Life, Movies, and the Gospel: Star Wars

A while back, I linked Indiana Jones to the Gospel.  Today, I'll touch on another movie.  Rather, I'll touch on a series of movies.

Star Wars, in my opinion, is one of the great movies of our times, along with The Princess Bride and Indiana Jones.  It's got that magic mixture of an unlikely hero, coming of age, and the triumph of good over overwhelming odds.  The original movie, "Star Wars," netted around $775 million dollars world wide when it was released.  It was so good (as in seven Acadamy Awards good) that it inspired two sequels, three prequels, and a host of books, TV shows, and comic books.

What was it that made this movie so excellent?  There was an excellent combination of humor, acting, and story.  Really, I believe that the story is what drew people in.  We take a backwoods man from a backwoods planet, and throw him into a galactic conflict between good and evil.  Fighting to find himself, he actually triumphs over incredible odds.  Never again can he be a normal, backwoods farmer.  Now, he is Luke Skywalker, the hero of the battle of Yavin, destroyer of the Death Star, a novice Jedi.  Things can never be the same.

In a way, we are all Luke Skywalkers in our personal Star Wars.  For the most part, we're unknown people in the universe, just minding our own business.  However,  as we go through life, we're thrust into an epic battle of Good and Evil.  What we choose to do determines where we go.  When we are presented with the choice, do we join the Empire or the Rebellion?

One of the good things about Star Wars, (Some would say this is a problem, but not me.) is that it is very black and white.  Either you are good, or you are bad.  Anakin is good.  Anakin flips out and kills Windu. Anakin immediately flips out and switches to bad.  Vader bad.  Luke is good.  Leia is good. 

A bit the same way, we humans only have two positions.  In any moment, either we are following God, or we are not.  Either we are striving to do our best to follow Jesus Christ, or we are not.  The choices that we make every second of our lives determine how we will live.

May we all choose to live like the Jedi: strong, patient, and wielding a power much greater than themselves.

And now, a music video.