Originally published on the Old Writers Website on Thursday, 25 January 2018.

Republsihed on current site 5-2-19

At lunch, I sit with a wonderfully kooky, creative, smart group of Christian students.  Our discussions and interests have a wide range, and vary in IQ depending on the subject and how much sleep we got the night before.

What I'm about to discuss is what came out of a conversation the Other Aaron and I had at lunch today regarding, surprise-surprise, Star Wars.  I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but he looked quite struck by what I said, so I'm recording the gist of it here, in case it's important/striking to anybody else.

The Other Aaron was enumerating the issues involving the Light Side, the Dark Side, and how the Gray Jedi (an Expanded Universe concept) are the perfect medium.  Here's what came out of our discussion:

The Sith are powered by revenge and hate.  Although they (as an organization) exhibit patience and sacrifice for a cause larger than themselves (every Sith Lord takes an apprentice knowing that the apprentice will one day turn on them), it is hatred and revenge that drive them.

The Jedi, in response, went to the other extreme.  Like the Vulcans in Star trek, they decided that the best way to deal with the threat of anger, revenge, and bitterness was to get rid of emotion/emotional attachment entirely - not unlike a certain cousin's Apathy Shield.  But this is not a stable foundation, and (imo) part of why the Order was declining in the years leading to the Clone Wars.  Heart-lessness doesn't work.

The antithesis, the cure, for hate is not heart-lessness, but mercy and love.  And nowhere is this clearer than in Return of the Jedi, where Luke's mercy and love for his father is what provides Anakin with a way out and ultimate redemption.  The Jedi of the Old Order would not - and did not - understand this.  After all, both Obi-wan and Yoda imply that the wisest/right course of action would be for Luke to take Vader down.  Luke, quite rightly, is horrified, and instead takes a chance.  He acts on mercy and love, with the result that Vader not only saves the life of his son, but also destroys the Emperor (and brings balance to the Force, and all that).

In TLJ (Spoiler warning!!!), Luke, if anything, has become too Jedi-like.  Instead of holding on to his mercy and love, he tries to do the cold, logical thing in dealing with Ben Solo - with disasterous results.  If he had acted instead on mercy and love, I think things would have been very different.  He forgot in that moment, that the bigger picture didn't matter: Ben Solo was an individual, a being with a soul, with hopes and dreams and value, and what happens later doesn't matter, only that he be approached with mercy and love.

There is a second point to the TLJ example - Mercy and Love are stronger than fear.  When mercy and love power you, you realize that the consequences do not matter, only that you treat others with love.  The fear of what might happen becomes irrelevant.  Luke, on the other hand, responded to Ben's actions with fear.  He let fear, not mercy, drive him - and the Sequel Trilogy is the result. 

That's not to say he shouldn't have taken Ben aside to discuss what was going on.  There are merciful ways to be firm (my mother excels at them!). 

The weakness of the Jedi is that they are not founded in love.  Luke had a chance to do that, but he delved too deeply and, I think, doubted himself a little too much.  He forgot that the old and wise are not always 100% right - and that in this one thing, he had succeeded where all others had failed.  Love and mercy are the response to hate, and hate cannot stand against them for long.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." ~ Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians (13:1-8)