Recently, John bought the Lord of the Rings movies, the twelve hour extended version, and we have enjoyed watching it together with Andrew, little by little. It drew me back to the books, which I have been rereading. I’ve spent a lot of time during this reading thinking about how whereas the Chronicles of Narnia have one Christ-figure, Aslan, the Lord of the Rings has three; no one character fully embodies Christ . There is Frodo, the priest, Gandalf, the prophet, and Aragorn, the King. According to Peter Kreeft, in a lecture on LOR that he gave, Tolkien apparently confirmed this idea in a letter to a clergyman who asked him about it. All three of the offices of Christ are depicted beautifully in the story, but Aragorn the king is perhaps my favorite. Aragorn the king is the one who courageously and tirelessly fights seemingly endless battles to save the people of Middle-Earth, he defies death itself as he is the only one who can pass through the door to the paths of the dead, and he brings healing(“for the hands of the king are hands of healing”) and peace and order to Middle-Earth. One of the most poignant moments is when Aragorn enters Minas Tirith and is crowned king. The Shadow has finally passed. The Days of the King have come.
I think this character in the story moves me so deeply because I long for the real Day of the King to come. I long for the Day when Christ the King will once again bring final healing and restore peace and order to the New Heavens and Earth. The Shadow sometimes seems to hang so heavily on all the world and in my own heart too, but I know it is but a ” passing thing,” as Sam Gamgee once realized in what has to be one of the most beautiful paragraphs of LOR: “There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
The King of Kings has already come to His people, He has brought light and healing and hope, and He has passed through the door of death in triumph and victory. The Shadow has been pierced, and the rent that was torn can never be repaired. A Day will come, the King has promised, when the Shadow will be forever ripped asunder, never to return. And it is only those who have lived under the Shadow, yet who have fought against the darkness for the King, that will be able to enjoy and experience the light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.
So be glad! Rejoice! For the King has come and will come again! The Light of the World has pierced the Shadow, and it is but a passing thing.
John
Jess
