I hope to do a series using Star Wars for illustration. When the world labels you the rebel, and themselves the new standard, life can get hard. It’s never easy being the David facing the Goliath; but David had the favor of God, and he had skills.
God’s Church has always been the rebel against the World System, but what happens when the World System has crept into so much of the Church, that it has become more of the problem than the solution? That’s when you get someone like me, or at least what I perceive myself to be. I’m now a part of the fringe, on the outside looking in, because I no longer trust what I see inside the four walls.
A Church in bed with the World System becomes the Empire. The book of Revelation plainly reveals a harlot that rides the back of the beast. This harlot is without a doubt some form of a compromised religious system. And being a harlot, even as the Bible explains, in having sex, two become one! This compromised Church becomes part of the Empire, and those refusing to conform become outcasts, rebels, remnant people, David’s facing Goliath.
Warning: Spoilers may abound from here on.
John the Revelator found himself forcibly exiled to the Isle of Patmos. In his vision, Jesus himself does a report card on seven Churches, how they are doing, and warns some of them of having their lamp removed from the stand! Is John the only Christian exiled to this island?
Now be honest with yourself. Do you know your Bible and what God hath said? Do you know it well enough to do a report card on the Church you faithfully attend? Now be painfully honest, and how do you think your Church would do if Jesus gave them a test and then sat down to grade it? Are you at all worried the Empire has compromised your Church, and your understanding of what God hath said? Do you feel safe? Or might you be in danger? Might the Empire be all around you even now, they have lulled you to sleep, and the reality you think you’re living is nothing but Neo before the Red Pill?
Exactly what does your New Testament Bible say Church should be? I hope you have studied “for yourself”! That’s what I’ve been doing since leaving the Americanized Church, and I’ve been finding some surprises. So I’m a rebel, like Captain America becoming Nomad, and it seems my whole life has been a journey and struggle to this revelation!
So the point I want to make today is, after having a chance to ponder the latest episode, “The Last Jedi”, is…
I am struck by what miserable lives our heroes had.
I mean, we are looking at some pretty sad endings! Okay, it may be they had a few good years in there. Hans and Leia fell in love, got married, had a child, and then? What’s up with this child? He got something bad from his Grandpa? (Grandpa Darth.)
So…Luke becomes a teacher of the force and starts a Jedi School. Sounds good. For how long did that go well? But then Hans and Leia, perhaps in desperation, bring the problem child to the school. A lot is riding on Skywalker now. After all, the problem child, Kylo Ren, is family! He’s got to save this child. Guide him to the side of light. Both Hans and Leia are counting on him.
However, not only does Kylo go bad, but he destroys the school in the process, and basically brings everything back to where it was before! The current Empire System now has its Vader again! And evidently Luke is so broken and devastated by all this, he spends the rest of his life on this island! He dies on this island after doing one last good deed.
Hans had separated from Leia and gone back to his smuggling ways, a broken relationship, and a life of constant struggle to survive. Was this caused by the stress of the bad son? And Hans ends up dying, run through by the light sabre of Kylo himself, while trying to reason with him as his father! What a horrible ending! What a sad life after so great a victory many years ago, in which they all became legends!
Now Leia’s life is lonely, a broken mother’s heart, and she is in constant peril as the rebels are barely hanging on. It’s a weird thing that the only person who has actually died, is the only person still alive in the movie! Do I have a problem with that? Not really. It’s just odd when you think about it, and a little comical. But there is a new development bringing hope to this dismal picture: The force is no longer limited to just a few very fortunate people who happen to be born with a certain something in there blood!
In other words, a “Commoner” might get it! And Rey is living proof of that! If it were not so, the Jedi would be over! Finished! Defeated! Darkness wins with Kylo Ren! But up pops Rey, and she’s a nobody! What does this mean? It means a whole world of possibilities. Our “Force Universe” just expanded!
Suddenly, it’s not the person born rich, or with the right blood, or the college degree, or the handsome face, who might be the next hero! The force might be strong with anyone! It might not be the pastor of a big Church, or Bible College degree hanging on the wall whom God greatly anoints! But it might be a self-taught nobody, who God suddenly lifts up to stand against what has become the current Empire.
It might be just such a person who finally points out the king has no clothes! And people suddenly see! God’s always loved the David’s of this world.
But yes, standing against the Empire can be a lonely and difficult life. Your reward may not come until your Kingdom comes. Luke gave everything left in him to pull off that last feat of the force. Maybe he had lost a lot in his depression. He wanted the books destroyed. That would be like me wanting all Bibles destroyed! But I love my Bible! How could I be so broken to come to such a place? There, except for the grace of God, go I.
I wasn’t ready for Skywalker to go. I was so hoping, as he struggled to climb back on that rock, he was going to pull through, and play some part in leading a new batch of heroes! I did not get what I wanted when he vanished into oblivion. But isn’t that life? Are we not use to not getting what we want? It still hurts. It still disappoints. But we pick ourself up, look reality in the eyes and ask, what might now be?
Paul told Timothy that in the “last days” PERILOUS times would come. When I saw the end of Episode Six all those years ago. The smiling faces, the celebration, the victorious music. I thought good times were finally ahead for our heroes. I did not expect what we have seen happen. But…it’s really not about having a good time here, anyway, is it. It’s about which path leads to life, light, and the Eternal Kingdom which cannot be taken from us! Like people always say, there in a better place now.
This life really is not about what we have here, it’s about what we shall be there, because of what we chose to be here. Yes, it seems our heroes had a lot of heartaches, but they still stood against the Empire to the end, and chose to do right even in spite of whatever pain and sacrifice it cost them. Isn’t that what real heroes do?
To be continued…
Path Without End 