Evangelizing Han Solo

I’m an unabashed Star Wars fan. I have original movie posters from each of the first three films hanging in my basement. R2-D2 sits on one of my bookshelves at work. Some of my earliest memories are of watching The Empire Strikes Back on a VHS tape recorded from television.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that our family recently marathoned the original trilogy in preparation for the release of The Force Awakens.

Even after all these years and dozens (hundreds?) of viewings there is always something new to notice. This time one scene in particular stuck out at me — an exchange between Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi as the latter is training Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force:

Han is a typical skeptic. He expresses disbelief in the existence of the Force and prefers “a good blaster” (something he can see and touch) to “hokey religions.”

Luke takes umbrage at Han’s dismissal of the Force, but Obi-Wan uses a different approach. He doesn’t scold Han or attempt to debate him on the historical evidence for the Jedi. He doesn’t say anything to Han at all!

Instead he smiles and demonstrates the power of the Force.

In other words, Obi-Wan’s doesn’t get angry at an attack on his beliefs but shows why he believes in them. He asks Luke to put his faith in the Force by shielding his eyes and blocking the training remote’s blasts without the use of his normal senses. Luke succeeds and Han gives his grudging assent (even if he doubts that Luke would be as successful against real blaster fire).

There is a lesson in this, I think, for Christian evangelization. Too often, in television interviews or online forums, the reaction to challenges to Christian faith is indignation, anger, and dismissal. This is understandable. In a culture increasingly hostile to religious faith of any stripe — but especially to Christianity — we are tempted to return that hostility. This is the reality of original sin, in which our need to protect our ego overrides our capacity for patient Christian charity.

Obi-Wan’s helps us to understand that the proper response to this kind of challenge isn’t to offer a counter-challenge. Rather, we must demonstrate the power of our faith and the difference it makes in our lives and in the lives of others.

In this Obi-Wan mirrors the approach of Christ:

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in their midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her…” [T]hey went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”

- John 8:3–7, 9–11

Jesus’ response to the scribes and Pharisees was not to get angry or engage in a debate on the teaching of Moses. (Which was, we surmise, part of the reason they asked their question in the first place.) Rather, he sidesteps their motives and demonstrates his power by forgiving the woman’s sin. He didn’t allow his ego to get in the way but acts as a compassionate, patient savior. The scribes and Pharisees, completely caught off guard by this response, have no choice but to acknowledge his power and fade away.

Today, when our faith is challenged, we would do well to imitate Jesus and Obi-Wan Kenobi by smiling and getting on with the work of Christian discipleship. Most attacks on the faith will not be combated with angry words or rational arguments. (Although there is a time and a place for the latter). As Pope Paul VI reminds us, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”

During this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy the corporal and spiritual works of mercy may be our greatest tools in evangelizing the culture around us. In feeding the hungry, giving shelter to refugees, educating the poor, offering Christ’s forgiveness, and giving aid in countless ways every day, the Catholic Church demonstrates not only what we believe but the power it has to make a concrete difference in the lives of people.

By the end of Star Wars Han has changed his course. He even gives Luke a halfhearted “May the Force be with you” as they prepare to battle the Empire’s forces. And trailers for The Force Awakens show Han as a believer, telling the new heroes that the stories about Jedi and the Force are all true.

Han wasn’t persuaded by intellectual arguments or proselytizing. (And there’s no evidence that Obi-Wan used the Jedi mind trick on him!) It’s even a good bet that such approaches would have turned Han more against the idea of “one all-powerful Force controlling everything.”

The patient witness of the Christian Church, characterized by charity and nonviolence, transformed the ancient world. That same witness can transform our world today.

Suggested Reading:

Mercy in the City by Kerry Weber (Loyola Press, 2014)

Saints and Social Justice by Brandon Vogt (Our Sunday Visitor, 2014)

The Work of Mercy by Mark Shea (Servant Books, 2011)