Who is Your Yoda?

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was trying to get home on a bitterly cold Wisconsin winter day. It was my senior year of high school. My car broke down, so I tried to walk through the snow to the nearest gas station. After trudging through thick snow banks, my will gave out, and I collapsed in the snow.

I looked up and saw a vision of my pastor. “Tim,” he said, “You must go to Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN. There you will be trained by Prof. Deutschlander, the same Jedi Master who trained me.”

Later that year, I started my Jedi training at Martin Luther College.

I am sure that every pastor had a similar experience. Or perhaps I watched The Empire Strikes Back so many times as a kid that my memory is blurring together a few events. In fact, if Prof. Deutschlander saw what I just posted, I might get a hymnal thrown at my head. (If you had him in class, you may remember that he gave us a strong warning against saying false things from the pulpit. I can still hear him saying, “Remember that hymnals still have sharp corners, and I have deadly aim.”)

The Ways of the Force

So, actually Luke Skywalker received a similar message from the ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi. Luke was to go to Dagobah to be trained by Yoda. We met the tiny but incredibly wise Jedi Master. He taught us all the ways of the Force. He taught us the difference between the dark side and the light side.

He warned Luke, “Beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.”

He also gave us one of the greatest gems of knowledge. When he tells Luke to use the Force to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp, Luke doesn’t think that he can, but he says that he will try. Yoda responds, “Do, or do not. There is no try.” So true, my little green friend. After Luke fails, Yoda demonstrates his power by lifting the starfighter out of the swamp.

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As a kid I loved how the Force had this essence of right and wrong. I thought that Yoda was so wise and that these bits of information were helpful for my life. It is true that anger, fear, and aggression can lead to terrible things in my life. It is true that I should always work on accomplishing the goals in front of me.

And yet, as I got older, I realized that there is a problem with the Jedi ways. Ultimately they look to the individual person for strength and goodness. My Jedi Master, Prof. Deutschlander, would never point anyone to themselves for truth. He would point us to Jesus.

We all need someone like Yoda.

We need that person who will train us in the truth. But we don’t need training in the Force. The Force leads people to look to their own goodness for salvation. That is a problem. We are all sinners. Try as hard as we want, we can never get rid of our sin. Yoda might tell us that there is no try. “Do or do not.” Well, that’s not going to work either. I can’t be perfect like God demands.

That is why it is such a blessing to have a Christian who can point me in the right direction. I have had many pastors and professors who helped me along the way. They pointed me to Jesus. Jesus never gave in to temptation. Jesus was perfect on my behalf. Jesus went to the cross for me. Now I am saved because of him. Only through Jesus can I have the strength to serve my God.

I hope you have your own Yoda or Prof. Deutschlander. Perhaps it is your father or mother. Maybe it is your pastor or another Christian leader. We need those people who point us to Jesus. With Jesus, we have life. We don’t have to do it (win our salvation); Jesus already did it for us.

Graphic illustration by JB Casacop