In reading Lord of the Rings, I frequently come across portions of the writing that speak volumes to our lives as followers of Jesus. I found another one recently from Samwise Gamgee. In this part of the story, Sam and Frodo are nearly to Mount Doom. They must journey across the fields where the orc armies camp to get to the volcanic mountain to destroy the ring. We find them at night, and Sam is the lookout:
"Frodo sighed and was asleep almost before the words were spoken. Sam struggled with his weariness, and he took Frodo's hand; and there he sat silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the west the night was still dim and pale. 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 forever beyond its reach. His song in the tower had been defiance rather than hope; for he then was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo's side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep."
Frodo and Sam were encapsulated by darkness. The enemies around them: evil. The land they journeyed across: dead, dark. The ring Frodo carried: the root of the evil's power. Everything around them, with them, behind them, and before them was evil. They managed to find sleep, and in that moment, Sam found a light that was untouchable for the darkness. This distant star could not be affected by the sorrow of this ring and the evil lord. Light would always prevail, even when sorrow had brief moments of its own.
Sam knew, when he saw this star, that "light and high beauty" was forever to be, which evil could not change. For our own lives, let us, if even for a moment, focus on the light and high beauty that is to come and remain forever. I know this doesn't do much to help current suffering; the sorrow and agony we feel here remains. But let's try to look at it differently: With the hope of the future totally inaugurated Kingdom of God.
That Kingdom cannot be touched by the evils we know here and now. Yet, do not forget, that this kingdom also is here and now. It is not only a future reality, but rather it is in the process of being realized and fully accomplished, and is transforming our world right now. Much like Sam and Frodo were fighting and going forward to destroy the ring.
Even though this Kingdom will be fully complete when Jesus returns, it is still now active and real, changing our world as we know it. This Kingdom of God cannot be shaken, cannot be moved, cannot be defeated. Our King Jesus resurrected from the dead and unlocked our access and citizenship to his light and high beauty that shall be both forever and beyond the reach of darkness.
Sam saw it in a star far off above a mountain while surrounded by sorrow and darkness. We can surely see our King Jesus everywhere that we are. Seek to make his presence known to all. Seek to help all to see the light and high beauty of this Kingdom of God.
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