A Ramble about Yoda Pancakes

Along with Star Trek, I grew up with Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and a host of other sci-fi shows of the late '70s and early '80s. My mom was a sci-fi fan and so she introduced me to the ins and outs of hyperspace, warp drive, lightsabers, alien worlds and philosophies, and all the other little impossible or improbable details which makes science fiction so fascinating.

Star Wars has always been one of my favorites. I think the first Star Wars movie I watched in the theater as a kid was The Empire Strike Back. This was the film in which everyone's favorite 900 year old little green Jedi master was introduced, and in which he began to expound more on the Force, and the Jedi's interaction with it. One of my favorite sayings from this movie is "No try or try not, Do or Do not, there is no try." Another one of my favorite scenes is when Luke attempts to pull the X-Wing out of the swamp, and fails because he believes it's too big. Then Yoda comes up, shakes his head sadly, and then proceeds to pull the X-Wing out of the swamp and place it gently on more solid ground. Luke exclaims "I don't believe it!" To which Yoda replies, "that is why you fail." It's a great lesson on prayer and faith (at least I think so).

One of the things which is most amazing about Jedi Master Yoda is how small, how old, and how unassuming he is. When Luke first meets him, he assumes him to be some small, annoying, native of Dagobah who seemed to only be there to make his life that much harder. You immediately take a liking to him. Yoda himself seems to be very aware of his size, and his physical inability due to it, but it's not his size that he relies on most. It's the Force.

In the Star Wars universe, the Force is describes as an energy field which "binds us, penetrates us, and holds the galaxy together." It's described as the source of a Jedi's power, and the source of all their unique and superhuman abilities. Without it, they can't do anything that a non-Jedi can't do. In using the Force, they are trained from a very young age to interact with it, to use it, and to be used by it in a cooperation and a symbiosis.

In a scene at the end of Attack of the Clones, Yoda displays exactly how adept he is when he uses the Force to stop a massive rockfall from landing on him, and he brushes it harmlessly to the side. One thing Yoda never does, however, is take credit for what the Force does. He calls the Force his "ally," and it is clear to him that it is the Force which does all these things. Yoda knows very well that if he attempted any of those amazing things on his own, he'd be in deep, deep trouble.

For example, imagine if Yoda tried to pull the X-Wing out of the swamp on his own. It's likely Luke would have been rolling on the ground laughing as the little Jedi Master got sucked into the bog with the ship. Imagine if Yoda had tried to stop those rocks from landing on himself by just his own strength. You'd have a little green smudge left on the ground; a Yoda pancake. If he tried to do any of it, he'd be dead or at least humiliated.

The normal Christian life, as Watchman Nee called it, is a life lived in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, and under His power and guidance. All the charismata, the gifts of the Spirit, and all the fruit of the Spirit are produced by the Spirit and not through our own natural abilities, no matter how much we try to develop them as qualities within our own lives. There are times God even seems to go out of His way to use people in capacities for which they have no natural ability. All these things are the result of our being joined to Jesus in His death, and cooperating with that death, so that we might be joined with Him in His resurrection. Our natural talents and abilities have nothing to do with it. This tends to be one of the flaws in the popular "spiritual gift tests" which float around Christian circles, a person is likely to answer according to their own natural experience or ability.

Jesus said in John 15, that without Him we could do nothing. If we attempt to live as Christians under our own abilities, then we run the risk of becoming Yoda pancakes. We become self righteous at best, and it just goes downhill from there. Things like compassion, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, humility, all of these qualities are not naturally derived for the Christian but are produced by remaining in Jesus Christ like the branch remains on the plant deriving it's nourishment from the sap which flows up through the main stalk or trunk or vine. The charismata such as prophecy, love, faith, mercy, leadership, teaching, etc. are derived from the Spirit, and have nothing to do with a person's training or disciplines. If we attempt them thinking that we're the ones from whom they flow and derive then we run the risk of becoming little green smudges on the ground.

Yoda had the good sense, and eight hundred years of experience as a Jedi, to know how much he wasn't capable of by himself, and this was his truly remarkable feat; his deep humility. We are invited, through Jesus Christ, to partake in the life of the Eternal God and hold an intimate relationship and cooperation with Him. This involves and requires an equally deep humility as He moves within us, through us, and around us. We need to remember at all times that it is Him acting, not us, and in the same way, we need to rely on Him. Through Him mountains can be moved and oceans parted, without Him we get sucked into the bog and people laugh at us.