Here is the second part of the Lord of the Rings series. The sermon began with me reading Mark 10:17-22.
Today we continue our journey through Middle Earth and Mark Chapter 10. We just heard Jesus exposing the obstacles that the rich man held that would keep that man from joining Christ’s mission. Many times our obstacles are material things like possessions, but sometimes they’re more subtle things like distrust of others or suspicion that keep us from joining this mission we’ve been called to. Let’s look again at the Lord of the Rings movies, focusing today on the relationship between Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf. In the following clip, pay attention to the differences between them and the obstacles that would make them working together difficult. FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING COUNCIL OF ELROND – Elrond saying “the ring must be destroyed” until Merry says “well that counts you out, Pip.”
There are clearly a few differences between Gimli and Legolas. For one thing, we’ve got their appearance. Legolas is tall and thin, tactful and graceful, and, how can I say this, he’s Orlando Bloom. Gimli, on the other hand, is short and stocky, blunt and intentional. Legolas is thoughtful and considerate, while Gimli is impulsive. And then we also have that whole suspicion thing. Then there are those things that Gimli was yelling, that “I will be dead before I see the ring in the hands of an elf” and “never trust an elf,” which make it difficult to imagine that Gimli could work, serve, and fight side by side with an elf.
Gimli reacts this way because Dwarves just don’t trust elves. Dwarves lived underground, mining and searching for treasures, preferring the dark and enclosed to the bright and open. Elves had magic that the dwarves likened to witchcraft, believing that the elves were only pretending to use their magic to heal and were really plotting to gain more power for themselves. When you add to that a few historical incidents where elves and dwarves had worked together and the elves had come out better and you have a recipe for distrust.
So, is the lesson for today “just smile and trust and everything will be okay?” Not exactly. One of Gimli’s best traits is his honesty, his willingness to say what he believes and live with the consequences, yet even more important than that is his willingness to lay aside his suspicions for a common mission. For someone who is convinced that elves are out to destroy him, Gimli shows tremendous courage to still work beside and with an elf in a dangerous and important mission. Gimli had every opportunity to disengage and to work to fight evil in other ways, but he knows that this is the most important and significant mission he will ever be involved in, so he sets his prejudices aside for the sake of the mission, just as Jesus had asked the rich man to do.
The question that Gimli had to ask himself, and the question that we all have to ask ourselves, is whether what we’ve got already is more important than what we hope to get. The rich man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life was looking for something beyond what following the letter of the law had given him. This man had money, he was religiously upright, yet he still lacked something that he knew Jesus had. So he asked what he needed to do to have the kind of life Jesus lived.
And Jesus looked at him and loved him. Jesus could tell what was the most important thing in this man’s life, and that Reaching Up to God and Reaching Out to others was not the most important thing for this man. So Jesus directed the man to give up that most important thing in service to the gospel and to follow Him, and at that point the man would have treasure in heaven. The way for this man to change his priorities was to give his wealth, that which he saw as a blessing from God for his faithfulness, to those who were poor, who he likely believed were being cursed by God for their lack of faithfulness. Sadly, this was more than he could handle.
What is it that we hold most strongly to? Is it our possessions like the rich young man? Is it our prejudices like Gimli? Are we willing to give our money to the poor, to work side by side with our enemy, to put aside that which we have made most important so that we can embrace the gospel and the mission of reaching up to God and reaching out to others in love?
This is the second time in my life that I’ve preached on this text, and neither time I’ve wanted to focus on what Jesus literally says to do – sell everything you own, give it to the poor, and follow me. I’ve heard so many bad attempts to manipulate people into giving money to the church (or to the preacher) that I get really uncomfortable even thinking about preaching stewardship sermons, fearing that I’ll just be heard as another greedy televangelist. Yet that fear, that discomfort, and that doubt about how I’ll be received is the very thing that Jesus calls me to give up in service to the gospel.
Money is something that Jesus talks about extensively and repeatedly. “You cannot serve both God and money,” “sell all that you have and follow me,” and “it is harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” It’s almost as if, with all these references to money, God’s trying to tell me that I can’t avoid talking about how that’s one of the things that God wants us to offer in service to the mission.
Just like God calls me to give up my apprehensions about certain types of sermons and being a certain type of preacher, Gimli had to give up his suspicions and prejudices about elves and be willing to work together with Legolas in this most important mission. Are we willing to work with people we don’t get along with, people we’ve been taught to distrust, and people we think are in it for the wrong reasons? Or, like the rich man, will we hold on tighter to our prejudices and our possessions and refuse to express our unity with those who are different. Let’s see what Gimli and Legolas chose to do: Return of the King, disc 2, chapter 29 last 30 seconds
As Gimli and Legolas fight and serve together throughout these three movies, they develop the most unlikely of friendships. They stop seeing each other as elves and dwarves and start seeing each other as coworkers. Likewise, we’re challenged not to see ourselves as rich and poor, as thoughtful and impulsive, or as optimistic or pessimistic, but rather to see each person in this room as a unique part of the body of Christ and as someone made in the image of God.
What is it that you’re holding so tight to that you can’t look around and see your brothers and sisters here in this room? What is keeping you from saying “how about side by side with a friend?” Is it money? Is it prejudice? Is it fear of losing face and looking bad? Is it a grudge that you’ve been holding for years? Jesus is calling us here and now to lay those things down, to lay that down at the foot of the cross and proclaim to the world that our identity as Christians and following Jesus is more important than our identity as Americans, as rich people, as wise people, or as popular people. And then together let us follow Jesus, to reach up to God in love and to reach out toward others in love. Let us offer our knowledge, or like Legolas and Gimli offer our bow and our axe, to the service of the living God who brought us here and sends us now to show God’s love to the world. In the name of the father, and the son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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