to people, which is also economic injustice because the folks at the top of the drug game get rich by enslaving people at the bottom to the poisons, the drugs, they sell.

We have rents increasing so much that wages can’t keep up, so people are working hard and ending up on the street simply because they can’t make enough to afford a place to live. 

Those are a few of the big societal ills of which we need to repent. 

What about personally. Of what do we need to personally repent? In the face of all our societal ills, how about we repent of apathy and rage? We can get so angry at all the problems of our society that we get overcome by anger and turn to rage, leaving hurt and hatred in our wake. We can also become so overcome by the enormity of societal problems, that we choose to do nothing, because we can’t fix it, so why bother trying? Both that rage and that apathy, choosing to do nothing, are things for which we often need to repent. 

Just because we can’t fix the world doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We’re not going to achieve Eden, but that doesn’t mean we don’t strive for it. 

Reading the latest Batman comic, Batman had to fight a basically unbeatable foe. After Batman won, Alfred was thinking about how he won, and he realized that for Batman, winning wasn’t the point because his fight was bigger than any war. His fight is “about doing what is right, no more, no less…He’s not fighting to win. He’s fighting to fight. The fight is the point. For home. For the people he loves.”

- Scott Snyder, Absolute Batman, Issue 14: Abomination: Conclusion, DC Comics, November 2025

That’s kinda like Jesus (minus the cape, and the cool weapons, and the massive violence). Jesus fought for a victory over sin and death. That’s an unbeatable foe, and yet Jesus won. Now Jesus won because he was God who became human, and as God, he united all sin and death to himself so that nothing can separate us from God. As a human being, Jesus trusted in God. Jesus trusted that one day, God’s victory would fully come to pass, and we would live together Isaiah’s vision of peace. 

So, what was Jesus’ fight? To do what was right, no more, no less. 

For us, too, as disciples of Jesus, we have a fight with sin and death, except that we don’t fight to win. Jesus has already won. We fight because it’s the right thing to do. We fight for one another. We fight for the people we love. We fight for people we don’t even know. We fight to live and spread as much of Eden as we can, knowing that we’re not going to win, and trusting that we don’t need to win. 

We just need to fight with the tools of repentance and love. Love is our weapon which does not harm others. Love only does harm to sin and evil, by weakening it so that it no longer has a hold on us and on those we love. Fight sin and evil with love. That’s what John the Baptist called repentance. 

Do you find that you are overcome by the sin and evil of the world? Do you find that rage and apathy lead your actions a lot of the time? Then set a new course for your life. Repent of anything that brings harm to others. Repent of anything that isn’t the way of love. If you don’t like where your life is headed, you’ve got to change what you do and how you do it. Let love be your weapon, a weapon which does no harm to others. Let love be your weapon, which does not insist that others follow you in love. Let love be your weapon, which is patient and kind. Let love be your weapon, which seeks not to blame everyone who is wrong around you, but seeks God’s help to change what is harmful within yourself.

 

Let love be your weapon so much so that a wolf living with a sheep, and a cow and a bear having a snack together actually seems possible. Let love be your weapon so much that a baby could play with a venomous snake and be fine (again, metaphor, don’t try that). Let love be your weapon so much that dogs and cats living together will still be mass hysteria, but you just won’t mind so much. 

Repent, John said. Love. Let love be your weapon in the Batman/Jesus fight against sin and death, trusting that God has already won, so we don’t need to win. We fight simply because it’s the right thing to do. We fight for one another. We fight for the people we love. We fight for people we don’t even know. We fight to live and spread as much of Eden as we can, with no weapon except love. 

A Place Where People are Honored, Respected, and Loved

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 18, 2025
5 Easter, C
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
John 13:31-35

Love God, and love people. It’s just that easy, right? Love God, and love people. All of the commandments and all of the laws and ways of God really boil down to those two simple things. Simple, easy, until we actually try to start living it. 

Anyone ever felt like, “I love God, and because of that, I just can’t stand people”? Yeah, me to sometimes. People can be hard to love. That’s why it’s not easy.  Of course, the book of James points out that we can’t love God if we don’t love people. So…yeah, it might be that loving God isn’t always easy either. 

It takes work and commitment, loving someone. That means loving them when you don’t like them and staying committed to them at the times when you’d rather just turn tails and run. To make it even tougher, Jesus tells us to love even our enemies, and let’s face it, I have a hard time loving my friends sometimes, much less people I consider enemy, but there it is. Jesus tells us to love, like, everybody. By doing that, we show that we actually love God.

