"My Son is Alive."

(Disclaimer: I am in no way promoting this film. Please always use discretion in choosing what to watch. These are simply my thoughts on Star War, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker)

“Your son is dead,” Kylo Ren angrily tells his father, Han Solo, as they stand atop a piece of the old Death Star. His father, just an illusion but just as powerful as if he were indeed there, reaches out and places his hand on Ren’s cheek. 

“No, my son isn’t dead,” Han Solo tells him. “Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive.” 

Have you ever felt like Kylo Ren? Seeing only the bad in yourself and denying there is any good left? It’s easy to do. Maybe we don’t see ourselves as being just plain evil, but maybe we let ourselves hear the lies that we aren’t beautiful, or enough, or loveable. 

Maybe, like Ren, we’ve been through some hard stuff. 

Almost abandoned by his parents to be trained by his uncle, a strict Jedi knight, Ben Solo felt alone and unwanted, even unloved. Through this, he fell in with the Dark Side, became a Sith Lord, and eventually even killed his own father. 

In the moment we see him at the old Death Star, he’s already almost died and been healed by Rey, his arch-enemy, and felt the loss of his mother through the Force. 

Needless to say, Ren is at his hardest moment. Even though he pretends to hate his parents, Ren actually loves them. Especially his mother, Leia. Her loss is a blow to him, especially as he struggles with the guilt over his father’s death. 

Choking on words, Ren tries to ask forgiveness from his father. Han accepts at once, saying softly, “I know.” 

Kylo Ren throws away his red Lightsaber (a symbol of the Dark Side in his life) and becomes Ben Solo once more, ultimately leading up to saving Rey from death and dying in the process. 

We’ve probably all had moments when we believed there was no good in us. Perhaps we’ve yelled at our sister and later wished we’d been kind, or made other mistakes that can’t be changed.

But that was what Ben thought too. He believed that Kylo Ren was all that was left of Ben Solo, just as Darth Vader believed that Anakin was dead in him. 

This was not true. Both Kylo Ren and Darth Vader finally came to realize that the names they’d been given, their Sith names, were not who they truly were. 

In the incredible book series, The Wingfeather Saga, a repeated theme is your true name. The main character’s brother makes mistakes, becomes an enemy, and still they remind him what his true name is, and who his father was. Even as his brother is turning into a villain, Janner (the protagonist) continues to say his name and tell him who his father is.

This is the truth we can also learn from Ren and Vader. 

We may call ourselves (or be called) something we are not, and even come to believe that’s who we truly are. Unloved. Unworthy. Outcast. Unwanted. Alone…. 

But we are none of these things. We are loved by God, who sent His Son to die in a horrible way for us. We are called worthy as God’s children. If you are a Christian, you are never alone. Jesus always wants us. Even without our Sunday clothes and perfect hair. 

In Colossians 3:12, we hear about this. “Therefore as God’s children, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Did you catch that? "Holy and dearly loved!" God really loves us, as the song goes. But what next?

When Kylo Ren finally realizes he isn’t Kylo Ren, hated and unlovable, but Ben Solo, loved by his parents and even by Rey, he throws off his old life. 

Forsaking evil, Ben Solo returns to Rey for the final battle against Palpatine and is ultimately victorious. 

  In the gospel of John, 8:11, a condemned woman is told to do something similar. 

“No one, sir,” she replied. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go and sin no more.” 

Just as when Ben Solo finally realized the truth about himself, and accepted it, he threw off the name of Kylo Ren and all that went with it to join the Light Side of the Force. God invites us to see ourselves as He sees us and cast away our old selves to become who we were meant to be: His children, holy and dearly loved.

Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave feedback or thoughts in a comment! As always, Ad Lucem.

-L.E. Levens