Rogue One, May The Force Be With You

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was John 15:9-17  and the movie was Rogue One.

Sports fans in Philadelphia are known to be particularly passionate about their teams, and their passion sometimes leads to downright hostility, and this is not just directed at visiting players and fans, but even to their own players. These are fans who might be best known for throwing snowballs at and booing Santa Clause. I mean, who boos Santa? People who want coal in their stockings is who. Now this hostility sort of stands in direct contrast for being known as the city of brotherly love, which of course has nothing whatsoever to do with the people who live there, and no offense to anyone here from Philly, I love your sandwiches. But their nickname comes from the meaning of the word Philadelphia, which literally means brotherly love in Greek. And some may remember that there are actually four words in Greek for love. One is the word eros, which is a passionate, physical love, and it never appears in the New Testament. Another, much rarer, is storge, which is the feeling that people in families have for each other, or we might familial love. Then there is Philia, which is brotherly love, with brother here being a much broader category linking with people not related by blood, and we could also certainly include sisters in this. Love for BFFs. Then there is agape, which is much more common. Iit is the word used to describe God’s love for us, but this is, again, not a feeling, but a doing a way of being. It’s also a sacrificial giving love, which is why this word is sometimes used to describe a parents love for a child. It’s giving of yourself for someone else, and so as we conclude our series on The Gospel in Star Wars by looking at the film Rogue One, I want you to keep those understandings of philia and agape in mind because they become important.

Rogue One was released in 2016 and was the first of the live action stand-alone Star Wars movies, also sometimes referred to as the unnumbered films. Rogue One takes place immediately before the original Star Wars film, by a few weeks, and thus brings us full circle back to where we started. The main story line tells us about Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, the man who is forced to design the Death Star. As a young girl, Jyn watches her father get taken by the empire and her mother killed, and then she is rescued by Saw Gerrera, a militant rebel leader. Rather than resisting the empire and being killed, her father Galen, designs a flaw into the Death Star so that with one shot it might be destroyed, which explains the end of Star Wars. Galen gets an imperial shuttle pilot to defect with a message for Jyn, which he takes the city of Jedha, the home of a former Jedi temple and a mine for Kyber crystals which not only power lightsabers but is also what powers the death star’s weapon. Captured by the rebels to help them get the plans, Jyn travels with the rebel Cassian, who is shown to do whatever he thinks is necessary for the rebel cause, and K2SO a reprogrammed imperial droid. While on Jedha, they encounter the blind seer Chirrut Imwe, the coolest force user we’ve met in a while, whose personal mantra and breath prayer is “I am one with the force and the force is with me.” We are told that Chirrut is a guardian of the whills, which is an ode to Lucas’ original story idea before he came up with the force, and he is accompanied by Baze who helps protect Chirrut. Although Jyn thinks of herself as being totally independent, of not being able to trust anyone and making it on her own, we get an early indication of who she is when she and Cassian are caught in a street fight between the empire and Saw Gerrera’s followers. (Video)

Jyn risks her life to save a child. Now there are definitely people that we say we would risk, or even lose, our lives to save, right? A child, partner, parents, siblings. But would we be willing to lay down our lives for a total stranger? In this day and age, that’s is not just a hypothetical, and its not just violence, but recent events show us plenty of things that we might have to make personal sacrifices for in order to protect the lives of others. And so Jyn steps out to help a stranger, risking her life to protect the child. And this takes us back to the Greek. Jesus says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The word for friend here is philos, which comes from that Greek word to love, and is the word translated as you love in the phrase love one another, which is, again, philia, that love for others, brothers and sisters. And again, this love is about action, about service, and that becomes even more apparent as this is the final instruction given to the disciples in John, and the last night is not surrounding the institution of communion, which is a sacrificial reminder, but around the foot washing. The role of servant that Jesus takes on and then serves the disciples, and so we have to remember that this call to discipleship, this call to love is never self-centered, its always about the other.

The force is the same, Chirrut’s breath prayer excepted, when people give their blessing it’s the force be with you, or the force will be with us. It’s not self-referential, it’s focused outward. And even Chirrut’s statement that the force is with him, does not mean he owns the force, or that it’s only for him. It’s like the 23rd Psalm, “You are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” That doesn’t deny that God isn’t there for everyone else, in fact it emphasizes that as the multitudes prayer that Psalm, because that’s how God’s love works. God’s love is also outward directed, because that’s what the vine does, it gives to the branches so that they can survive and produce fruit. And God’s love is so outward directed that God didn’t even withhold Jesus, as we hear numerous times in scripture, especially in the writings attributed to John. So how do we know of God’s love? Because of the sacrifice that Jesus gives in order to bring healing and wholeness to the world. In order to be love. This message stands in opposition to the heavy emphasis on the individual and individualism that we have in our culture. It’s about recognizing that we are a branch in a much larger tree, which means we are all in this together. Which what Jyn and the other rebels also come to understand.

After they find out where Jyn’s father is, the go to find him, Jyn with the hope of reuniting, but Cassian with the orders to kill him. After Cassian leaves the ship, Chirrut, remembering he’s blind, asks if Cassian has the face of a killer, as he senses through the force his intentions, and Baze, his collaborator, says “no he has the face of a friend.” There is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend. But the empire kills her father, and so they set off to the planet Scariff in order to retrieve the plans for the death star, which are held there. The rebels face a mighty battle against heavy odds, with major losses, sacrifices for the message of hope, which is what rebellions are built upon, we are told, and we should have known that because the original Star Wars was renamed a new hope. But the Death Star, and Darth Vader arrive on the scene, but not before they are able to get the plans sent out. (Video)

Jyn gives her life to help the rebellion, to bring hope. Does that remind you of anyone? Jyn is a Christ figure, which is a common motif in literature and film. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends. To make a sacrifice through love. But that need not be actually losing your life, there are lots of other ways we can sacrifice. Perhaps you see a mother, or a father, struggling with their kids and the grocery store, facing the daunting challenge of a long check-out line. Letting them go ahead of you is an act of love and sacrifice on your part. Giving someone else your umbrella, or parking space, or volunteering your time. All these can be sacrificial. And I know you can think of lots more, and then there are sacrifices that can cost you the life you imagine.

At another church I had a member who worked in the pharmaceutical industry and he found out that there had been contamination of the product at one of their plants, and the company was trying to cover it up. He came to talk to me about what to do. Well, he knew what he needed to do, but he needed to talk through the ramifications of becoming a whistleblower, which actually rarely has positive outcomes for those who take on that vital role. He said he knew that he would be blackballed in the industry and at his age he new that just getting a new job, let alone trying a new occupation would be difficult, which would have ramifications for his family. So, what do you do? Do you go along because it’s easier for you and best your family? Or do you do what you know is right consequences be damned? I don’t ask these questions flippantly because they are genuinely hard. That’s why Jesus says that the road to discipleship is narrow and hard; if it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. Loving others and laying down your life is about saying that the me is not more important than the we. That I am willing to do things that might be harmful to me in the short-term and long-term in order to do the right thing for others. To protect them, to offer them the love that we have received from God.          

Star Wars is filled with the sacrifices that others make, some paying the ultimate price, and some making sacrifices of their life, their time and their talent to serve something greater than them and to serve their fellow brothers and sisters. We give of ourselves because of what God has already given. We love because God has already loved. And we abide in God, because God already abides in us. Jesus says, this is my commandment, and notice that it’s not a recommendation, it’s not a suggestion, it’s a commandment, that we love one another as Christ has have loved us. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” Jesus says. That does not mean being killed for them, but about laying aside our own preferences and living for others. As Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.