I just got back from a great night of watching Star Wars with Jen and hanging out with some other friends at Crabby Joes. I can’t go without commenting on a movie such as Star Wars before I go to bed. There were plenty of things to note from the movie. The character progression of Darth Vader, the philosophy behind Jedi Force and the Dark Side or the way love can be distorted from one person to oneself. What I thought was most interesting though was the topic of control all throughout the movie.
There is much discussion over Jedi powers throughout the movie and young Anakin desires to have them. He wants all the powers there are to have, especially the one to overcome death so he can save his love. In a conversation with the Chancellor, Anakin is told of a great warrior who has all the power and control in the universe. There was nothing and no one that he was afraid of. The only thing he was afraid of was losing this control and power. Eventually he was killed by his assistant in his sleep. The story was over.
This conversation rings true today. When we have control or power over something the biggest thing that we fear is losing that control or power. What we fail to understand over and over again is that true power comes from being able to surrender all power on a moments notice. Take Jesus for instance, he had all the powers of God himself. Omniscience, Omnipresence and all the other crazy powers were all at his disposal. What made him so great though wasn’t his ability to call down lightening or walk through walls. It was his servant heart and his choice to make himself nothing.
True power and success comes from being able to give up what you have (or think you have) and not hoard it to yourself. It seems very contradictory, I know. Jesus was contradictory. Everything he said was in paradox. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is any different. By the end of the movie, the very thing that drove Anakin for power was the fear of losing his love, something he had no power over. He strove to have this power to a point where he had to eventually come to the dark side. His fear of not having the power to stop his love from dying and the pursuit of it eventually killed her. Ironic isn’t it. The same is true today. Our pursuit of power will leave us empty of power; our surrender of any power that we think we have will fill us so full with Christ and his power so that we may rest knowing that power kept to ourselves will only end up killing us in the end.
Nathan, damn you, you ruined it for me. Here I am trying to enjoy the final piece of the Star Wars double trilogy and you have to go and throw some “Christian perspective” on it!
I thought it rather interesting when Yoda is telling Mace Windu (Samuel L) and Obee-Won that maybe they misinterpreted Young Skywalker as the one. The one is the person who is supposed to take down and kill the Sith Lord to bring balance to the force.
Right through the old Star Wars saga we are lead to believe that it is Luke Skywalker who is the one but the whole time its really Darth Vader because he actually does kill The Sith Lord. So even when Yoda makes that comment about Anni Skywalker not being the one and that he misread the force, he really didnt.
You’re right about the lust for power and what is really required of Christian discipleship. I noticed how Anakin lived up to the Disney and Church of Oprah ideal to “follow your heart, be true to yourself.” And look what it got him. I’m reminded of the words of Jesus: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. “