What We Can Learn From The Joker

To be clear here, I'm talking about the villain in the most recent Batman movie "The Dark Knight," and I'm not at all saying that being a murderous psychopath is a good thing. However, for those of you who have seen the movie, hopefully this post will make sense by the time I'm done.

I had to watch "The Dark Knight" several times before I realized something of great significance. The Joker had something good that many of us lack. Don't get me wrong- he's the closest I've ever seen to the devil himself. Nevertheless, he has a couple of attributes that are worthwhile, and without which, he'd be just another villain. See, the Joker had a cause. Now this cause is a cause of mayhem and destruction- his cause is as far away from anything good as we could possibly imagine. However, he was totally devoted to his cause. He had courage- something, without which no great man, for good or for evil, is ever made. There are many slimeballs out there who have no courage, and others who in a sense mean for good, but have no real backbone to make it happen. Courage is something we all need, and say what you want about the Joker but he certainly was courageous. Anybody who puts a gun in the hands of an enemy and puts his mouth around the barrel- that is courage. And to be truthful, he wasn't suicidal, he just cared more about his cause than his own life. How many people can you say that about? That they "did not love their lives even unto death"? According to The Revelation, that is one of the marks of genuine faith. I don't know if I have that kind of courage, but the Joker did. Also, I love the scene where the Joker is burning millions upon millions of dollars. I like it, because it is the ultimate sign of someone who did not love money, which Paul claims (depending on which bible translation you got) is the root of many evils. See, the fact that money meant nothing to him, made him all the more dangerous. If we as believers cared as little about money as the Joker did, we might be dangerous in a different kind of way- a good kind of way.

I know it is weird to speak admirably about a villain, but most villains that we think of have nothing admirable to them. And in most ways, the Joker is about as evil as they come. I would argue though, that these characteristics- his devotion to his cause (the corruption of the soul of Gotham), his courage in the face of death, and his complete disregard for money- he had no price- these characteristics were what made him a world shaker. The cause was as evil as they come, but the characteristics I just outlined were what made him successful. As believers we need to be like that. We need to be fearless. We need to be priceless. We need to have a cause greater than ourselves that is worth dying for. That is what we can learn from the Joker.