I was sitting in the cinema yesterday with three ten year
old boys watching Star Wars The Force Awakens for the second time. I’m not a Star Wars fan so the first time
round most of the plot had to be explained to me – who was who and what was
going on and why . I have to confess
that on the second viewing it all made a lot more sense. I was thinking about the blog and having a
word with God.. .... ‘ hey Lord, there’s
got to be something in all this that you want to say – the good vs evil thing. The dark side vs the light. The resistance movement being able to
mobilise to bring down an enemy which appeared to be so much bigger and more
powerful....’ Nope. Nothing. Not a whisper or a nod from the
Lord. Usually He won’t shut up when Im watching
a movie :D
But afterwards, on the way home in the car whilst three
excited boys were dissecting the plot and telling bad jokes, ( what’s the difference between Dubai and Abu
Dabi ? Dubai don’t like the Flintstones but
Abu Dabi Do !! ) it
came to me that all the Star Wars films are really about one thing. Fathers.
Who is your father?.
Betrayal of fathers. Searches for fathers. The
killing of fathers. The identity of sons
and daughters being utterly dependent on the identity of the father. Mr Lucas has made a fortune out of recognising
that fathers strike a chord in the hearts of millions of viewers – we can all
identify with one aspect or another.
I have a friend who is adopted. Happily.
Blissfully really. Such a
wonderful childhood and well supported adulthood and he has been a dutiful and
loving son who could not adore his adopted parents more. But, as is so often the case with adopted
people, all through his life the question of his biology bothered him. So in his forties he set out to find his
birth mother. Which he did. She was not all he had hoped her to be, but
he was thankful that she had given him up recognising that others could give
him a better life. But she also told
him that he had been the product of rape.
And that information destroyed him.
My friend suddenly found the ground under his feet had
shifted. He now had the genes and the
bloodline of someone who was cruel and possibly violent and mean and
mercenary. The Darth Vader ‘ Luke, I
am your father’ moment I suppose. All of
a sudden there is now an immense inner conflict. Who am I?
Fatherhood is an incredibly difficult job. Nobody gets it right. Im sure we all know of, or are, people who
have been hurt and damaged by less than perfect fathers. In my own family circle a conversation
between a five year old and his father in a car park over 40 years ago led to
decades of cold estrangement and damage.
Why do fathers have the power to hurt us so deeply? Probably because of all relationships the
father/child one is the most important. ( Now don’t get me wrong here , Im not in any way
denigrating the role of Mothers. Mothers
are wonderful and super important .... but stay with me here. For the purposes of this particular
discussion. Thanks)
There have only ever been three people who have walked the
planet who have had the perfect relationship with their fathers. Adam, Eve and Jesus. Everyone else, right through history has
had a broken, imperfect, unsatisfactory, not-quite-holy relationship with their
Dad. Think of Jacob and Esau. Noah.
Joseph. David and Absolom. Countless stories in the Bible about fathers
and sons who didn’t get it right.... but who God used anyway.
Back to Star Wars.
Lots of desert. Sand as far as
the eye can see. The search for father
in the films often seems to start in the desert. At Lent we see Jesus going off into the
desert to face his tempter. Will He be
distracted from His mission to make His Father known? Will He forsake His Father and go over to
the dark side? Is He secure enough in His own identity to stand up and be counted?
Will the Father betray the Son
and leave him out to dry in the wilderness at the mercy of the wild
animals? It could almost be the plot of
a Lucas film! So what is the
difference between the Jedi and Jesus??
Jesus is REAL!
Star Wars is watched by millions not just for the CGI and
the intergalactic fight scenes but because it speaks to a deep
longing in us all to know and be known, to love and be loved by our
fathers. It’s deep. It’s vital.
And the films awaken that force within us. Only God can scratch where it itches. The God who looks at you, bought and paid for
by the blood of Jesus, and says
‘ ............( your
name here) I AM YOUR FATHER.
No comments:
Post a Comment