Hope like the Sun
During the time I have spent being stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have undertaken to re-watch the Star Wars movies. The story is now making a lot more sense to me than it did when I was younger. It’s interesting to finally understand the decline of the Jedi Order, the corruption of the Senate, the rise of the Resistance and First Order, along with the influence the Skywalker family has in all of this. But as I was watching these movies, something stood out to me that I found fascinating.
A Cry of Hope
In one scene of the movie A New Hope, Princess Leia Organa has in her possession the plans to the Empire’s horrible new weapon known as the Death Star. However, the evil Darth Vader is quickly approaching the ship she is on and she is running out of time. Leia then sends the plans off the ship in a droid along with a cry for help that can be quoted by fans from around the world. “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” Many adventures ensue, and ultimately, Obi-Wan does help Leia escape and provides a way for Luke Skywalker to meet Leia and rescue the galaxy from the Death Star. But Leia’s story does not stop there.
The princess becomes a general and in the movie The Last Jedi, General Leia Organa is once again trapped and faces the end of all she loves. However, she does not give up and, in reference to her brother Luke, says, “As long as he lives, hope lives.”
Hmmm, this seems to be a reoccurring theme with Leia. She leads the Resistance with all her strength and wisdom and when the time comes for it, puts her hope in a Jedi to come save her. This observation makes me want to sing the praises of the Jedi. They rescued her! They were the only hope of the bedraggled Resistance! Surely they were the MVPs of the galaxy! But then it dawned on me. Both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker were hiding when they received Leia’s pleas. They weren’t being very heroic. Also, in another scene of The Last Jedi, when all seems lost and Leia herself is left unconscious after an attack on her ship, two members of her crew recall Leia saying, “Hope is like the sun. If you only believe in it when you cannot see it, you’ll never make it though the night.” Wait a minute, here Leia’s words don’t apply to any Jedi. The Jedi were not the Resistance’s only hope — and they never were — Leia was! As long as Leia had hope, the Resistance kept its flame alive.
Hope in the Son
As much as I want to idealize the Jedi Order with their cool lightsabers and billowing robes, I think we should strive to be more like Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. In the midst of this chaotic world, sickness and racial tension and so much more, we need to have hope. We may be in the night right now, but we must take care to keep our eyes fixed on hope like the sun. And our hope comes from the Son indeed, a different son than the sun Leia referred to, but she had no idea just how close to the truth she got in saying that. The world is a scary place right now, but we can have hope in Jesus, the Son of the living God.