September 25, 2005
The Gospel of the Rings
VISION OF A REDEEMED LIFE
There are three things that will endure: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love
I Cor. 13:13
The last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the LOTR’s, and asking the question; in what ways did Tolkien’s deep Christian piety shine through? It hasn’t been obvious, because on the surface of it, that no one in Middle Earth is particularly religious. There are no churches, no religion, no prayer, no priests or sacrifice. But Tolkien claimed to his dying day that all his writing was not only deeply spiritual for him, but reflected his Christian faith and piety.
One way to get at the question is to ask: how did Tolkien conceive of the life of virtue? On one hand, Tolkien seems to emphasize the great importance of virtue. He did so in the old classical tradition of the four cardinal virtues. The cardinal virtues of the Greco-Roman world were prudence, justice, courage and temperance. I could have preached on each of those virtues and illustrated just how Tolkien seems to celebrate these particular virtues.
But what makes Tolkien’s work particularly Christian is this: none of these virtues can be practices apart from an infusion of divine grace. This ties into the second theme of our series; The Calamity of Evil. We cannot say that evil is simply something out there, something those bad people do. Apart from divine grace, apart from the goodness that God affords us, each of us has the potential to do evil. We are all infected by the lusts of this world and the pride of life. So our discussion of virtue must be tempered by an understanding that, we are deeply in need of an infusion of divine grace.
We are all, in a way, like Thauron, the great king of Rohan, who has come under the spell of Sauroman. He is, possessed by darkness and cannot be set free apart from an infusion of grace. (Clip 1 – Two Towers 59:40 – 1:02:00 – Gandalf redeeming Thauron from an evil spell) The true road to redemption comes in recognizing our true spiritual impotence, our deep spiritual need, and confessing our need of redemption. Each of us has a deep seated pattern of behavior – self-defense. I’m really not that bad. I really can handle this on my own. Jesus said, “God blesses those who realize their need of him, for the kingdom of heaven is given to them” (Matthew 5:3). So this is where we start. Grace. Repentance. Poverty of spirit. The Kingdom of heaven as a gift, undeserved.
Perhaps one of the most famous verses in scripture is There are three things that will endure: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love I Cor. 13:13. Faith, hope and love are often called the theological virtues, because they are specifically God-related. The three spiritual virtues of faith, hope and love open your life up to God’s redeeming power. These spiritual virtues are the doorway through God’s divine grace and saving power, into a life where we can even begin to talk about living a life of secular virtue. Faith, Hope and Love are the gateway into the heart of God, whose divine presence give us the spiritual resources we need to deeply order our lives with prudence, justice, courage and temperance. Tolkien illustrates each of these beautifully.
FAITH; TRUST THAT FORMS FRIENDSHIPS
There is hardly anything about Christianity more well-known than that it demands faith for redemption. We, of all the world’s religions, say that all true redemption starts, not with human effort at self-denial, sacrifice, or confession. Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Your redemption begins when you say, “God, I put my whole trust in you. I believe what you say about me, that I need to be redeemed. I believe you are the redeemer. I stake my whole future on that belief.”
There is no sinner’s prayer that can make this a reality. Something has to happen deep inside us to force us out of our self-dependence – to deep trust in God’s mercy. You have to realize, somewhere deep inside, that you need this God desperately. If you don’t feel that, the gospel really doesn’t have much to say to you. And the cross makes more sense to you as you become aware of your need. The same was true of Frodo and the other Halflings, when they first encountered fugitive Aragorn who they knew as Strider. They didn’t know who he was, and simply had to trust him. (Clip 2 – Sam asks if they can trust Strider, and Frodo says they don’t have a choice – Fellowship – 56:10 – 57:40). Again, the spiritual struggle of the decision is clearer in the book.
“The lesson in caution has been well learned,“ said Strider with a grim smile. “But caution is one thing and wavering is another. You will never get to Rivendell now on your own, and to trust me is your only chance. You must make up your mind. I will answer some of your questions, if that will help you to do so. But why should you believe my story, if you do not trust me already?
Faith is always this way. Pascal taught us that God gives us enough knowledge to make faith rational, but not so much to make faith compelled. We’re on a trip that demands our complete trust in a Lord for whom we do not have complete knowledge. Yet, we’re never getting to Rivendell without his leadership and friendship. Faith is putting your complete confidence in God even when you still have unanswered questions. Have you put your complete faith in Christ as your Lord? All true friendship is based on faith, and faith in God no less but with greater consequences.
Often we find that kind of courage to believe flowing out of spiritual friendships. Tolkien was fascinated in the kinds of friendships that call forth from us the virtue of faith. Some kinds of friends draw you into a deeper Spiritual walk and others destroy it. He found that kind of friendship with CS Lewis, Charles Williams and the other Inklings. The most poignant image of the power of friendship comes when Samwise picks up Frodo to carry him up the mountain to the Cracks of Doom. [RK:”I can carry you!” – 2:34:05 – 2:36:10]
HOPE AND
THE GOOD MUST WIN!
Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.
The whole trilogy is in a sense about the rationality of hope. Is there any real reason to expect that good could possibly win? Every indication, every rational expectation from a human perspective, was that hope was meaningless. The most rational thing to do is simply give up and save your own skin. How can you fight an evil this pervasive, this powerful, this overwhelming.
There are many clips that could be used, but here’s one. But the film bases its rationality on hope in a belief in divine providence. There is a divine force at work in the world bringing all things to their intended end. Your life is also the story of the question of hope. You can look at things two ways. Either there is no fundamental purpose, no divine goal for all history, no deep meaning and value to our lives, or there is. Sometimes you have to simply choose to believe that God is there, he is good, and he will come through in the end.
You could say that the whole trilogy is a story of providence and the hope providence inspires. This comes through particularly with Gollum. Frodo wishes Gollem had been killed by Bilbo (in The Hobbit), but Gandalf has a wiser wish. We’re going to use two clips back to back here. First, in FR, Gandalf explains his hope in providence guiding the ring to Bilbo, the purpose for Bilbo’s mercy toward Gollum, and Gollum’s possible role. Then we’ll go to RK where Gollum, due to his own greed for the ring, destroys it and saves Middle Earth.
You simply must choose to have hope. God is truly as work in your life, in this world, in all its seemingly idiotic ins and outs. God has a plan and you have a part to play on this stage of world history. There are times you simply have to say, “This is the way I’m looking at it, and that settles it.” In this world, our choice to believe, to have hope that good will prevail, is a real choice with real options. As Gandalf says, that is an encouraging thought. We all need encouraging thoughts.
LOVE: LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE
The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends.
We’ve all heard stories of those who give their lives for others. It isn’t so uncommon. Firefighters rushed into the WTC knowing that they might well perish. I heard Rudy Guilliani saying that initial estimates of deaths were up to 15,000 people, and that the fact that fewer than 3,000 died is the direct result of the work of the firefighters. Nothing is more heroic than this; to give your life for others.
There is a great example of such heroism in Gandalf. (clip 4 – FR 2:07:25 – 2:09:10 - Gandalf dies holding back the Balrog to let others get away) Gandalf is the close to a Christ figure because he returns from death as Gandalf the White. This is the clearest allusion to Christianity in the film; the death and resurrection of Jesus. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. This is the fundamental Christian confession; Christ died to forgive me of my sins. He died for me, in my place. He held back the forces of evil that are out to destroy your soul. Jesus died in your place. Jesus died for you, to purchase for you a great good.