Our Protagonist

My oldest son is a JRR Tolkien aficionado.
He has all of Tolkien’s books on his shelves here at home.
One day, they will go with him to his own home rather than his current apartment.
Parents tend to hold things for their adult children since they tend to have more room.

He has well worn copies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.
He has The Silmarillion and the volumes on The History of Middle Earth.
I remember when he voraciously read these books in middle school.
He would often tell me the tale as he was reading it.

Not being a fan of that genre, I relied on his telling and appreciated his understanding.
I was intrigued at Tolkien’s ability to create an entire world.
Tolkien created detailed maps of Middle Earth and its surrounding regions.
He told the tales in terms of the First, Second, and Third Ages.

I remember asking my son if he thought Tolkien lived in Middle Earth inside his head.
My son said, He would have to, Mom, because of all the detail.
Tolkien and fellow writer, C.S. Lewis, met with other writers as a sort of literary society.
Calling themselves The Inklings, they met at a local pub and discussed their current work.

Enjoying C.S. Lewis’s writing, I could only imagine their incredible discussions.
Oh to be a fly on the wall, I would think as I envisioned their lively conversation.
As a gift for my son, I found a figure of Frodo Baggins, the main character of Tolkien’s tale.
He, with his large Hobbit feet and sword in hand, stood valiantly ready to fight.

At the base of the figure is a gold ring.
The ring, which is the symbol of evil and power in Tolkien’s tale.
The ring that corrupts the person who was in possession of it at the time.
The ring that tempts even the strongest protagonist.

As I was dusting the bookshelf, I moved the figure.
The sword fell out of Frodo’s hand when I tried to put it back in its place.
I picked it up and thought of the many battles my son described.
I thought of the many battles that were depicted in the movie adaptation.

I thought of the many battles.
Yet the sword was useless.
The ring was a mere toy, having no powers whatsoever.
The figure of Frodo was simply the toy company’s version of Tolkien’s description.

We have figures depicting the characters from The Chronicles of Narnia as well.
Peter, Susan, Edward, and Lucy as well as the White Witch and Aslan are part of the set.
Many afternoons were spent retelling the story of the Wardrobe and world of Narnia.
The books came alive in my children’s imagination and through their play.

But play is all it is.
No matter how realistic the toy companies make the figures, they are not real.
The battles are fought behind sofas and under tables.
Swords fall out of character’s hands and hurt no one.

Yet children continue to play and imagine.
Children act out real-life situations through their play.
Play is a child’s work.
Play is where the unsafe world is manageable for a while.

There are real battles to be fought every day.
We fight a battle of good and evil.
We do not fight behind sofas or under tables.
The battle we fight is real; it is a battle for our soul.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Ordinary weapons are useless against the enemy of our soul.
They are no more effective than the pretend sword in Frodo’s hand.
We cannot destroy this enemy on our own.
Like the Ring, the enemy corrupts, tempts, and is the totality of evil.

We have One that defeated the evil enemy in an epic battle on the cross.
A battle where the last enemy, death, was destroyed because of the Resurrection.
A battle that looked as if our Protagonist had lost.
A battle that looked as if the enemy defeated our Protagonist.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain standing in the center of the throne…(Revelation 5:2-6)

The Lion who was a Lamb.
The Lamb that was slain.
That battle was fought and won by the slain Lamb who was worthy.
Our Lord Jesus is victorious.

His Sword is real.
His Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.
His Sword comes out of His mouth and with it He will strike down the nations.
The real battle has been won; we know the Victor.

A real enemy.
A real battle.
A real Sword.
A real Victor.

A battle fought and won.
A battle won so that we who believe in Him are victorious.
A battle won by our Protagonist, the Lord Jesus.
Our Lion, our slain Lamb, our Savior.