Power of a Willing Sacrifice
There are few ideas more deeply associated with Christianity than the idea of a person who is willing to lay down their life and who does so without a fight. “Star Wars” has multiple moments like this. The first, and one of the most memorable, is when Obi-Wan Kenobi willingly sacrifices his life to Darth Vader in order to give Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia time to escape. Rather than continuing to fight Darth Vader, Obi-Wan holds up his lightsaber in surrender, but not before warning Darth Vader, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Darth Vader, of course, ignores the warning and kills Obi-Wan. This, however, is not the end for Obi-Wan. His sacrifice allowed Luke and his friends to escape, but it also allowed Obi-Wan to become one with the Force and continue guiding Luke until Luke reached Yoda who could truly train Luke.
In the sequel trilogy, Luke Skywalker follows in his mentor’s footsteps. He gives every appearance of fighting his own fallen apprentice, Kylo Ren, and seemingly allows Kylo to kill him. This, however, is revealed to be an illusion. Luke projected his appearance across the galaxy, knowing it would likely kill him, in order to give the last members of the Resistance who fight the evil First Order a chance to escape.