Holy Week
Put Christ’s love to the trial, and put upon it our burdens, and then it will appear love indeed. Samuel Rutherford born around 1600 in the village of Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland. (See the ending paragraph for a brief overview of Rutherford’s life.)
There is this line in the Return of the King the fatherly warning is spoken by Elrond (an Elf-lord, the ruler of Rivendell) to his daughter Arwen. He says:
“Arwen… there is nothing for you here, only death.”
Christ loved them till the end. Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Jn. 13:1 There is a love that endures, all things. (Ps 136:23-26, 1 Cor 13:7) Choice is all we have, and Christ chose to surrender his body and blood.
In the book the exchange is more nuanced than the movie. Aragorn knows fully the weight of his commitment and the cost replies:
‘And Aragorn answered: “I know the peril, and I choose it. For the days that are given to me I will have what I desire, though it be at a great price.”
‘Then Elrond gave his blessing, but he said: “None may now take from you the gift of the Eldar, Arwen Undómiel; but the price is bitter. For you shall not be with your people when they depart into the West, nor shall you see the Undying Lands again. And when the days of your joy are ended, you shall die; and your body shall lie alone in the green grave until the world is changed, and all the days of your life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”
‘But Arwen said: “I have chosen, and I will have what I have chosen, though it be bitter.” J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King1
Christ has chosen. And during the last supper and “Farewell Discourse” Jn 13:8 he knowingly claims the ones who will scatter, fall asleep in prayer, and even betray him. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.” John 10:18 NET
We have a mandate to love in the most difficult way. Christ and the cross he willingly walks toward, to show us the love, glory, and goodness of Father. (Jn. 3:16) Today is Maundy Thursday of Holy Week. The soldiers will arrest Jesus and soon deride his kingly authority. (Matthew 27:27-31 NET)
We should glory in the cross the one who gives everything to us. We have a lamb, procured for us, given to us. Our EXODUS from bondage is secure. We take up the cup of salvation and give thanks we are more than conquers through Christ, the tide has turned the EASTERTIDE has come, YES and AMEN we have the victory! (1 Corinthians 15:53-55 NET)
Hebrews 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Samuel Rutherford is known widely for his profound suffering, marked by repeated deaths and trials. His first wife, Euphame Hamilton suffered a tormenting illness for thirteen months before dying in 1630; Rutherford himself fell seriously ill afterward and struggled to preach. The couple had at least two children who died in infancy or early childhood. He then remarried Jane McMath in 1640, together they had several more children (six or seven)—but all but one daughter, Agnes, died before him, with many dying in infancy or early childhood. These repeated blows left Rutherford no stranger to grief, yet he obtained the mercy of Christ to write compassionate letters offering Christ’s comfort to others facing loss. Rutherford describes his trials as opportunities to taste Christ’s sweetness amid bitterness. He also faced severe political and ecclesiastical persecution, including banishment to Aberdeen in 1636, and imprisonment but his family losses remained his most tragic of blows. Only Jane (who outlived him) and daughter Agnes survived him when he died on March 29, 1661.
- “Here Follows a Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen” from Appendix A (section I(v) of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King ↩︎