In the commandment we heard from Jesus today, however, he gives us a starting point with that love, making things potentially a little easier. “Love one another,” he said. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love your fellow disciples; love your fellow followers of Jesus. Realizing there are disciples of Jesus all over the world, let’s keep it really simple. Love the people in your church.

That doesn’t mean don’t love everyone else, but particularly, as a start, focus on loving your fellow disciples in your church. Make sure your church is a community of love, a place and a people where others would see the love we have for one another and recognize that as the love of God. 

We’ve been hearing about the decline of church for decades now. More and more people are not going to church, more and more people are saying they don’t believe in any religion, and even among those who believe in Jesus, more and more are believing privately, choosing not to be a part of a church community. 

I wonder if part of that might be because the church hasn’t been a place where people truly love one another. I mentioned a couple weeks ago about things like people being shunned for backsliding. Think about the fighting we have in the Church over whose Baptism is the right kind of Baptism. We fight over how exactly salvation works, and we tend to divide over which groups disagree too much. We have some denominations claiming that other denominations aren’t really Christians. 

On a congregational level, I know people who have been gossiped about until they left their church, then came back and gossiped about others. I know churches that have divided and then fought over who got to keep the building. Hell, I even know folks who have fought over things like which flowers were the right ones to put in the church. 

Is it really that surprising that people see that and think, “Yeah, maybe not so much”? 

I don’t mean that people within churches should never fight. That’s not possible. People fight over things. Also, not fighting doesn’t equal love. Love is not just the absence of conflict. Love is striving together to work through conflict and come out stronger and even more committed to one another on the other side. 

Marriages that last 50 and 60 years don’t last because of a lack of conflict. Those marriages last because the couples are committed to staying together and working through the difficult times, sometimes the difficult years. Marriages last because couples are willing to let some things die in the marriage and see what is resurrected on the other side. It’s the same with the church.

A church where people love one another is not a place of fake love, of surface level pretending, and just being politely nice to one another. A church in which people love one another means actual love. That means when we don’t like each other, we choose to look for what is lovable about each other. When we disagree and harm one another, we work to be reconciled; we work to mend the harm done to the other and to heal our broken relationships. 

If anything, that’s what the church is meant to be known for. They will know you are my disciples, Jesus said, they will know you are my church because of how you love one another. Now, what if people saw and heard about churches being places like that? 

What if people saw and heard about churches being places where people weren’t shunned, but embraced? 

What if people saw and heard about churches being places where people honored and cared for one another?

What if people saw and heard about churches being places where people knew that if they did fight with someone, they would do the hard and beautiful work of making things right and healing any harm done?

What if people saw and heard about churches being places where people believed they would be respected and loved?

Anyone else feel a need for a place like that, a place where you know you will be honored, respected, and loved? I get the feeling there’s not a whole lot of that going around nowadays. Honor. Respect. Love. I get the feeling the world could use a lot more honor, respect, and love.

That’s why Jesus commanded us to love one another. Make your church a place where people are honored, respected, and loved. Make your church a place of healing. You need it, and those around you need it.

When we love one another inside the church, even loving the ones we don’t like, then we have a place we can invite others to for peace and healing. When people see they are being invited into a community of honor, respect, and love (love without conditions), then folks just might want to join that community of peace and healing. 

Everyone here needs peace and healing. Everyone here needs to be honored. Everyone here needs to be shown respect. Everyone here needs to be loved. That’s why Jesus made his church, that we might be a place where we choose, and strive, and commit to love one another every day. 

He's Not the One We're Fighting For

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
November 24, 2024
Christ the King (Proper 29)
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
John 18:33-37

So, in the HBO television series, A Game of Thrones, and in the books from which the TV show came, all of the kings of all the different nations pretty much had one thing in common. They all wanted more land, to feel more powerful and more secure, and they were all more than happy to sacrifice the lives of countless other people to get them than land. Hundreds of thousands of people marching off to war to die on some battlefield so their king could have more.

Currently, in real life, we have Vladimir Putin in Russia doing the same thing. Hundreds of thousands of Russian troops have died so that Vladimir Putin could get more land and feel more powerful and secure. Just like the kings of fiction and kings throughout history, hundreds of thousands of people are marching off to war to die on some battlefield so their king can have more. By whatever name they are called, the kings and rulers of nations (including our own) throughout the world and throughout history have sent others to die for their cause.

That’s kinda what kings tend to do.

