"In a hole in the ground there lived a
Hobbit." With these famous words JRR Tolkien began The Hobbit, a
story about Dwarves and Elves and Men and . . . Hobbits. This particular
Hobbit, however, would soon turn out to be the hero of the story—Bilbo Baggins.
Bilbo lived in a hole in the ground. He lived simply, if a bit richly for a
Hobbit, and never thought anything of adventures or journeys until Gandalf
arrived at his door. Bilbo’s home was in an obscure part of Middle Earth called
the Shire, untouched by what modern man calls "progress." Aragorn
also lived in an obscure place; in fact, he really didn't live anywhere for
quite some time. He was always on the move, appearing once and then vanishing
into the wilderness again. The life of a Ranger kept him from
"civilized" folk, and he was belittled because of it. Frodo, too,
lived underground with his uncle Bilbo before his own adventure began.
All of these characters came to receive great amounts of prestige, wealth, or
power. Aragorn became king of Gondor. Bilbo, although he refused his full
share, inherited a vast amount of wealth from the hoard of Smaug. And Frodo,
although he gained no riches or power, became a hero of Middle Earth when he
completed his mission and destroyed the One Ring. However, these characters
share another trait—they all came from obscure, rural backgrounds where, had
they stayed at home, no one would ever had acknowledged their existence, much
less written a book about them. Yet JRR Tolkien did. His records of these
characters, however, were but shadows of the one True record—the record of
Jesus Christ, who rose from obscurity to unlimited power. Christ was born in a
muddy stable in a tiny town in an obscure part of the known world. Not even the
people living in the town of his birth knew of his existence. As a child he was
taken from his home to hide in Egypt, which was so great a world power and
contained so many citizens that, again, no one knew of Christ's existence. Yet
that did not stop God, the ultimate storyteller, from writing Christ's story as
Tolkien wrote Bilbo's. Christ gathered a group of disciples, a kind of
"fellowship," and began to teach God's truth: the truth that He WAS
God. Christ was eventually betrayed by his enemies, handed over to the most
powerful and ruthless empire on earth, and executed as a criminal. If no one
knew of his existence before, they certainly did now. Not only did Christ
return from the dead for three days, but when He rose to Heaven he also gained
His rightful place on the throne of God. His enemies' attempts to eliminate him
only made him better known.
While Bilbo, Aragorn and Frodo may not have ended up getting crucified, they
certainly followed a pattern that has been going on for centuries. Rising from
"a nobody" without any wealth or power or fame, they "came into
their own," so to speak, and achieved the glory their creator had set out
for them. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I [God] have plans to prosper you and
not to harm you; plans to give you a hope and a future." Like Tolkien had
plans for his characters, God has plans for us. While we may live in seemingly
obscure circumstances now, one day we will see the face of God.
Print
E-mail
