Three Reasons Why Anakin Skywalker Left the Church
For me, Jar-Jar Binks is not the most frustrating aspect of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. To be sure, Episodes I-III have their share of flaws.
I wouldn’t even say Anakin and Padmé’s forced, not-believably-acted-or-written love story tops the list, though it might be a close second.
In my mind, the most frustrating aspect of the prequels was the Jedi.
They should’ve anticipated at least parts of Darth Sideous’s plan. They should’ve not embraced the use of a clone army that they didn’t order the creation of.
Yes, I know, the force was “clouded.” That’s not a good enough reason for me!
But perhaps their biggest failing has to do with how they failed Anakin Skywalker.
Anakin didn’t have to betray the Jedi order. Anakin didn’t have to embrace the darkness and turn evil.
Yes, ultimately, Anakin’s actions are Anakin’s fault. Anakin made his decisions and had to live with those decisions, and those decisions indeed haunted him for the rest of his life.
But, the Jedi are not guiltless in the matter.
Yes, Anakin chose the dark side, but the Jedi in their failings made that decision easier for Anakin to make.
The Jedi failed him.
And I realized that Anakin’s story is not unique.
In fact, I see something similar happening with the American Church.
It’s not that the church is to blame for all of society’s problems. As a dedicated Christian in America, I can tell you from experience that this is far from the truth.
But I can also tell you that the church is not perfect, and every community, Christians included, have their own blind spots.
Each young person who leaves the church—who betrays their upbringing and gives in to the “dark side” to gratify their flesh and plunge deeper into sin—does so on their own account.
But, here’s my question to the American church: Are we making it easy for them?
Are we giving them something to hold against us? Are we providing opportunities and excuses for people to walk away from their faith?
In the Bible, Jesus says, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6 CSB).
Let us not be pharisees. Let us not put a stumbling block at anyone’s feet!
Instead of surrendering to the inevitability of young people falling away from faith, let’s look to the Jedi’s example, and see if we can learn from their mistakes.
Three Reasons Why Anakin Skywalker Left the Church
Reason One — The Jedi Did Not Prioritize Love
As they flirt with the possibility of kindling their forbidden love in Attack of the Clones, we get this interesting exchange between Anakin and Padme.
Padme said, “Are you allowed to love? I thought that was forbidden for a Jedi.”
Anakin replied, “Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central to a Jedi’s life. So, you might say, we are encouraged to love.”
…and, by the end of the movie, they’re married.
Anakin is obviously confused and hormonal.
I suspect the Jedi had something to do with that confusion.
The Jedi are the good guys! They’re the peacekeepers of the galaxy. They seek balance. They train their minds to cultivate unmatched mental fortitude. They encourage control over emotions.
All these things are good, but somewhere along the way, love left the equation.
Much of the Jedi training is inward focussed. Not only do they emphasize inward, individualized spirituality, but they also live separate from the rest of the population.
The Jedi live in a bubble, and even when they reach out to their community and extend themselves into humanitarian crises, their hearts remain separate and inaccessible.
Such separateness could be rendered “holiness,” but I think it actually leads to heartlessness.
Yes, possessive attachment to people is to be discouraged. True love honors boundaries, and an equal, committed relationship should not be subject to unhealthy power dynamics.
The Jedi claim to value balance, but in not prioritizing love, their hearts grew cold, and Anakin couldn’t reconcile his passion to the ways taught by the Jedi.
Reason Two — The Jedi Encouraged Fear of Repentance
After he and Padmé plunged into their secret marriage, Anakin had to bear the secret alone. He couldn’t even tell Obi-Wan, his most trusted mentor and friend.
Yes, Anakin knew the consequences, and yes, he made his decision. But once the decision was made, there was little way for Anakin to seek accountability.
And it wasn’t just the marriage he had to keep secret.
Episode II also showed us that awkward time he slaughtered an entire village of Sand People in revenge for kidnapping and enslaving and killing his mother.
Anakin’s anger was out of control. Yoda had sensed in him much fear long ago, and as we know, “fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering.”
Fear truly is the path to the dark side, but Anakin’s fears were amplified with the fear of getting caught. The fear of disappointing the Jedi, the fear of losing the path he’d given everything to follow.