So, when Jesus said, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Judeans,” he really meant it. If I were a king like you, Jesus was saying to Pilate, then I would have commanded my troops to come and die for me, just like you would. I would have hundreds of thousands be slaughtered in battle just so that I could get my way, if were a king like you, Pilate, if my kingdom were of this world, but as it is, “my kingdom is not from this world.”

Jesus isn’t a king like earthly kings and rulers. Rather than send other people to die for his cause, Jesus chose to die himself for our cause: the cause of love, of unity with God and unity with each other.

Jesus didn’t want his followers to take up weapons to fight for him 2000 years ago. He didn’t want his followers to take up weapons to fight for him during the crusades. Jesus didn’t want his followers to take up weapons and kill native Americans who wouldn’t convert to Christianity. Now, in this world and in this time, Jesus still doesn’t want his followers to take up weapons to fight for him. That just ain’t the kind of king Jesus is, because Jesus’ kingdom ain’t of this world.

See, kingdoms of this world are small and limited. Kingdoms of this world can only reach as far as people are willing to fight and kill for them. If a king claims land or some territory as his own, but there’s no one there to force people to serve the king, then it really isn’t the king’s territory, is it? Kingdoms of this world are defined by territory and ruled by force, by people willing to kill and die so the king can keep his land.

That goes from Russia invading Ukraine to businesses fighting for greater market share, to one gang trying to take territory from another. Heck, even churches fight one another over people and power, each trying to get more people and more money so their community and version of the Gospel can win over others’. We don’t tend to kill each other in the church over fights for land and people, but we have in the past.

Small and limited kingdoms fighting each other over territory, whether land, people, money, or power, kingdoms of this world use various kinds of violence to force their way in the world.

Jesus’ kingdom is a bit different, because Jesus’ kingdom is neither defined by territory nor ruled by force.

Jesus’ kingdom can be anywhere and everywhere, and Jesus’ kingdom is both defined by and ruled by love. “To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.” We serve Jesus by loving one another. As we’re told in Matthew 25, we don’t need to know it is Jesus we are serving. We don’t even need to believe in Jesus to serve him. In Matthew 25, people are thanked and welcomed into God’s kingdom for the ways they served Jesus, and they respond that they’ve never Jesus before, that they have no idea who he is. He tells them that whatever love and care they have shown for anyone, they’ve given that love and care for him. In Jesus’ kingdom, we serve Jesus by loving one another.

“His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.” Jesus’ kingdom isn’t dependent upon territory or anything that can be taken by force or destroyed. Jesus’ kingship cannot be destroyed because Jesus’ kingship is over all of creation, and his kingdom dwells within us.

We don’t always see Jesus’ kingdom. We don’t always live Jesus’ kingdom. It breaks in here and there, now and then, and we see and live in the love and Spirit of Jesus’ kingdom for a time. Eventually, Jesus’ kingdom will exist fully, everywhere, in every heart, as eventually, Jesus will wipe every tear from every eye, all violence and anger will be ended, and even death will be destroyed. We will all live fully in the life and love of Jesus’ kingdom.

Until that time, we get glimpses here and there, now and then, and we strive to live the love and peace of Jesus’ kingdom.

As followers of Jesus, that’s the idea and the ideal. We’ll all be peaceful, harming no others, fighting in no wars. That would be lovely, and Jesus knows that’s not going to happen until the end of the ages. Our nations will continue to fight one another for territory and security. We’ll continue to hurt one another and fight one another over territory and security.

That’s not what Jesus wants for us, but that’s what’s going to keep happening. Jesus knows that these wars, big and small, are going to continue. Even as we live at times in those glimpses of Jesus kingdom, we also still live in the kingdoms of the world, and sometimes, some of us will even be called to fight our nation’s wars. That’s the way of the world. It’s important to remember, however, that in all of these wars, big or small, whatever the cause, Jesus is not the one we’re fighting for, and Jesus is not the one asking us to fight.

That’s not what Jesus’ kingdom is like, asking us to fight and kill for him. Rather, as king of all the world, Jesus rules by giving us forgiveness for all of the wars we continue to fight. Rather than banish us from his kingdom when we end up fighting for the kingdoms of this world, Jesus seeks us out to bring us safely back home to his kingdom of love and peace. Unlike the kings of this world, Jesus doesn’t ask his followers to fight and die for him. Rather than send other people to die for his cause, Jesus chose to die himself for our cause: the cause of love, of unity with God and unity with each other. That’s the kind of king I can follow.