It has been a very hard 2 seasons for Matt Murdock, also known as Daredevil. Note: spoilers ahead!
White Tiger, another local hero, was killed by dirty cops after Matt helped him win his trial. Matt’s archnemesis has been voted in as Mayor of NYC, but he didn’t stop there. Fisk created a section of the police force to hunt vigilantes (i.e. Daredevil, the Swordsman, Spiderman, etc.). He also has been running illegal arms through for the CIA and probably other crime bosses.
Side note: Many assume that this means Fisk was working with Contessa Valentina but that was never clarified. I think he was actually working with Sharon Carter; whom we last saw in communication with the Power Broker. No, I’m not convinced she is the Power Broker because that was not clear.
Back to our main focus: Matt had to stop Bullseye from killing Fisk and his wife a couple times and at one point that led to taking care of a wounded Bullseye. Now his girlfriend Karen is in jail. Along with that, after the first day of trial for Karen the Anti Vigilante Strike Force tried to run down and kill them and their allies.
Matt goes back to church; we find him saying a prayer to St. Jude. This is common for Catholics but even in their large organization there are differences of opinion as to how this would work. Some seem to see it as full-on prayer as if the saint has some sort of power. Many simply see it as asking the saint to pray for them, the same as if they asked you or I to pray for them.
As a Wesleyan follower of Jesus, I do not believe in talking to the saints gone by but this does make some sense for Matt Murdock as a Catholic character. There is something that both Catholics and Protestants do: praying scripture over ourselves. Last January I read Psalm 37. It wasn’t the first time, but it really stuck with me then, particularly verse 7. I’ve been reading this verse a lot lately. Here it is with verse 8.
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way, Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and abandon wrath; Do not get upset; it leads only to evildoing.
Psalm 37:7-8 NASB
“Get upset” is often translated as “fret”. Some of us see this word and think of kids crying over candy that fell on the ground; yet the Psalmist has something deeper here. He’s talking about our emotions in situations where we don’t think we can win. Do not worry about what plans or evil others are planning. Don’t let it destroy your peace. Why? The Psalmist gives us two reasons.
Firstly, have a God who is bigger than mortal plans. We are told to wait patiently for Him. To let Him work out the issue and not try to fix it ourselves. Later this Psalm tells us that while the wicked gnash their teeth at God and plan against Him, he just laughs at them because He knows the coming conclusion for each of us.
Next, God is concerned with our own trajectory more than the evil doer. He doesn’t want us to become like them. Verse 8 tells us that fretting or getting upset over the acts of evil doers leads to evil. In other words, focusing on their attacks or their “us vs them” attitude can ramp us up into an “us vs them” attitude. That does not bring healing or restoration; it just turns us into them.
Throughout the series and even this season Matt and Karen have both struggled with the question of how far is too far. They have even questioned their own rule against killing. What is important is that Matt and Karen don’t become like the Kingpin or Bullseye. Here is what the beginning of Psalm 37 tells us:
Do not get upset because of evildoers, Do not be envious of wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass, And decay like the green plants. Trust in the Lord and do good; Live in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:1-4
1: Cultivate faithfulness. 2: Delight yourself in the Lord. 3: Trust in Him and 4: do good. These all require choice, work, effort. None of these come easy. In Daredevil: Born Again we see him putting the work out and giving the effort. He could have let Fisk and Bullseye fight it out on two occasions, but he didn’t. In both cases he tried to prevent murder instead of letting his enemies fight each other. He chose to do it, he went to the locations, he stuck his neck out for others knowing they wouldn’t appreciate it. First as Matt Murdock then the other time as Daredevil. On one occasion he gave up his goal of getting evidence of weapons held by Fisk in order to rescue people captured by him as political prisoners.
We all go through difficult times in life and we all come to spots when other people hurt us or frustrate us. When this happens, we can choose to wait on God for His leading or we can try to force something ourselves which might just lead to us being the arch enemy for another person. Don’t become what you hate. Trust God and let Him handle things.
As things came to a close this season, Mat managed to prove in court that Fisk had been doing illegal acts and get he also got Karen’s case thrown out. To do this he had to do something hard: reveal to the world that he is Daredevil. In the end, he and Fisk came to an agreement. Matt agreed to arrest for his crimes as Daredevil and Fisk went off into exile. Sometimes the solution God calls us to is costly to ourselves. For Matt, this was one of those times.
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