Long before he fell into Palpatine’s snare, Anakin was trapped in his own web of fear, a prison that isolated him from the Jedi he should’ve been able to trust.
Anakin had no accountability and no way to come clean.
Now, yes, he could’ve come clean and faced the consequences of his actions. I’m not saying the Jedi need to overlook everything he did and say it’s okay in the name of forgiveness.
But, there should’ve been an apparatus in place which could’ve corrected Anakin in love.
As Christians, we know from Scripture that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with the fear of punishment (See 1 John 4). We also know that God’s kindness leads us to repentance (See Romans 2).
If the Jedi value balance, and if the Jedi know that fear leads to the dark side, then they should’ve been able to love Anakin, alleviate his fears, correct him gently, lead him on a path of redemption, and teach him how to balance his emotions.
But that did not happen. Instead, Anakin stuffed his emotions and took the burdens of his mistakes on his own shoulders, and he let the fear fester and eat him alive.
Reason Three — The Jedi Acted Hypocritically in Mission and Method
Believe it or not, the Jedi Knights aren’t technically soldiers. Yes, they can fight battles and defend themselves and others, but the Jedi Order is actually designed to foster peace, not war.
Tell me why the peaceful Jedi served as generals in the galactic war against the separatists. Why would they betray their mission?
The Jedi went from fostering peace and harmony—a mission directly from the very force that unites everything in their fictional universe—to fighting as warriors. Their so-called “elegant weapons of a more civilized age” fought in a war, shedding much blood in the process.
Now, that characterization might not be completely fair of me. After all, what else were the Jedi supposed to do? Inaction might’ve been even worse.
Perhaps fighting in the war was necessary, but the true problem lies in how they compromised their values in the process.
To maintain their political power, they forsook neutrality. They picked sides and alienated many planets in the process. They couldn’t be trusted to be impartial.
In The Clone Wars, the Jedi council cowered and refused to stand with Ahsoka and defend her honor when she was wrongfully convicted of treason, effectively bowing to the pressure of political opinion.
Even worse, when it came time to actually arrest the Chancellor and have him face trial as the revealed Sith lord, Mace Windu and the other Jedi who accompanied him decided to be the dark lord’s judge, jury, and executioner.
Anakin saw hypocrisy in the Jedi, even on the Council itself.
The Jedi compromised their values, and the root of all these failings comes from a simple succumbing—these seemingly invincible knights surrendered to fear instead of love.
Master Yoda said fear is the path to the dark side. I wonder if the Jedi stepped into a dark side of their own making.
What Does Any of This Have to Do With the American Church?
Obviously, Christians are not Jedi, and Anakin didn’t technically “leave the church.” But I’ve seen the church react in similar ways to how we see the Jedi’s downfall unfold.
I’ve seen Christians bow to fear. I’ve seen Christians compromise their beliefs. I’ve seen Christians driven by fear.
I’ve seen Christians prioritize power over love.
How are we to learn from the Jedi? How are we to respond?
Application
Prioritize love!
Reject fear and trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Emphasize holiness and repentance, but also live in grace and let the extension of mercy and grace flow naturally from your every action.
Let your love bring forgiveness and your wisdom provide a path forward for anyone needing restoration.
Be consistent. Be both hearers of the Word and doers of the Word. Be rooted in the Word and planted in the gospel.
Be communal, and be receptive to correction.
Teach love. Foster peace.
Encourage true community, where people can work through their struggles without fear. In that context, iron sharpens iron, and the whole congregations grows in Christlikeness.
Instead of complaining about young people forsaking the church for the dark side, pray for them, and pray that the God of wisdom will give you the strategy and courage to pursue them.
Unlike in the Star Wars universe, the dark side isn’t a balance for the light. There is no room for darkness. Our God is pure and holy. And Jesus defeated the darkness and brought us into His marvelous light.
We have nothing to fear!
Train the younglings in your life, resist fear, and be humble every step of the way.
If we only had “the force”, such a task would be impossible. But we have the Holy Spirit, a person dwelling inside of us, who connects us to the Father and the Son.
With His help, nothing is impossible.
