The speeder driving, womp rat killing Luke Skywalker had not done anything to be ready to learn. He was undisciplined and unfocussed. He wasn’t brave enough to defy his Uncle and go to the Academy or loving enough to be patient knowing he would get there eventually.
Why would he be ready for the chance of a lifetime from an old man stuck in the desert?
Even if old Ben Kenobi was his ticket off that planet, a lifetime of habits should have made him unwilling to stay the course. What about his life made him fit to be a learner?
This is a Hollywood conceit, but a very dangerous one. It assumes that a person can decide to learn when he or she needs to do so. It is never too late
You can smoke three packs a day and then quit when it is time to run a 5k race.
This is not real. Habits matter and the student who has been lazy, refused to do his or her work, will find that when opportunity comes, he or she is unable to respond. Obi-Wan calls, but we are too busy chasing womp rats. Many of us (God help me!) are not physically fit when the moment of opportunity comes to us.
The Luke who eats like Porkins will not become a pilot in the real world.
The Luke who drives his speeder instead of reading a book will not have the vocabulary to talk to a Princess.
Everyone is looking for Obi-Wan, but we want him to appear when we need him and then be ready without effort. When Jesus started calling learners, Nathanael was one he called. Jesus said of him:
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
Nathanael met Jesus, but he was ready to learn: he was without guile. Just as Peter, Andrew, and John had become the sort of men who leave business to follow a good teacher, so Nathanael had become as good as he could. He was ready.
Don’t be confused. God will save us just as we are, but mentoring us will require growth over time. One reason not to mess up, to do the right thing, is that some chances come once and when we miss them are gone forever. John the Baptist says: “Behold the Lamb!” and we had better be ready to move.
We follow Jesus now or Jesus has moved to another place. Another chance may come, but this chance is gone.
The simple truth is that finding a mentor is easier than being ready to be mentored. We take for granted that we will be ready if only we can find Obi-Wan. God help us to be ready when we find the mentor we are looking for, to be the student he needs.
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