I just watched one of the saddest ends
to a good series that I have ever seen. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
has been a smart and fun series since the movie first premiered in
theaters, and it has maintained itself well through the past five
seasons. Now Lucasfilm has chosen to cancel the series so that it can
focus on the next chapter in the Star Wars universe. So the season
finale now is likely to be the end of the entire series, but what a
way to end it.
In the finale and the episodes leading
up to it, Asoka Tahno, the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, is
cleverly and expertly framed for murder and sedition against the
Galactic Republic. Those who know the movies know who's ultimately
behind the crimes and the framing, but at this point in the timeline,
the good guys don't and the Jedi Council sends out her Jedi Master
and a squad of clone troopers to capture her and bring her back for
judgment. They eventually accomplish this. Asoka is expelled from the
Jedi Order so she can face trial in a Republic tribunal as a private
citizen. At the last second, her Master finds the real criminal and
gets her to confess, freeing Asoka. The Jedi Council extends the
invitation to her to return to the Order as a full Jedi Knight.
But instead of the happy ending, and
this is where the series tended to shine a little, Asoka walks away.
The Council refused to believe her or believe in her innocence to
begin with even though they knew her very well and this left her
damaged, hurt, confused, and dealing with an anger she needed to work
through on her own. From seeing her beginnings in the Clone Wars
movie as a new Padawan apprentice to a nearly full Jedi Knight, this
was a rough, bitter pill to take. We may want the happy ending, but
Asoka's experience is often far closer to reality than we like to
admit, especially for those in the Church.
Involuntary suffering puts us through
trials as Christians that often make us stronger. But all too often,
the organized churches, their councils and leadership, don't seem to
understand this. When a woman, for example, begins to go through a
painful divorce, all too often she may get ostracized for something
she didn't do. When a pastor is accused of something horrendous like
molestation, even if he is later proven innocent the damage to his
reputation can be permanent. It is during these times that Christ can
shine through us all the more, and yet our brothers and sisters can
be blind to it.
I can't keep count of how many
Christians I have met and known, friends all of them, who have walked
away from their churches, or church in general because, rather than
rally around them like the loving protective family they should be,
they have contributed to their misery and ostracized them or expelled
them. Oddly enough, these people when asked will tell you that they
have stopped believing in the Church or Christianity even, but they
will rarely ever say they've stopped believing in Jesus Christ. These
are sheep that have run from abusive shepherds into the wild. What is
even more painful is that, all too often these people are condemned
even further for walking away from the Church by their pastors and
fellow Christians.
Asoka Tahno was a firm believer in the
Jedi Order and in the light side of the Force and she proved this
again and again through five seasons of stories. Those who knew her
knew she wasn't capable of what she was accused of, but they
condemned her anyway. How many of our brothers and sisters have left
the churches and the Church in general in pain and confusion because
we wouldn't listen?
Jesus Christ died and rose again for
these brothers and sisters just as He did for those who plant
themselves in a pew every Sunday. They have chosen to walk away
because of the pain, hurt, and confusion caused by other Christians
and the systems of Church government and belief which they had
trusted in. Pain, hurt, and confusion that didn't have to be in the
first place if we just pulled our heads out of our hind ends and
actually followed what Jesus Christ taught: “Love one another as I
have loved you.”
Another lesson which could be drawn
from this episode is the further consequences to those around her.
Everyone who knows the Star Wars series knows what happens to Anakin
Skywalker and his fall from grace to become Darth Vader. Anakin cared
deeply about his apprentice, and while not the final straw in his
fall, it certainly contributed as he lost one more person he cared
about.
When one Christian leaves the church
because the church has abused them in some way, it is far more likely
to cause those around them to leave as well, and possibly for these
to truly fall away farther than the first person ever did. None of us
in the body of Christ is truly separate from one another. Through
Christ we are all connected. What happens to one of us affects all of
us in some way. Positive things that happen to one member of the body
affect all of us positively, negative things affect all of us
negatively. This is not mere theory, but observable fact. How many
Vaders do we create when we fail to love one another as He commanded
us?
We have been given the ministry and the
responsibility of reconciliation, not judgment or condemnation. We
have been commanded to love one another, not to beat each other. And
we have been warned by Him that it would be better to go swimming
with a millstone tied around our necks than to cause one of the
“least of these” to stumble. Whatever pain we cause to our
brothers and sisters, rest assured He feels it too, and He remembers.
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