Qui Gan meets Jar Jar as he’s running through the fields of Naboo. Although he’s reluctant, Jar Jar lets Qui Gan convince him to take them to the underwater Gungan City. It seems that Jar Jar was banished. But he decides there’s no sense in fighting it; he needs to go home. He announces his return by shouting “Meesa back!” (Editorial note: This blog is in no way meant to validate the racism that many feel is present in the Jar Jar character; it is simply meant to illustrate the difficulty that we sometimes have with going home.)
People used to ask me if I would ever want to pastor in my home town. My answer was always no. I figured people who knew me when I was growing up would never take me seriously as a pastor. “I knew the pastor when he used to rock and roll.” That whole “prophet in his home town” thing. Looking back, I think I was more afraid that I hadn’t really changed.
Fast forward an hour or so into the movie. Jar Jar is having a chat with Boss Nass, the one who banished him. Boss Nass credits Jar Jar with uniting the Gungans and the Naboo. He is credited with making peace between the two peoples. And Boss Nass promotes Jar Jar – clumsy, bumbling Jar Jar – to “Bombad General”. None of Jar Jar’s previous problems is noted, just his current accomplishments. Isn’t that really the case with us most of the time too?
I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll). We all used to “Rock and Roll” in our own way. We have all been rebellious people. The Bride of Christ used to rock and roll. But if we can claim anything through Christ it is this: we’ve been changed. Maybe not who we are, but the way we are. And while we probably still see ourselves as bumbling and clumsy and unfit to promote Jesus with our lives, God sees what we have truly become. And for God, it is precisely because of our imperfection that we are made able to serve.
Who says you can’t go home again? You can. People are far more likely to validate the changes they see in you than you are yourself.
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