In The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (and later in his The Lord of the Rings trilogy), the central characters are hairy-footed little Hobbits from a pleasant backwater of Middle Earth called The Shire. Outside of the adventures recounted by Tolkien, these little beings live generally low-key, unsophisticated lives; taking joy from eating and drinking and other homely activities.
They live the kinds of lives where Second Breakfast may well be the high point of the day.
And yet, Tolkien chose Hobbits to bear the corrupting "Ring of Power" to its intended unmaking in the volcanic fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. Much debate has occurred, both in and outside of the novels, about why the Hobbits were entrusted with such a crucial task.
It reminds me of the reaction of the crowd at Pentecost to those chosen by Jesus as the bearers of his Good News ["Utterly amazed, they asked: 'Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?'" (Acts 2:7 NIV)]. I know the Bible is not a movie script, but I think the translators may have really "under sold" the crowd's reaction. Shouldn't there be an exclamation point in there somewhere??!!
Umm, Galileans? Really?
That pretty much sums up the general response of ... well, just about all of those who encounter this band of Jesus-followers. Everyone considers them unsophisticated and ill-suited to the tasks they have been assigned. Nathan was not the first (nor the last!) to ask, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46 NCV) And yet, these rough people are the ones Jesus chose.
In TLOTR, Gandalf indicates he chose the Hobbits to take the ring to its doom because they COULD bear it . . . as opposed to every other candidate who would likely succumb to the corruption that comes from possessing such great power.
I don't think we know why Jesus chose the Galileans. But maybe it was for a similar reason. None of the seemingly obvious choices, as it turned out, were really appropriate.
Sometimes, the very person you need is the one the powerful and sophisticated would walk right by without a first glance.
###############################
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Day of Pentecost (May 19, 2013)
Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21
John 14:8-17, (25-27)
Join us at Lectionary Breakfast this Friday morning? As usual of late, we'll gather at 8:00 a.m. at The Egg and I for some good food and great discussion.
No sophistication required ;-)
Enjoy the week!
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment