The House That Hope Built

So its very nice of you all to come to church on a major holiday like today.

Oh have you forgotten? Or have you not heard? Today is Star Wars day. May the Fourth Be With You! I thought for a time that I wouldn’t give in and lean into this happy coincidence. But then I said “don’t be ridiculous.” So yes. I’m going to talk about Star Wars. But not without also talking about the equally well known book of the minor prophet Amos. No… not as familiar with that one? Well today we will change that.

We’re in week two of a sermon series called “A whole new world” where we are looking at how we, the people of the church — the people of the resurrection — are called to live in the midst of uncertain times. What we are setting our eyes upon is the clear truth that on the other side of whatever the world becomes in this time is a world where God will make something good out of the mess. On the other side of destabilization is always another period of human flourishing.

And this was something that the people of Israel knew really well, because their entire history can be categorized as a cyclical move between destabilization and flourishing — which was typically linked to their willingness to be faithful to God.

During the time of the divided kingdom, the northern kingdom was destabilized most of the time. What had started as a project between God and humans became something of a failure. You may know that Israel’s story began with them being called and set apart by God. They were to be a blessing to the world around them and to set an example of a human community that was different than the often violent and corrupt ways of the nations around them.

But Israel, and particularly the northern kingdom during this period honestly did not look any different than the nations around them. And so God comes and speaks to them through the prophet Amos. And he lays out an accusation: both on the nations surrounding Israel and then on Israel themselves and it boils down to this:

The Wealthy ignore the poor, sell them into debt slavery, and then deny them legal representation.

And I’m going to tell you something, if you read the book of Amos in full, it gets like really dark. God promises really severe punishment on Israel. And this is because God’s purpose for Israel is being blatantly ignored and trampled upon.

Amos 3:1–2 NRSV

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

It sounds awful — but what God is trying to impress upon them is a warning: Great Calling + Great Responsibility = Great Consequences. You see, God’s people were to be a people of Justice and Righteousness. Amos wants the people to realize that true worship of God always translates to Justice, Righteousness, and loving our Neighbors. And when we fail to do this, we are not honoring God at all. When we fail to do this we are conforming to the ways of the world around us — and this is not God’s desire for God’s people.

In the first Star Wars Movie, A New Hope, we are introduced to a peculiar set of characters who are almost extinct. They are called Jedi. And it is believed there may only be two left in the entire galaxy. Jedi were keepers of order — in fact they really were guardians of Justice and Righteousness at one time. They protected what was known as the Republic from evil of all kinds. But the republic has turned into something evil itself — the Galactic Empire.

What we learn many movies later, movies which tell the story of what happened before the first movie — i know its very complex — is this:

The Galactic Empire, rose from the ashes of the Galactic Republic, a centuries-old democratic government that once spanned the galaxy. The transformation from Republic to Empire was gradual, manipulative, and ultimately orchestrated by a single figure: Darth Sidious, also known publicly as Senator—and later Chancellor—Palpatine of Naboo.

The seeds of the Empire were planted during the final years of the Republic, a time marked by political corruption, bureaucratic stagnation, and widespread dissatisfaction among its member systems. Taking advantage of this turmoil, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious operated in secret, manipulating both sides of a growing galactic conflict known as the Clone Wars. While posing as Palpatine, a well-meaning senator, he simultaneously mentored the leader of a Separatist movement whose mission was to undermine the Republic.

As the war intensified, Palpatine gained emergency powers from the Galactic Senate under the pretense of protecting the Republic. This allowed him to expand the Republic’s military might and centralize authority. He also manipulated key Jedi and political figures, deepening mistrust and chaos. Over time, the Jedi Order began to suspect Palpatine’s growing influence and sought to remove him.

In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, the full scope of Palpatine’s plan is revealed. He seduces the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, turning him into Darth Vader. Palpatine then executes Order 66, commanding clone troopers to betray and exterminate the Jedi across the galaxy. With the Jedi largely destroyed and no one left to challenge him, Palpatine declares himself Emperor and reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire.

The new Empire promised peace and stability, but it quickly became a brutal dictatorship. Civil liberties were stripped away, dissent was crushed, and entire planets were subjugated. The Imperial Senate was eventually dissolved, and regional governors took over control of star systems. The construction of the Death Star, a planet-killing space station, symbolized the Empire’s commitment to ruling through fear.

In the years following the rise of the Empire, small groups of rebels began to form, united in their resistance to Imperial oppression. These groups eventually coalesced into the Rebel Alliance, dedicated to restoring the Republic. By the time of Episode IV, the Empire is at the height of its power.

