The Mandalorian Mask, Creed and Collective Identity

The TV show Mandalorian is about a masked hero. There have been many masked heroes - Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, they all take the masks off. But what is unique about Mandalorian, Din Djarin is that the mask never comes off, even when a pretty woman asks him to take his mask off. Why does he not take his mask off?

The Mandalorian worldview stated in a pithy line by Din Djarin, "Mandalorian is not a race, it is a creed." Race is a people groups one is born into. A creed on the other hand is a set of beliefs a group of people decide to follow. Every religion is a form of a creed. When Din Djarin is asked to leave his weapon he replies that is against his religion. 

Din Djarin was not born as a Mandalorian. He was orphaned at a young age, and then was adopted by a group called foulndlings who care for orphans and raise them up in the Mandalorian creed.

Wearing the mask is a key part of the Mandalorian creed because it show that they value the collective identity over the individual identity. These warriors are people who have taken the oath to share in the collective identity, this is why when when Din Djarin gets Beskar which is a highly priced metal, he gives that off to the foundlings. 

This kind of a hero who values collective identity over individual identity is rarely seen on screen. In fact, Entertainment Weekly said that The Avengers movies were able to make over 16 B because our culture likes to see narcissistic, billionare, playboy type super heroes like Tony Stark. Din Djarin is the opposite, he doesn't care about money, doesn't care about women, doesn't care about fame, all he cares about its the creed that he follows and the foundlings. 

This affiliation to his creed and commitment to his community is what makes the Mandalorian have a unique place in the history of heroes.

Looking at this from a Theological perspective... what do we see?

Just like the Mandalorian have a Creed, followers of Jesus too have a Creed - a set of beliefs which we follow. We call it the Apostle's creed. The Pastor Tim Keller was once asked by an Interviewer in from New York Times - different Christians at times believe in different things, for example... some say women shouldn't be in leadership other allow women in leadership. Tim Keller said the Apostel's creed is the boundary. As long as people believe in the Apostel's creed which affirms, Trinity, Divinity of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit in us to bring us to the Kingdom of God, then we are Christian.

Christian life is more like a Din Jarin kind of life, rather than a Tony Stark kind of life. Thomas a Kempis in his book the Imitation of Christ says, "Happy is the man who is in obedience." When we affirm the divinity of Christ in our creed, we are confessing that we are in obedience to God through Christ. Someone may ask, "why would one be happy to obey someone else? Don't we normally define happiness a the freedom to do what we want?"

Just like Din Djarin, was an orphan who was adopted into the family of the foundlings, we too are adopted into the family of God, we call it the Church. We have a collective identity as children of God. In John 14:34-35 Jesus says, "love one another as I have loved you, then others will know you are my disciples." Just like the Mandalorians value the collective identity over the individual identity, People who are in obedience to Christ value the collective identity of the family of God's people the Church. 

In the Mandalorian, Din Djarin does this well. When he makes money in his work as a bounty hunter, he does not keep it all for himself, he gives the majority of that to the foundlings to help other. Then when Din Djarin gets into a tight spot, he gets help from his fellow Mandalorians. 

As Christians, we too are called to love and help each other as Christ loved us. When we live in an individualistic society, this can seem rather hard to do. What we see in Mandalorian is an alignment to a creed, and then a commitment to the community. As Christians we too are called to be people who are aligned to the creed the Jesus is Lord, and committed to the community of children of God who live around us.