My son
’s birthday was at the beginning of the month. He invited his
friends over to watch “The Return of the King” – the third of the
“Lord of the Rings” trilogy. A friend of mine made the comment that
the trilogy was very dark.
My son’s birthday was at the beginning of the month. He invited his friends over to watch “The Return of the King” – the third of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. A friend of mine made the comment that the trilogy was very dark. I had to agree, yet thought, “We live in a dark world.” For all the darkness of the films though, there is something monumental about them – good and inspiring.
National Geographic actually did a documentary on this very subject. It can be viewed on the recently released “Return of the King” DVD. They compare historic events and figures with events and characters in “The Lord of the Rings”. Very interesting. The point being, this work of Tolkien and Peter Jackson is so compelling because it rings true and gives us admirable characters.
Last week you may have seen on TV the inscription on the Reagan Memorial. It reads, “I know that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there is purpose and worth to each and every life.” It sounds quite like something Sam spoke in “The Lord of the Rings.”
In order to understand such words though, one has to know the mindset of its author. Both Tolkien and Reagan held a Christian world view. They were men who would say they had had an encounter with the living God through His Son Jesus. That His Holy Spirit actually dwelt within them. And that the good in man comes from the One Good Man – Jesus “who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth,” through whom “all things came into being.” (John 1:3)
As another friend of mine said, “Good is in all, whether through the work of the Holy Spirit in one yielded to Christ, or by His very fingerprint in the one He made who does not yet know Him.” Yet we must not be caught decieving ourselves. The credit for the good in us belongs to God. Even Jesus credited the Father – “I can do nothing on My own initiative … whatever the Father does, these things the Son does.” (John 5: 30, 19)
This character of God, this “gentle and humble … heart” (Matthew 11:29) is always displayed in those who inspire us. Sam is the totally humble hero as he lifts Frodo onto his back to carry him up Mount Doom. Throughout the media in these recent days – in print and on TV – people have discribed the “unbelievable humility” (to quote the senior President Bush) of Ronald Reagan. If any man might have cause to boast, it might be a man who attained the position of the presidency of the United States; who might even be said to have had a hand in bringing down Soviet communism. But rather, as the Rev. Michael Wenning said of him, President Ronald Reagan “lived with, in, and on that amazing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit of the Holy Spirit was deeply embedded in his DNA, and it displayed itself even in Alzheimer’s.”
The vanity in crediting ourselves leads to conceit, prejudice, bigotry, hatred, even murder. In a culture it leads to caste, slavery and genocide. The world has seen its tyrants. It eventually garbs itself in hedonism. (Sound familiar?) Yes, we live in a dark world. Sometimes the darkness is plain to see in “ork-ish” people. Often this world’s Saurumans subliminally disperse it. It engages us – just as it engaged Middle Earth.
God has indeed ordained “purpose and worth in each and every life.” Certainly the “right” of the One Good Man “will eventually triumph.” Meanwhile, will we rise monumentally like the character of Sam? Will we have inspired as President Ronald Reagan did? Will we have been found good?