The Galactic Empire is not merely a regime imposed by force—it is the culmination of years of deception, fear mongering, and the manipulation of galactic politics by a Sith Lord who used the Republic’s own institutions to destroy it from within. There seems to be only one hope: That the order of the Jedi will return and dismantle the empire, thus restoring peace and freedom to the galaxy.

While Star Wars is a story that takes place a long time ago in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away, the parallels to the rise of oppression and dictatorship as a way of life in Israel and in our modern world are hard to ignore. In Israel the blind ambition and power hunger of corrupt kings and religious institutions led to the oppression of the poor and powerless. It was because of this reality that God declared judgment upon them. But God’s judgment wasn’t simply vain punishment for wrongdoings. God’s judgment was a call to return to the righteousness and justice that Israel was called to bring to the world.

Judgment would come in the form of the Assyrian Empire, the destruction of Israel, and a purge of the evil that was rampant among them. But God leaves them with this promise:

Amos 9:11–15 NRSV

On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, says the Lord who does this. The time is surely coming, says the Lord, when the one who plows shall overtake the one who reaps, and the treader of grapes the one who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have given them, says the Lord your God.

God gives them a glimmer of hope to hold on to when everything seems like it is lost. There will be restoration. There will be resurrection of God’s people and the call placed on their lives. Righteousness and Justice will again have a home in Israel. The house of David will be built on hope again. That hope would find fulfillment in the descendant of David who would come and save the entire world — the one who would make it possible for us to live lives of righteousness and justice and to build a world that stands on righteousness and Justice. We learn this important lesson over and over again through the scriptures and through history: Empire takes that which was meant for good and uses it for evil. But God can and does take that which was meant for evil and uses it for Good.

And while this hope for our friends in a galaxy far far away was a boy named Luke on a desert planet who would restore the order of the Jedi, the hope for us and our friends in ancient Israel was a baby — born in a desert place who grew up to take on the cross in order to defeat the power of evil — the power of empire.

Now, we all know that the gift of Jesus has not stopped the power of the empire from causing harm in our world. And while the Jedi led a military resistance against the empire in Star Wars, the way that empire is defeated by Jesus is much more subversive. The empire is defeated by Jesus through the establishment and influence of the church.

When Jesus came to earth he came preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God. This kingdom was not like the kingdom that the people of his day knew: The Roman Empire. His kingdom was and is today a subversive reality. It is a rebellion of humans living together and living in the world in a way that brings peace, prosperity, and justice to the people and parts of our world that empires overlook, neglect, or oppress.

The kingdom of God is like a hospital built in the midst of plague, where nuns and monks stayed behind while the rich fled, offering dignity to the dying and hope to the sick.

The kingdom of God is like a candle lit in the dark ages, where monasteries preserved knowledge, copied manuscripts, and protected learning when the world seemed to forget.

The kingdom of God is like a table set for orphans and widows, feeding not only bodies but reminding the forgotten that they are sons and daughters of the King.

The kingdom of God is like a priest who walks unarmed into a war zone, not to fight but to reconcile enemies, with nothing in his hands but peace.

The kingdom of God is like a voice crying out against slavery, speaking freedom in the name of Christ when chains were considered normal.

The kingdom of God is like a missionary’s footsteps into unknown lands—not to conquer, but to serve, to heal the leper, to teach the outcast, and to proclaim good news to the poor.

The kingdom of God is like a sanctuary that welcomed the refugee, the exile, the stranger—long before laws demanded it—because love did first.

The kingdom of God is like the abolitionist who saw not political gain but Imago Dei in every slave’s face and refused to stop until every chain was broken.

The kingdom of God is like a movement that taught women they were not property but prophets, not background figures but bearers of Christ into the world.

The kingdom of God is like the early Christians who rescued discarded infants from the trash heaps of Rome and raised them as beloved sons and daughters.

The kingdom of God is like doctors and nurses caring for AIDS patients when no one else would even look at them.

The kingdom of God is like a cross planted in the ground of history, from which flowed a river of mercy that watered hospitals, schools, shelters, and freedom movements across the globe.

The kingdom of God is like a mother in a slum, reading the Bible to her children by candlelight, sowing seeds of hope in the soil of despair.

The kingdom of God is like a church at the crossroads of society in a county with a high rate of child homelessness holding a job fair to resource and empower parents with the life giving gift of employment.

The kingdom of God is like Christ Himself—wounded, yet healing others; rejected, yet redeeming the world through a love that refused to die.

The Kingdom of God is A New Hope — it is the house that Hope builds, because we know that our calling to follow Jesus is a calling to live lives of righteousness and justice — that all may experience the fall of empire and the resurrection of God’s will in our world.