In the movie The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three films based on the classic Tolkien trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. There is a good wizard who provides a bit of wisdom that is helpful as we start our Lenten journey.
In the movie, the young hobbit Frodo Baggins finds himself in possession of a ring that once belonged to the Dark Lord. The magic ring, which contains all kinds of “cruelty, malice, and the will to dominate all life” gives its possessor indescribable power. The Dark Lord seeks the return of the powerful ring for his own evil plan to enslave the world. The Dark Lord kills and destroys everyone and everything in his path as he searches for the ring.
Frodo is now unexpectedly thrust into a struggle for the very survival of the world. Frodo’s friend, the good wizard Gandalf, explains that the ring must be destroyed in the fiery pits of the mountains of Mordor, where the ring was originally forged. And so, Frodo, Gandalf and their band of hobbits, dwarves, elves and human warriors begin the perilous journey to Mordor, relentlessly pursued by the Dark Lord and his followers.
At one point in their long journey, after yet another narrow escape, the discouraged Frodo laments to Gandalf, “I wish the ring had never come to me… I wish none of this had happened.”
The kind old wizard replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”[1]
Obviously, the movie is a work of fantasy, but it also speaks of the very real struggle of good versus evil that is a very real part of the human experience. The wisdom of Gandalf is very real as well.
Like the character of Frodo and his companions, like Jesus in his encounter with Satan in the desert, our lives are journeys that constantly call us to decide “what we are to do with the time we are given.”
In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo must fight the temptation to possess the ring of evil himself rather than destroy it in order that good might triumph in the world. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus must decide between the choices given him by the tempter – personal profit, comfort and fame – or the hard work to which God the Father has called him to take on.[2]
Likewise, life presents each of us with the same kind of choices. These choices can be very hard ones to make and, at times, they can be unrelenting. The choice always comes down to working hard to live the values that dwell deep in our hearts and souls or forsake those values and for things of far less worth and permanence.
The season of Lent calls us to embrace God’s spirit of truth so that we may make the choices that will lead us to the promised kingdom of heaven; that we may see through all the obstacles and illusions of this world and see clearly, the kingdom that God has prepared for us.+
[1] Tolkien, J.R.R., The Fellowship of the Ring, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, 1954.
[2] Cormier, Jay, Editor, Connections, MediaWorks, Londonderry, NH, February 2002, p. 3.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free