Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
This is an interactive manuscript. To follow links, click the highlighted words below.
In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is sent by the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi to the swamp planet Dagobah to study under the Jedi Master Yoda. Luke, having had some previous successes using the Force against the Empire, is perhaps understandably eager to move forward in his training, and quickly. Unfortunately there is a fine line between eagerness and impatience, and Luke forms a habit of missing what is right in front of him.
The first thing Luke misses is Yoda himself. He fails to recognize that the Jedi Master might be the only living thing on the planet, even if he is green, has elf-shaped ears, and is small enough to fit into Luke’s backpack.
The other thing Luke misses is the point in one of Yoda’s exercises. On Dagobah, there is a cave with great Force energy. Going in and confronting a vision there is an important part of Luke’s training. As Yoda prepares him for what is ahead, Luke asks what he will find in the cave. Yoda tells him “only what you take with you.”
So Luke prepares by donning his utility belt, equipped with his blaster and lightsaber. Yoda immediate tells him he will not need his weapons, but Luke gives him a look that says “really?” and continues fasting his belt.
As Luke enters the cave, he is confronted by a vision of the Emperor’s right-hand man, Darth Vader. This vision of Vader pulls out his own lightsaber, and he and Luke duel it out. It ends when Luke chops off the vision’s head. It then rolls beside Luke before exploding and revealing Luke’s own head in the helmet.
If Luke had taken the time to listen, he wouldn’t have witnessed this vision. What he might have seen could have been terrifying still, but as Yoda told him, he would have been able to face it.
What Luke experienced at Dagobah is not dissimilar to what we all face in life. We often struggle to hear what it is that God is saying to us. We often expect God’s answers will be what we anticipate when generally they are different than anything we can imagine.
This is what we hear in all our readings today. We often expect that we know what God is saying, except that we don’t always get it right.
Paul shows this with our thoughts about the Law. We often like to think it is our own work, our own actions, that lead to our salvation. Yet as Paul points out, and as we see in our Old Testament reading, Abraham was made righteous by God, and he existed well before God gave the Law.
There is nothing we can do to make ourselves righteous. There is nothing we can take in the cave with us. The only thing that can make us righteous is the action of God.
This is what Jesus is pointing out to His Disciples today. He is going through the step by step plan that leads to our Salvation. This all occurs through Jesus’ death.
Peter, much like Luke Skywalker, is having none of this. What Jesus is saying doesn’t match his understanding of God’s plan. In Peter’s mind, Jesus shouldn’t have to die, and he tells Him so.
As a result, Peter gets rebuked. He learns the hard way that his ways aren’t God’s ways. He learns the hard way that he doesn’t know it all.
When we face the trials that come our way, are we going to bring things we don’t need, like Luke on Dagobah? Are we going to try and tell God what the Lord must think, like Peter? Or instead, can we take the time to listen to God, and realize we don’t know everything. Not even salvation is something we can do on our own. For that, we need the help of the Lord, for nothing else can help us through.