I’M BACK FROM SEEING STAR WARS.
Obviously I can’t say much without causing spoilers, and I really hope not to do that yet. At least for a week. So… I don’t think I’m spoiling anything if we touch on Luke being on the island. It should be common knowledge, based on previous movie, and trailers of this movie, Luke has fallen into a “Dark Night of the Soul”. Ever been there?
But first… Did I enjoy the movie? “YES.” It does have some slow spots, but in the over all IT DOES DELIVER. And it sticks in your mind. I found it easy to conversate with my wife afterwards. Different thoughts kept coming. The show still rolls through my soul as I sit here pondering what I can share?
I have mentioned reading Brian Zahnd, someone new to me, and his point about Revelation being a book about living in a “super power nation”, contending with the worldly forces of “Empire”. Star Wars has always been about the downtrodden fighting overwhelming odds against a mighty Empire. The Bible has a lot of that. As a Christian I readily identify with the struggle these rebel forces must endure. But most of us here in America have not had to contend unto blood for Christ, not yet, but a few have. Ours is more a slow seduction, a poisoning of our soul, if were not wary.
It’s so easy to be swept away by Empire. If we have been raised in the Empire culture, we may not even recognize how many ways we have conformed to the pressures around us, shaping us, unless we take a good honest look at ourself in the mirror of God’s Word. And if we begin to live different than our culture around us, if we resist the pressures and fight back, forces will surely come to put us in our place, or render us silent.
In Revelation, those who follow the Lamb of God end up in New City Jerusalem. Those who follow the Empire, the Beast, end up in the Lake of fire. Are we a resistance to the Empire? Here in America, with so much emphasis on money and success, have we found that proper balance God will approve of, or have we raised a white flag, go along to get along, let the good times roll? Tough questions to answer, I know.
Luke was not one of those to be swept along by the Empire Peer Pressure. Not only had he been resistant, he had gone on to start a school, raising up others who had it in them to become a Jedi Knight, until something went horribly wrong, and he blamed himself. One too many horrible things happened, he plunged into dark depression, and decided to hide away from the world. Others had fought on without him. Now they needed him.
Hhmmm. Never stay too long in your cave. Elijah ran to a cave after Jezebel threatened to kill him. David found himself in a few caves. Sometimes we need a dark place to refocus, find direction, hear that godly whisper again. But be careful, for the dark night of the soul also lurks there. Many things may try to grip you in that darkness. Don’t turn to other things in your hour of need thinking they will help you. Just wait on the Lord. His voice will come. Be still and know he is God. He will send someone, or something, to lift you out of the fog. Wait it out in faith. Let the fog slowly clear. If you doubt not, the fog will clear, and his voice will come.
Once God helped Elijah get to the cave, he then asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah explained how hard he had fought for the Lord, how he felt he was the only one left, and now they would get him, too. He was in a dark night of the soul, but God gave him some assignments anyway, got him back to work, and had him find his replacement. Elijah then left earth in a fiery chariot, not as a defeated soul dying alone in a cave.
This movie is not as predictable as others have been. I hope you enjoy it and get some good food for thought. It’s never easy resisting an Empire, especially if you live in it. Luke went to the island of his own choosing. John the Revelator was exiled there against his will, but it did not stop him. I can here God asking him now, “What are you doing here, John? Let’s see what we can do with this.”
Path Without End 