The Gospel According to St. Lucasfilm: I Have a Bad Feeling About This

By Rev. Rich Heinz

Well, the Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together,” explains Obi Wan Kenobi. There it is: the moment when Gen-Xers and anyone older were first introduced to this “ancient religion.” In the real world, this is describing a false religion, with aspects of pantheism or panentheism, where “god” is (or is in) everything, seemingly sprinkled with Buddhism. The Star Wars galaxy as envisioned by George Lucas is really filled with mysticism from the Far East. But maybe there is something worth another glance. When we look at these films, we can find some unintended Gospel themes.

Sacrifice

In Episode IV: A New Hope, we are given classic examples of sacrifice. Princess Leia knows how dangerous her mission is. There is a good chance she will be intercepted and die for the cause of freedom. Still, she and the rebel troops press on, in the hopes that their potential deaths would serve the greater good.

When Obi Wan realizes that Luke and Leia are both on the Death Star, as well as R2D2, who has “vital information” for the Alliance, he knows what must be done. Without hesitating, he speaks some parting words and heads off to set things in motion for the others to escape. Obi Wan, however, knows he will not leave the space station alive. He confronts the evil enemy and purposefully gives himself up, so that the enemy is distracted, and the others can escape.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John15:13 ESV). Obi Wan displayed great love in laying his life down for his friends. Of course, infinitely more perfect, and loving, and godly is the Lord Himself, who laid down His life, not only for His friends, but also for His enemies—every last sinner. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

Good and Evil/Light and Dark

The epic story continues in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Once again we are drawn into this heroic tale of the neverending fight between good and evil/light and dark. Yet, while Han, Luke, and Leia embody the good, and Vader and his Emperor are surely evil, the talk of a Light side of the Force and a Dark side is all impersonal. The Force is described like a thing, not a person.

Sometimes we get pulled into such talk in real life. Good and evil become more like concepts and philosophy, rather than real personal beings, such as the Lord God and His holy angels fighting Satan and his fallen legions. In the end, that makes it easier to deny their existence.

Good and evil are not just some vague or generic ideas. God the Son, perfect, holy, and sinless, became incarnate for you. He took on flesh so that He could take on your sin, and suffer and die to rid you of it, dragging your sorry “Dark side” self through the waters of Holy Baptism, so that He could “call you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV). As He poured forgiveness and rescue over you, the perfect Christ delivered the righteousness that He won for you at the cross. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). Nothing vague or abstract there!

Redemption

We get more bad theology sprinkled with Christian themes in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. The final chapter of the original trilogy is all about redemption. In the Old Testament, God established guidelines to “redeem” extended family who had lost their inherited land, or fallen into debt through widowhood. Debts were paid, and they were freed from the shadow of poverty. This foreshadowed Jesus coming to redeem us from sin, death, and the devil.

“There is good in him yet!” claimed Luke regarding Vader. He hoped to persuade Vader to leave his evil in the past and return to the good. The root of the problem for us, biblically, is that we cannot choose the good. We cannot redeem ourselves.

St. Paul reminds us that even when brought to faith, we still struggle with the Old Adam and “daily sin much.” “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19 ESV).

In the film, Anakin finally returns to the Light side, by the work of his son, who saw that he still had good in him. In real life, you have been brought to the light of Christ, through no work of your own, with no good in you, through Christ alone. He is your only true Redeemer.

Yes, the Star Wars galaxy as envisioned by George Lucas is really filled with mysticism from the Far East. It’s not a deliberately “Christian” story. And yet, we can always find topics with themes from the true Gospel that compare or contrast with Lucas’ story. While his literary devices are by no means good for a real-life religion, we can rejoice in the Epiphany Lord, who sacrificed Himself to redeem us and bring us into His marvelous light!

Rev. Rich Heinz is Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church and School in Chicago, Illinois, and has been a Star Wars fan and aficionado since, “Oh, before you were born” — 1977. He has taught breakaways at Higher Things conference on this and related topics, and enjoys talking about these fictional heroes. And by the way, he is thrilled with Episode VII, but will gladly absolve anyone who (wrongly) disagrees. You can reach Rev. Heinz at revfrheinz@gmail.com