Good Good Vader

Cassian Andor, in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, famously said, “Rebellions are built on hope.” Hope is a powerful emotion. As I mentioned in my previous post, Another Hope, Luke’s rollercoaster character arc is eventually straightened by hope. The only question is why?

Just imagine the scene: Luke is aboard a space station that’s destruction is imminent with his repentant father. Luke believed, for most of his life, that his father was killed by Darth Vader. He refuses to squander the last few moments of his father’s life. This physically and emotionally depleted Luke struggles desperately to drag himself and Vader onto an escape ship. He pauses to allow his father to speak. 

“Luke, help me take this mask off.” 

When Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was first released in theaters, the audience had not yet seen the face of Darth Vader concealed behind the mask. Luke, recalling Obi-Wan’s words about Vader earlier in the film,  “He’s more machine now than man,” pleads with his father, “But you’ll die.”

While I am uncertain what the exact cause of Vader’s death is, he replies, “Nothing can stop that now. Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes.” With the eyes of Anakin Skywalker. Indeed, he had never looked upon his children with his own eyes. This heartfelt moment, amidst the chaos, is the longtime and unexpected reunion of father and son. 

A scarred, hair-singed Anakin urges Luke to leave him behind. To save himself. The selflessness displayed in the last hour of his life can be cited as clear evidence of his “thief on the cross” salvation. 

Luke has come too far and gotten too close to abandon him now. “No, you’re coming with me. I’ll not leave you here. I’ve got to save you.” It is the cry of a son, wanting to build a new life with his once-estranged father. It is the desperate attempt of a relentless pursuer of his father’s love.

Anakin, mustering up his strength to speak, says, “You already have. Luke, you were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister you were right.”

The salvation of Darth Vader happened when he ceased his Sith identity and became Anakin Skywalker once again. It was Luke’s resilience, against all odds and counsel, that helped him in that journey. 

Luke salvages his body, burns it on the forest moon of Endor, and then sees Anakin’s Force ghost alongside of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda in the Ewok village. His father had stepped from the dark side to the Light Side and would live peacefully in the Netherworld of the Force.

Imagine the complex emotions going through Luke’s mind: grief, sorrow, joy, anger, relief, vindication, etc. But beyond all emotion, Luke must have developed a stronger feeling of hope. As he stared at his father’s ghost, did he ponder the odds of what had just occurred? There was not a soul in the galaxy that would have predicted that Darth Vader’s estranged farm boy son would convince him to destroy the Emperor and recant the Sith. Nobody would have predicted that Vader would sacrifice himself for the sake of his son. How would this sudden turn of events and glorious twist in the plot develop Luke’s character? If his father could change, anybody could. Right?

This is what we called, at summer camp, a “mountaintop experience.” I would come home from a week in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, or a youth evangelism conference knowing that my encounter with God would transform my life. 

To the person unfamiliar with Scripture, you might envision the feeling of scaling Everest and looking down at the world below knowing that there is no higher point in all the Earth. Though it is understood amongst Bible readers that a mountaintop experience is a reference to biblical characters and their encounters with God on top of mountains. Most famously is Moses. 

Moses was born into a very complicated life. Saved from infanticide and genocide by the hand of Pharaoh against Israelite babies, he was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter until he grew up and was exiled. God raised him up to lead His people out of Egypt’s slavery and into the Promised Land - a new start for the Hebrews. Along the way, Moses is called up to Mount Sinai where God speaks to him, explains His law, and gives him two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. In my wildest imagination, I cannot fathom the feeling Moses experienced communing with God in that way.    It wouldn’t surprise me if he sprinted back down the mountain, with the commandments in hand, ready to share everything he experienced. This is a mountaintop experience. 

The problem with mountaintop experiences is that they are temporary. Sadly, negative experiences can cloud the memory of those highs. After a week home from camp, without the support of those who experienced God with me in that particular context, I began to feel discouraged and unmotivated. Before long, I was back to the place where I started before I left, causing me to wonder if camp would ever produce a long-lasting change in my life. 

For Moses, he descends the mount with the tablets only to find his people worshipping golden calves, built by their own hands, and ascribing their deliverance to these false idols. Exodus 32:19-20 says, “And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.”

That story is not only intense but really discouraging. After this incredible experience with God, he finds his people unfaithful to God. His anger burns hot. He takes the idol, burns it, and makes them drink it in water. Unfortunately for Moses, the grumbling of the Israelites and the rebellious hearts take their toll. His anger breeds disobedience which costs him entrance into the Promised Land. It harkens back to Yoda’s words: “Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

Like me coming home from camp or Moses coming down from Mount Sinai, Luke’s mountaintop experience is not sustainable. After the fall of the Empire and the eradication of the Sith, there is a lot of work to do and I would imagine a lot of opinions on how to do it. We learn in The Force Awakens that Luke’s attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order fails. How then did we expect to find him? Hopeful? It was hope after Anakin’s redemption that fueled him. That is shrouded when his nephew, Ben Solo, turns to the dark side and becomes Kylo Ren. 

Mountaintop experiences in themselves are not bad. In fact, I love them. They give me a glimpse of what is possible. I also think it’s possible to make an idol out of trying to maintain regular mountaintop experiences. Psalm 23 reminds us that though the dark valleys of life are inevitable, God is by our side like a Good Shepherd guiding and protecting us. Perhaps if we expect the shadow of death to loom over our hearts at times, and remember that God will never forsake us, we can keep faith in the most discouraging moments of life. 

For Luke, I believe that the fall of Kylo Ren was the last straw. Luke’s flight was not based on a single incident. In fact, I believe a series of lies that he never truly confronted weakened the foundation that his Jedi Order was built upon. These lies were woven into the fabric of his upbringing. We’ll explore that deeper soon. In the meantime, just chill till the next episode. 

If you haven’t seen the films in a while, here’s a little trailer to inspire you.