"The Greatest Teacher, Failure Is" by guest writer David Burnett

 

The Greatest Teacher, Failure Is

By David Burnett

Click here for the video that inspired this article. 

Star Wars remains a titan of sci-fi and adventure story-telling. Spanning multiple decades, eleven feature films, and multiple other media franchises, audiences are still drawn in multitudes to the galaxy far, far away. 

While the aliens, strange and unknown lands and planets, futuristic technology, and lightsaber swinging heroes and villains are certainly what piques peoples’ interest as they first get drawn into the world of Star Wars, the underlying themes of George Lucas’ masterfully crafted world are what keep people coming back. Truths that speak to the human soul, such as the duty to do the right thing in the face of great evil, the power of relationships and friendship and ultimately, the power of failure. 

“The greatest teacher, failure is.” 

This quote from Grandmaster Yoda’s Force ghost to Luke Skywalker serves both as an admonishment as well as encouragement. At this point in the Skywalker Saga, Luke feels as though he has ultimately failed as a Jedi Master, and in truth he has in many ways. 

Luke’s great tragedy, his failure in helping his nephew Ben Solo in resisting the lure of the Dark side, culminated in great repercussions of the galaxy. Mirroring his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi’s failure with Luke’s own father Anakin, Luke faces the sorrow and despair that comes with knowing that you have been measured and found wanting, and that others pay the price for your own failings. 

“Leia trusted me with her son. Because I was Luke Skywalker. Jedi Master. Legend.” 

A central theme of the Skywalker family and their saga told throughout the main trilogies of the Star Wars cinematic works is one of failure, but then of what that failure makes you. It is not a question of whether or not one allows failure to define them, but how that failure defines them. Luke’s journey echoed many of the Jedi before him. Obi-Wan and Yoda both failed to stop Anakin’s fall to the Dark side. Anakin failed in becoming the Jedi that he had the potential to be, and later Luke failed in maintaining peace in the galaxy and raising up the next generation of Jedi. 

However, their perseverance in the face of failure, their eventual refusal to lay down and remain in despair, served not only to help save the galaxy, but to inspire others. Yes, all three Jedi Masters hid for a time. All three felt the weight of sorrow crashing down on them, but all three did eventually rise to meet their calling again. If Obi-Wan had not thrown away his hermitude and helped Luke, the first Death Star would never have been destroyed. Had Yoda not agreed to help train Luke, despite the fear of raising another Darth Vader, the Empire never would have been destroyed and Anakin never redeemed. If Anakin had not finally pushed through the weight of his misdeeds and rage and helped his son, Palpatine would never have been defeated. And if Luke had remained on Ach-To, hiding himself away from the galaxy and not finally trained Rey and confronted Kylo Ren, the First Order and Palpatine would have remained victorious. 

Everyone fails. It is an unerring part of life, of living with sin in the world and in ourselves. Confronting our failings is uncomfortable. It’s vulnerable. It makes us combat our pride, our sorrow, and the brokenness of our human nature. But it is what we do with that failure that shows not only our true character, but the true contents of our soul. The beauty of Christ’s redeeming love is that he takes our failures and turns them into victories. He takes Peter’s denials, Paul’s persecutions, and turns them into testimonies that would serve as the foundation of the global Church and the spread of Christianity to the ends of the Earth. 

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. - 1 Timothy 1:15

Star Wars is a story of hope. Of courage. And of failure. But not failure as the end of the road, but as an anvil in which heroes are forged. 

If you are going through despair, if you feel as though your failures are weighing you down to the point of no escape or return, I encourage you to seek out Jesus Christ. There is a reason that many of our most beloved stories point to perseverance through failure, of some form of redemption. It is because the redeeming love of Christ serves as the blueprint for all creation, known or unknown. As J. R. R. Tolkien once explained to C. S. Lewis, "Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened.” We fall in love with the great stories because they speak to the image of God in our very souls. Star Wars is no different. Once you look past the lightsabers, the starfighters, the alien planets, it becomes a story of heroes that overcome not only external villains and trials, but also the sorrows and failings of their own hearts.

Failure is unavoidable. But it does not have to be the end of your journey. 

“Pass on what you have learned. Strength. Mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.”