What I Learned from Cobra Kai and the Bible

Lately, I have been reading in the Gospel of Luke, focusing on what I might learn from Jesus. I am interested in his desires, values, attitudes, conversations, and behavior. I believe that seeing these things more clearly will endear me to him and give me a better vision of the kind of person God desires me to be, and I want to be. 1 John 3:2 (NIV) reads, “What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” You may be familiar with a song from the play and movie Godspell. “Day by day, O dear Lord, three things I pray. To see thee more clearly, to love thee more dearly, to follow thee more nearly.” It turns out the song is based on a prayer by Richard, Bishop of Chichester, from the 13th century. I think the prayer reflects the understanding of a progression of life transformation. The clearer our vision of Jesus, the more we will love him, and the more we love him, the more we will seek to be like him and follow in his footsteps.

Lately, I have been watching Cobra Kai – the Netflix series that is a follow-up to the Karate Kid movie. I have been watching it merely for fun. It is an excellent break from thinking about the pandemic and the political struggles we are embroiled in as a nation. But to my dismay, the conflict acted out between the rival karate dojos has tapped into troubling attitudes and feelings in my heart.

A couple of days ago, I was reading in Luke 4:16-30. It is a story of Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth, where he lived and grew up. I was impressed with Jesus. He seemed calm, cool, and collected under pressure. His communication was concise, clear, and honest. But in the end, it didn’t go so well. The listeners were insulted. They were furious. They threw Jesus out of the synagogue, drove him to the edge of town, and tried to kill him. But Jesus just walked through the crowd without saying a word and left. Yes, I want to be like Jesus!

The last episodes of season three in Cobra Kai include a lot of fighting. The rivalry is intense. To me, there are clear good guys and bad guys. You can tell that Kreese, the old/new sensei of Cobra Kai, and his students are the bullies. They are vicious and vengeful. They live their motto. “Strike first and show no mercy.” The motto struck a nerve in me. I was bullied a lot as a kid. I was small and Italian, living on the border of the Irish neighborhood in South Philly. There was a historic rivalry between Italians and Irish in South Philadelphia.

I hated bullies! Several years ago, I decided I could benefit from some counseling. I wanted to work on my anger. In the course of counseling, I identified what I called the “bully button.” Sometimes, when I felt threatened or when someone tried to dominate me, it triggered an immediate defensiveness rooted in my childhood experience. My back was up, I felt anger, and I thought, “I dare you.” Cobra Kai tapped into my “bully button.” But I realized it isn’t only when someone bullies me. My “bully button” gets pressed whenever I see anyone getting bullied. I can’t stand it when someone threatens another person because they are smaller, weaker, or more vulnerable. I want to come to their defense, to take their side, to defend and protect them. But more than that, Cobra Kai revealed that I want to hurt the bully. To make them pay for what they have done to the innocent. (Let me just say, I haven’t cursed anyone to their face, including online, or hit another person since I was about 16 years old. You probably wouldn’t believe that if you heard me talking to the TV.)

The next morning as I was practicing lectio divina, I decided to reread Luke 4:16-30. A word popped into my mind, retributive. The first line of an online dictionary reads, “An eye for an eye.” For example, retributive justice is about “making people pay, getting revenge, punishing the transgressor.” That’s what I wanted for the bullies in Cobra Kai.

In contrast to retributive justice is restorative justice, “which in part seeks to give the offender an opportunity to redeem themselves and discourage them from causing future harm.” A few years back, my spiritual director had suggested that I explore the possibility that anger could be a gift. I told her that she was crazy. But during a conversation with God, I felt like he said, “Be angry and do no harm.” That sounded like the Apostle Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 4:26, “In your anger do not sin.” I took it to mean that anger can alert me to my need, or someone else’s need, of defense and protection, the need to prevent further harm. But it was not an invitation to hurt, or punish the aggressor, to make them pay. Not even with words.

When I see my reaction through the scene in Nazareth, I realize I am more like the crowd than Jesus. The threat they felt made them angry, and they were going to make the offender pay. That is how I felt watching Cobra Kai. My desires, feelings, thoughts, and words were out of character for Jesus. And that is a problem because I want to be like Jesus.

So once again, Scripture and the Holy Spirit (and Cobra Kai) were doing their work. Gregory the Great wrote that

Holy Writ is set before the eyes of the mind like a kind of mirror, that we may see our inward face in it; for therein we learn the deformities, therein we learn the beauties that we possess; there we are made sensible what progress we are making, there too how far from proficiency.

I am extremely disappointed. I thought I had come much further in my transformation. But I am so grateful for Scripture and lectio divina. The Holy Spirit is working through them to grow me out of my character deformities. Knowing the truth about myself allows me to be sorrowful and repentant, pray for transforming grace, and partner with God in my healing and growth.

You might see all this as an excellent reason to stop reading the bible. I mean, who needs to be reminded of what is wrong with them. Well, I do! One of my favorite verses in all the bible is Romans 8:29 in the Message version.

He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives in him.

I see Jesus as the measure of a truly healthy and whole human being. And the possibility of becoming like him is everything I have ever hoped for. The very thought brings tears of joy to my eyes.

I am determined to read Scripture and practice lectio divina for the rest of my life. I am not a glutton for punishment. I am a glutton for healing and change. I have a ravenous hunger to be like Jesus and partner with him in the healing of the world. I cannot imagine a more fulfilling life. And it would make my wife very happy. Can you imagine the difference it would make in these perilous times for Christ’s followers to rediscover their true identity and live like healthy and whole human beings at home, in the church, and on the streets? Yes, of course, the world needs Jesus, but it also needs us to be more like Jesus.

If you are a glutton for healing and change and want to learn more about engaging the bible with lectio divina and maybe get your butt kicked, visit www.lectio4life.com.