POWER!!!!!!! (You Can Trust Me With It)
The Wood Between the Worlds (by Brian Zahnd)
Chapter 10: One Ring to Rule Them All
Note: You’ll notice I didn’t write a post for Chapter 9: “How Jesus Understood His Death.” Zahnd points to what Jesus says in John 12:31-33 as the clearest in scripture about what he believed his death would accomplish.
Zahnd writes…
“Jesus says his crucifixion will accomplish three things:
It will judge the world
It will drive out the ruler of this world
It will draw all people to himself” (p. 86)
My post on day 3 (Chapter 3) dealt with what Jesus says in John 12, and I felt it would be a little redundant to write another post on it.
Now onto Chapter 10 - “One Ring to Rule Them All”
”Jesus Christ crucified is the everlasting indictment on those who forsake the way of the cross to reach for the ring of political power. The power we are promised by our Lord is the power of the Holy Spirit - the power to love, forgive, and heal. If we try to wield the Ring of Power (or Caesar’s sword), it will only corrupt us. This has been a recurring temptation ever since Constantine offered the church a seat at the table of political power.” (P. 97-98)
I suspect this chapter more than the previous ones will cause the most angst.
Zahnd wants us to understand that the cross of Christ stands in direct opposition to the love and lust for power.
We can point the finger at Christians in centuries past who wielded literal swords and fought holy wars in order to make new converts and say, “Shame on them!”
We can act as if power is something that only corrupts other people, in other places, and at other times, but we would just be lying to ourselves.
It is easy to convince ourselves that power is best used by us because we would use it wisely, but therein lies the problem, and the caution of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic tale that Zahnd draws upon in this chapter - “The Lord of the Rings”.
In the quest to destroy the Ring of Power before the Dark Lord, Sauron, could get ahold of it again, it is curious that it is entrusted to a Hobbit to safeguard it.
Nobody would have confused a Hobbit for a fierce warrior, able to protect something so sought after by powerful dark forces.
If you’ve read the books or seen the movies, you naturally wonder why Gandalf, who is a wizard doesn’t destroy the ring? Or why the battle hardened Dwarves or Elves aren’t tasked to make the journey?
There are times when Frodo wants others to take the ring and finish the journey so he can go back home to his Hobbit hole in the shire, but as Zahnd points out, Gandalf and the elven queen Galadriel refuse to take the ring because they know how corrupting power can be.
It is true that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Anonymous quote shared by Zahnd, p. 94)
There are very few times in the history of the world when power is used wisely and with humility.
It usually begins with pure motives, but the problem is that we can so easily convince ourselves that it is in the best interest of everyone that WE take up power so that it doesn’t get taken up by other, more nefarious people.
And it’s in the holding onto power that we can so easily go from hero to villain - without the self-awareness to ask, “Am I still using this power for good?”
Even Frodo, a humble hobbit who resisted taking the Ring of Power succumbs towards the end of the journey to the temptation to hold onto it when it was time to let it go.
Zahnd points out that the only one who was able to let go of the Ring of Power was Frodo’s right hand man and best friend, Samwise Gamgee.
Zahnd quotes from the book the reason why Samwise was able to resist the temptation to keep the Ring…
“In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped him most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” (P. 96)
Samwise was content with his little garden in the shire. He valued his friendship with Frodo and didn’t want anything to come between them.
Samwise is the anti-Saruman, the once good wizard who was corrupted by his quest for the Ring. In trying to convince Gandalf to ally with him, Saruman says..
“But we must have power to order all things as we will, for that good that only the Wise can see.” (P. 96)
Saruman believed that having power was the only way to do good. Samwise proved that doing good is the best kind of power, and the only power that will win in the end.
Zahnd doesn’t hold back in his critique of Evangelical Christians who have gone off the deep end politically, who have bought the lie that in order for Christianity to succeed in America we need to have a strong-man, a bully in the White House who will fight for the church.
The Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, Robert Jeffress, is quoted as saying, “I want the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-you-know-what I can find in that role, and I think that’s where many Evangelicals are.” (P. 99)
In response Zahnd writes, “When church leaders are longing for the meanest, toughest, S.O.B. To champion their cause, you know they have already been corrupted by the Ring of Power. The Ring of Power has an owner, and it can never be wielded freely.” (P. 99)
The church is growing the fastest in countries who don’t have a pro-Christian leader in office - in fact the church is most vibrant in places where Christianity is illegal, or at minimum, discouraged.
Meanwhile here in America where we still have unprecedented freedom to worship and live as a Christian - the church is stale and in decline, and it’s not because a Democrat is in office.
Jesus did say we would receive power - power to be his witnesses. The Greek word for witness is martyr. How does that sound? That’s not the kind of power that we want though!
Through the Holy Spirit we’ve been given the power to love, forgive, heal, and to endure all things.
We would do well to be like Samwise Gamgee, who, for love of our master hold firm and reject the lure of power.
There’s only One who deserves and can be trusted with power - only One.
The One who gave up all power and became obedient to death on a cross.
This One is our Lord, and example.
“All those who exalt themselves will be humble, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Mt. 23:12)
That’s a promise.
Amen!