Happy Monday, friends, and welcome to another fandoms-as-Gospel post! I, like many Star Wars fans, have really enjoyed the Mandalorian on Disney Plus, especially the dynamic between Grogu/Baby Yoda and Din Djarin. They are so stinking cute! And this mental image reminds me of a praticular verse in Deuteronomy that I’d like to explore further. Enjoy!
Fandom: The Mandalorian, relationship between Grogu/Baby Yoda and Din Djarin
Verses: Deuteronomy 1:30-31, Psalm 103:13, Isaiah 64:8, John 10:27-29, Luke 11:11-13
Truth: As our loving Father, God carries us through every season of life. He gives us good gifts, and asks us to follow and learn from Him always.
The fandom
Grogu/Baby Yoda is lost of people’s (including my) favorite part of The Mandalorian series. He is so small and cute and adorable but also goofy and mischievous! I also love how Mando slowly learns how to take care of and protect him and the bond they have is so wholesome and wonderful.
Btu I think the part that reminds me the most of the Bible and our relationship with God as His children is the image of Grogu following Mando around in his little box. The fact that he wants to go wherever Dad goes, and he’s perfectly content as long as he knows Dad is nearby. It’s just the sweetest thing to me 🥹
The verses
‘The LORD your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’
Deuteronomy 1:30-31
This verse is the first one that comes to mind when I think of the sweet dynamic between Grogu and Din Djarin in the Mandalorian series. It speaks to the fact that God always cares for and provides for us, just as He did for Israel in the wilderness. Even when we’re too stubborn or afraid to acknowledge and thank Him for it, He is always there for us.
“My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.
John 10:27-29
This verse speaks to the permanence of our salvation and God’s protective heart towards us. He says that no one can take us from His hand, and He’s given abundant proof that he is capable of protecting and sustaining us. Just ask the Israelites! Even when they were rebellious and God allowed them to suffer the consequences of their sins, He always came back and redeemed them. For us as believers, while our fellowship with God can be compromised by sin, our relationship can never be taken away. He will always be our Father, and we will always be His children.
“Now which one of you fathers will his son ask for a fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? Or he will even ask for an egg, [and his father] will give him a scorpion? So if you, [despite] being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Luke 11:11-13
This verse speaks to the fact that God is the only truly perfect Father. Earthly fathers are meant to be a picture of Him, giving good gifts to their children and seeking their welfare in all things, but will always sfall shor in one way or another. But our Father in heaven will never fall short. He will always give us what we need.
For more thoughts on our relationship with God as our Father, check out this post : )
My journal pages
Gospel connection
I believe that the Gospel message, or the steps of becoming a believer and receiving the gift of salvation, can be broken up into three parts:
- I am. Who is God? What is He like? Who are we, and why are we here? Is there more to life than just the time between our birth and our death?
- God is the Creator and Lord of everything that we know. He is light, He is absolutely perfect, and He is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is also love, and He created each and every one of us to live in relationship with Him. We, on the other hand, are hard-wired to resist that relationship. Because of the rebellion of the first humans, our nature is to resist God’s rule, and we are therefore separated from Him. This separation is called sin. Our sin causes us to feel a void or emptiness that we try to fill with other relationships or pursuits (like pleasure or success), but that can only truly be filled with the relationship with God that we were meant to have. For more thoughts on this, check out this post.
- With you. How can I “fix” my sin problem and find joy, peace, and a relationship with God?
- There is only one way to restore the relationship that we were always meant to have with the God who created us, and that is Jesus. As we already discussed above, Jesus, the Son of God, came as a human to rescue and restore us while we were weak, helpless to fix ourselves. He showed the love of God for us by subjecting Himself to all of the indignities and suffering of the Cross, and died a criminal’s death, even though He had done no wrong. Because of His perfect sacrifice, Jesus was able to end the eternal separation between us and God, and now gives us the choice to receive His gift of salvation and eternal life. For more thoughts, see this post.
- Always. God shows His faithfulness and steadfast love for His people (originally Israel, now including all who believe in Him) throughout Scripture. He will always be with us, and gives us reminders of His presence and His truth through Holy Spirit, who inhabits every believer. Through Him, we have eternal forgiveness of sin, access to His throne room through prayer, and the ability to grow into the people we were always meant to be, free from the power of sin. After we die, we have the promise of Heaven, where we will see our Lord face to face and never have to suffer or be separated from Him again. For more thoughts, see this post.
To me this aspect of the Mandalorian connects with the “with you” part of the gospel story. It shows God’s character and his faithfulness to care and provide for us, even when we don’t acknowledge or refuse to trust and obey Him. It also shows our complete dependence on Him for life itself, and our need to learn how to follow and learn from Him instead of relying on our own strength and understanding.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s fandom post! Do you watch The Mandalorian? What are your thoughts on season 3?
Happy fangirling!
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