|
"For
momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal
weight of glory far beyond all comparison."
II
Corinthians 4:17
Insights:
The Great Unveiling
The Quest is over; the end of
the Road has come. What began in The Fellowship of
the Ring now comes to its dramatic conclusion in The
Return of the King. The Fellowship, which set out
to help Frodo bear his burden and destroy the ring of power,
completes its task. Middle Earth is saved, not so much
by Frodo, but rather by the sacrifices of those who are
called along side to help him. As each one lays down
his life for Frodo and the Fellowship, a wondrous thing
occurs -- their hidden glory is revealed. Who they were at
the beginning is not who they are at the end. So,
The Return of the King is really the great revelation -
the great unveiling.
Glory
Unveiled
Samwise Gamgee - The
bumbling half-wit1,
Gardner is really the hero of the story. The
suffering servant carries Frodo in one way or another
all the way to Mt. Doom. His glory is unveiled at
the end; for he who was the very least has become the
greatest (Luke
9:48).
Aragorn - The lonely figure,
Strider, filled with doubts and fears throws aside the
Ranger to become who he was born to be - the King of
Gondor. Willing to sacrifice himself in order to
give Frodo a chance, Aragorn raises the army of the dead
and opens the gates of Mordor (Revelation
1:17-18).
Gandalf - The unveiling that
began in The Two Towers continues in The
Return of the King. No longer Gandalf the
Grey, he is resurrected as Gandalf the White. A
fiery prophet, he defends the White City in stark
contrast to Denethor, the dark Steward of Gondor.
Merry and Pippin - The
childlike and fun-loving Hobbits are revealed to be
valiant warriors at heart. Pippin lights the
beacon and rescues Faramir, while Merry helps Eowyn
defeat the Lord of the Nazgul.
Legolas and Gimli - Deadly
enemies at the outset, Legolas and Gimli become friends
in the truest sense of the word (John
15:13). Their glory is revealed as they prove
to be the most loyal followers of Aragorn and
sacrificial members of the Fellowship.
Arwen2
- After seeing her son in a vision, Arwen lays down her
immortal life for a mortal one. Without her
sacrifice, the re-forging of the sword might never have
taken place.
Eowyn - Disguised as the
maiden who is always left behind, Eowyn is unveiled for
whom she truly is - a Warrior Princess. She does
what no man can do and defeats the Lord of the Nazgul.
Faramir - By releasing Sam
and Frodo with the ring3,
Faramir comes under the wrath of his father.
Rejected and sacrificed by Denethor, Faramir is revealed
to be the true, faithful son with an incorruptible
heart.
Theodan - In The Two
Towers, Theodan is delivered from the power of evil.
His transformation continues in The Return of the
King as he goes from fearful monarch to glorious
king. In laying down his life for Gondor, one sees
the epitome of a Christian King.
Corruption
Revealed
Gollum - The Return of
the King begins with scenes that take place
chronologically before The Hobbit4.
The finding of the ring of power and the murder of
Deagol are inserted for one purpose only - to vividly
portray the corruption of Smeagol and his transformation
into the hideous creature, Gollum. There is no
"saving" of Gollum, no matter how sympathetic Frodo
becomes toward him. His end in the fires of Mt.
Doom is simply the end result of a soul already
corrupted by the power of sin (Romans
6:23).
Frodo - Frodo is not
necessarily the hero of the story. In the end, the
ring-bearer is corrupted by the power of the ring.
Unlike Gollum, Frodo does not end up in the fires of Mt.
Doom. He is saved by the love and sacrifice of Sam
and The Fellowship. Frodo is a picture of fallen
mankind somehow carrying a burden that they were never
meant to carry - the burden of sin (Romans
5:12). Sam the Suffering Servant and Aragorn
the Divine Warrior King5,
along with the other members of The Fellowship6,
symbolize some aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
alone can redeem man from the corruption of sin and the
lake of fire (Revelation
1:17-18).
The Weight
of Glory
"The load or weight or
burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid daily on my
back; a load so heavy that only humility can carry it,
and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a
serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most
uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a
creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly
tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption
such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other
to one or other of these destinations. It is in
light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with
awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should
conduct all our dealings with one another, all
friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There
are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a
mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization
- these are mortal and their life is to ours as the life
of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with,
work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors
or everlasting splendors.......Next to the Blessed
Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object
presented to your senses. If he is your Christian
neighbor, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him
also Christ vere latitat - the glorifier and the
glorified Glory Himself, is truly hidden." C.S. Lewis7
Notes:
1.
Samwise is a translation into Old
English of his name in Hobbitish and means "Half-wit".
Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings by Coli Duriez.
2. Note Arwen's strong resemblance
to the Virgin Mary in these scenes. The sword is a
metaphor for Christ (Hebrews
4:12,
Revelation 19:15).
3. This occurs in The Two Towers.
4. The Hobbit is the
children's book that preceded The Lord of the Rings.
5.
Suffering Servant and Divine Warrior King are portraits
of Jesus Christ in His First and Second Coming respectively
(Isaiah
53 and
Revelation 19:11-16).
6. See Movieglimpse Notes on
The Fellowship of the Ring.
7. From The Weight of Glory 1941.
CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien maintained a
long and intimate friendship . It was Tolkien who helped
turn the agnostic Lewis back to his Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, and it was Lewis who encourage Tolkien to complete
The Lord of the Rings after twelve years of writing.
|
