Star Wars May 4th, 2025

Digestible

Bible Passage: John 21:1–19, Acts 9:1–6

Scripture: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” -Acts 9:4

Opening:

Struggle in elementary school, mom was called in, teacher was having trouble reaching me...

Mom said well if you dressed up as Darth Vader he would definitely listen.

Learning needed to be digestible

Every child has a different way of absorbing the teachings

For me as a child, Star Wars was everything. So many memories and early concepts were presented to me through the lens of the movies.

The iconic ending of the second Star Wars movie, Empire Strikes Back - Luke has his hand cut off by Darth Vader and then learns that Vader is his father. I remember coming to the impasse of how could a father cut off his sons hand?

My mom had to sit me down and explain to me the hard life truth...not all dads are nice.

I learned this lesson through the lens of Star Wars...but it could have been through other means as well...but it might not have been as impactful as it was.

Jesus knew this when He taught in parables.

Complex concepts through relevant topics...

Today we are going to pull 2 complex Christian concepts out of the Star Wars movies.

Star Wars Overview

The Star Wars saga centers on the ongoing conflict between good and evil practitioners of the Force, a mystical energy field binding all living things in the galaxy. 

The main story follows the Skywalker family: Anakin, who falls to the dark side and becomes Darth Vader, and his son Luke, who becomes a Jedi Knight and helps destroy the Galactic Empire. 

All f this takes place in space with all sorts of intergalactic creatures, planets, and spaceships.

While it is science fiction...

The main message of Star Wars is about hope, love, and the power of choice. It emphasizes that even in the darkest of times, hope can prevail, and love and compassion can lead to redemption and transcendence, while hatred and power can only lead to suffering. The saga also explores the importance of family, moral responsibility, and the potential for good within individuals. 

So much of the story can be extrapolated into Christian lessons but we are going to focus on 2 concepts...

The Force is the first topic:

The Force in Star Wars is a mystical energy field that connects all living things and binds the galaxy together.

George Lucas said that the force was put into the movie to awaken the spirituality and belief in God for young people.

There are 2 sides to the force, the light and the dark.

The Light side is associated with peace, compassion, and selflessness.

While the dark is associated with anger, fear, and a desire for power.

Throughout the movies we hear about this continuum that is a slippery slope. Where intense emotions such as anger, hate, fear will lead someone to the dark side where it is all consuming.

And that love, charity, hope, fairness, and hope lead to the light side of the force that believes in preservation of life and peace.

It is often said in Star Wars, May the Force Be With You…George Lucas explained that this saying came from May the Lord be with you.

Faith in the Lord

Sounds very similar, our God is a loving God.

When we let anger, hate, and fear take over, they pull us further away from God. They isolate us...and the further from the God, the light, we go we can become consumed in darkness.

Yoda - “My Ally is the force, and what a powerful ally it is.”

My ally is Jesus, and what a powerful ally He is...with Him there is nothing that I cannot face..

Redemption - the second topic

The story Arc of the original 3 movies revolves around the villain Darth Vader, we learn that he is the father of the budding hero Luke Skywalker.

Throughout the movies Darth Vader is focused on bringing Luke to the dark side of the force because he sense the power that Luke has.

Even though Luke tries to show him the light Vader feels like it is too late for him saying, “It is too late for me son.”

While Luke is resisting, he finds himself in a situation where he is about to be killed, and his father steps in to save him. To do so Vader betrays his master and leans into compassion and love for his son.

This is a story of redemption, he saves his son’s life but Luke’s pleading actually saved Vader’s life. Luke, “I can save you” Anakin “You already have son.”

As Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains of all time, it was hard to believe...but there was some good still left in him.

Who doesn’t love a good redemption story where the character travels to the depths and back.

Paul

Saul becomes Paul.

Saul who persecuted Christians, confronted on the road to Damascus is confronted by Jesus who asks him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul, seeing the light, turns from his wicked ways to follow the Lord.

Saul becomes Paul and spreads the word of the Lord ultimately to the ends of the Earth.

This is a redemption story

If Darth Vader, the most evil villain I could ever have imagined could still have good in him, I can relate to Saul...

If I can relate to Saul, I can look to find good in everyone because NO ONE IS BEYOND REDEMPTION.

The Message - Why is this important?

Jesus spoke in parables to help us to understand complex concepts by utilizing relevant topics.

The relevant topic for me was Star Wars and we highlighted faith and redemption...if we had more time we could have talked about even more.

We could have talked about almost any movie to connect biblical principles to.

I invite you to look at these stories differently...to find these concepts.

Stories of Faith - Heaven is real, Bruce Almighty, The Shack

Stories of Redemption - A Christmas Carol, Its a Wonderful Life, Good Will Hunting, for Kids - The Lego Movie.

Utilizing these stories helps us to...

GROW through being able to digest lessons differently

COMMUNICATE - we are always teaching whether it be by our actions, or by our words.

Look for messages and lessons of faith and redemption in movies, stories, so you can continue to grow and bring it to others.

May the Force Be with You...or should I say...May the Lord be with you.