Readings for the Day:
At The Liturgy of the Word
- Genesis 1:1-2:4a [The Story of Creation]
- Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21 [Israel's deliverance at the Red Sea]
- Ezekiel 36:24-28 [A new heart and a new spirit]
- Zephaniah 3:14-20 [The gathering of God's people]
At The Eucharist
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
This is an interactive manuscript. To follow links, click the highlighted words below.
One of the greatest fan-favorite characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth saga comes in the form of the Wizard Gandalf the Grey, and rightly so. He is the source of wisdom we see throughout Tolkien’s books. He brings together the main parties in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In fact, he is called upon to lead the Fellowship of the Ring. This is the group tasked to take the evil Sauron’s ring back to Mount Doom to end his reign of terror once and for all.
The Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings has to move stealthily and in secret, but that doesn’t mean they don’t face danger along the while. While in an underground labyrinth, they find themselves escaping from an army of orcs, monstrous creatures seeking to thwart their mission. To escape, Gandalf has to use a great deal of his power, depleting him to the point of exhaustion.
And then, right as they are about to escape, they come face-to-face with a balrog, a creature so powerful that Gandalf says it is beyond the rest of the Fellowship.
Gandalf tells his companions to run as he stands in the Balrog’s way on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. As the others try to join in the fight, Gandalf does the one thing he can to save them, he cracks the bridge and sends the Balrog down into the depths of darkness. Before it goes, it swings its whip around Gandalf’s legs, pulling him down too. His last words are out of concern for his companions as he tells them, “Fly, you fools!” Then he disappears into the darkness.
Whether your first experience of The Lord of the Rings was with the book or the films, this would have been a devastating moment, particularly if you are a fan of Gandalf.
Later, however, the group gets separated with Gimili the dwarf, Legolas the elf, and Aragon the human of the group trying to find their hobbit companions. They always seem to be just behind their hobbit friends.
Then they notice what appears to be an old man following them, and they start to get nervous and afraid. They fear this might be Saruman, one of Gandalf’s wizard counterparts who betrayed them and decided to try to seek the One Ring for his own nefarious purposes. They lie in wait to see who this person might be and be ready to attack if need be.
Yet the old man finds them and says he only wishes to talk. After a while, Aragon asks the man’s name, and he coyly responds that they are sure to have heard it before. The fear strikes them again, as they are so certain this is Saruman, even more so when he takes off his cloak to reveal his white garments, classically connected with this fallen wizard.
It is only when the man says their names and they gaze into his eyes that they know the truth. This is their old leader and friend, Gandalf returned, but not unchanged.
While he does not tell all, it is clear Gandalf fell to the greatest depths battling the evil of the Balrog. He defeated the beast in the end, but he too was spent, falling out of “thought and time” before he was resurrected, rescued, and healed.
Gandalf has now returned anew as Gandalf the White with greater power to fight against evil and to help his friends.
Gandalf’s return is a comfort to those of us reading or watching the story who missed him and were sad to see him go. It was a comfort to his friends too, in no small part because they feared he might be an enemy at first. In much the same way, Jesus provides comfort for us.
We’ve seen this theme of comfort from our Lord throughout the Triduum, these three days of remembrance and worship. Jesus leaves His Disciples with the commandment, or mandate from “Maundy”, to “love one another” as He gives them the promise of the Spirit, the Paraclete, the Advocate and Holy Comforter. Jesus provided comfort to us through that same Spirit as we mourned His Death the day after.
Today Jesus comforts us directly through His Resurrection. We no longer have to mourn Him as lost, as we once did with Gandalf. Now, as also with Gandalf, we can rejoice that our Lord has returned to us once again.
Jesus was also there as a comfort to His Disciples. Like the Fellowship, they were fearful and did not know what to make of this mysterious new and unexpected thing that had happened. Their fear is where we end our Gospel reading this year.
Interestingly enough, this is where many ancient manuscripts have the entire Gospel according to Mark ending. In other words, this is the original end of the Gospel. Yet that didn’t sit right with many. We didn’t want the Good News to end with fear. We needed to be comforted.
So a further ending was written and then a further one still. Here our Lord meets with His Disciples and Mary Magdalene. Here our Lord gives them the comfort that He is indeed risen.
Jesus’ Resurrection is new and different. It is unexpected because it is a thing that does not happen. One does not resurrect one’s self on one’s own. Yet Jesus did.
Even though this is unexpected and new, and maybe even a little scary, there is comfort in what Jesus has done. There is comfort because He has returned, and there is comfort because we now have the hope of the Resurrection for us.
If we are to call ourselves the Church of the Holy Comforter, we must provide the same comfort Jesus does. We must share the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must comfort others with the comfort He first gave us. In this way we can live into our name. In this way we can live into our Baptismal Vows. In this way we can show ourselves to be true followers of Christ Jesus.