In the 1966 “campy” Batman movie starring Adam West, Batman finds a bomb. His attempt to defuse the bomb was really about trying to get it over the docks and into the body of water before it explodes. Yet at every attempt to defuse the bomb, innocent people were in his way.
He looked out a window only to find a marching band playing, “Bringing in the Sheaves.” He ran down the stairs only to find a restaurant filled with customers eating dinner. He headed out the door to the corner of the pier only to find some nuns walking by. Turning down the boardwalk he encountered a mother pushing her baby in a stroller. Rotating around, he headed to the dock only to bump into the band again, still playing “Bringing in the Sheaves.” Running back to the pier he spied a perfect spot beyond a ladder attached to the pier, until a man appeared on the ladder. Changing directions he headed to the corner of the pier only to discover a couple enjoying a romantic afternoon in a rowboat. And just as he found the perfect spot to unload the bomb, he sees a family of ducks swimming in the water.
In a moment of exasperation Batman looked directly into the camera to speak to the audience, thus breaking the “fourth wall,” and cried out, “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb!”
We live in a world where bad things happen and it’s like everyone or everything stands against us. You stub your toe first thing in the morning. Someone pulls out in front of you on the way to work, or worse you’ve totaled your car. You’re overdrawn and still have bills to pay. A friend backstabbed you and all trust is lost. You turned left when you should have turned right and now your GPS is yelling at you as it recalculates. And all the time you’re thinking, “Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb!”
The Biblical story is filled with events where the world (people or systems) turned on the faithful. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, and he’s eventually falsely accused of a crime and thrown in prison. David loses his kingdom to his son and is on the run with Absalom in hot pursuit. The kinfolk of Jeremiah turn on him and his preaching by dumping him in a well. Gomer cheats on Hosea. Jesus heals a man and stirs up conflict because the healing was on the Sabbath. Paul is falsely accused in Philippi and his affliction list in 2 Corinthians 11 is a sober reminder of living a life for Christ. The Hebrews writer may have said it best,
There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground (Heb. 11:35a-38, emphasis mine).
Because we’ve all have days where we’ve been left holding a bomb, we have a choice. We can let it explode making a bigger mess. Or we can keep looking for a place to dump the bomb. Do we really have another alternative?
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. only God is glorified!)