Luke Skywalker and the Magi

Did you know that the story of Luke Skywalker has a lot of parallels with the Story of the Magi?  It’s not that big of a stretch, and it is an adventure story for both the Star Wars movies and the Matthew passage.

Both Luke and the Magi are travelling for a higher purpose.  The Magi are looking for a new hope, a prince, and Luke is looking to find adventure and freedom and to rescue a princess.  Lofty goals.

Both encounter a leader of people who is out of control.  Luke faces the Emperor Palpatine, master of the Dark Side of the Force who is determined to control the whole universe and use his power to set in place a reign of terror where no one will be able to have any kind of freedom.

The Magi face Herod the Great.  He’s known as a tyrant who liked taxing his people heavily so he could construct massive buildings as a sign of how glorious and important he was.  He may not have been able to build a Death Star or massive star destroyer ships, but he would probably have wanted to if he had the technology.  Herod also practised his Jewish faith in a way that would be manipulative or impressive, not unlike Palpatine’s use of the force.  He was a con man who liked to hobnob with people like Julius Caesar, or Cleopatra which got him into hot water with Augustus and he had to do a lot of grovelling to get into that emperor’s good books.

Palpatine manipulates political friends and foes very deftly, and is not afraid to hurt people along the way.  He isn’t above killing off family members to get what he wants when it suits him.  In fact that is another parallel between him and Herod.  Herod’s historians don’t have a record of him ordering the killing of baby boys, but they do have records of him killing his sons and wife when he felt threatened by their rise in popularity or influence.  Both Palpatine and Herod seemed invincible.  Both make for excellent villains.

Then there are the heroes.  Luke Skywalker, innocent farm boy, honest, caring about his family and friends.  The Magi, a group of people bound together because of shared principles and values.  Both willing to travel to strange places and meet strange people as they journeyed to a lofty and life-giving goal.  They all found more than they expected.  Luke found his princess in a jail cell and his wisdom from an ancient, shrivelled old creature barely as tall as his knee.  The Magi found their prince in an insignificant town off the beaten track, born to poor people who would become refugees.

It’s not a perfect analogy of course, but it reminds us of our own human story.  Our struggle to know where to look for purpose, vision and wisdom.  There are times we think we might find that meaning in grand adventures, so we travel to far away places and come home hopefully a little wiser.  We must make tough choices – do we trust the powerful king in his palace or the tiny blinking star that has led us on what some call a wild goose chase?  Do we trust an old hermit in a desert or the Corellian spice smuggler in a dilapidated spaceship?

Either way we choose what direction to take and what will guide us on our way.  In the end, it becomes a simple decision – will we follow the star to a leader who inspires us to become more loving and justice – seeking, or will we grab for power and control until we might hurt the ones that are closest to us?

One kind of leadership, Ben Kenobi’s and Jesus’, actually empower us to become loving compassionate leaders ourselves.  The other kind, the Herod and Palpatine kind of leadership wants to disempower everyone and keep all the power for themselves.

This year my goal for my sabbatical preparations is to do my best to empower you to become empowering leaders both here in this church and in your families and your community.  Empowering leadership is not easy and is not for the faint of heart.  It takes brave heroes to give away power, to nurture the leadership of others, to help people see themselves as heroes, and to steer away from the intoxication of becoming a villain.  It’s easy to become a villain, to take the short cuts, to act on impulse without thinking things through, to do whatever you want regardless of what impact it might have on others, to make the choice that brings short-term gain.  It’s hard to become a Skywalker Magi who must leave the known for the unknown, to question their assumptions and remind themselves what they are looking for, and why they came searching after knowledge.

The magi returned home to share their wisdom and experiences with their community.  Luke eventually taught what he knew to others to build a more just society.  We too are called to become Magi Skywalkers and stargazers, hopers and dreamers.  Let us work together to find a path into hope.  Let us find ways to address the tyrants in our lives, especially when those tyrants are ourselves.  And as we keep focussed on the Star of Bethlehem, may we find our way to building a better world for all where we all know that God is with us, always!