Gandalf must stay. He must continue working within the constraints of mortality, nudging and advising, forever denied the efficiency of simply imposing solutions. And this is the tragedy: the wise must always work slowly while the corrupt can move with terrible speed. (Genny Harrison) [1]
A Christmas reflection on Tolkien probably dates me as much as one from C.S. Lewis would have dated a pastor from an older generation. But something about Ms. Harrison’s words rang true.
Gandalf and the Problem of Power
As a young reader, I often wondered why Gandalf wielded his enormous power only on two occasions — and on both, only in a defensive posture. [2] Why did one of the Maiar, primordial and mighty among the servants of the Creator, [3] not wipe out tens of thousands of Orcs by merely raising his staff?
Harrison argues (and her point appears in the quote here) that the Ring of Power tempts its would-be wearers with expediency. It offers the chance to use power against power, to fight the Evil One [4] with his own greatest weapon. It suggests that the user might avoid a risky, uncertain and painful path with the application of direct, efficient force. [5]
Such a choice, says Harrison, would make the new wearer an equal opponent to the Evil One. But it would also make the wearer a new Evil One. “The Ring offers [Gandalf] the power to accomplish everything he has struggled toward across centuries of patient work. He could save Middle-earth in a matter of years rather than ages. All it would cost is everyone’s freedom… This is the cruelest trap: that goodness itself becomes the mechanism of corruption.”
If Harrison has read Tolkien right, then this solves my childhood puzzle. Gandalf rarely wields his power because doing so would threaten his core existence — that of a servant. He comes to Middle-earth to guide and advise its peoples, not to rule them. Not to create a utopia by force of will.
You may suspect, given that it is almost Christmas, where this is going.
The Way of God in the World
Harrison’s essay helped resolve for me the classic problem of theodicy: If God is all good and all powerful, how can there be evil in the world? Couldn’t — shouldn’t — God just eliminate evil by divine fiat?
But perhaps God, in God’s all-potentiality, chooses not to be all-powerful, at least when it comes to dealing with the world. And perhaps God does not choose this path arbitrarily, as though flipping a coin (“Heads I’m an omnipotent overlord, tails I’m a suffering servant”), but bakes it into the nature of creation and even of the Divine Being.
And perhaps God does so because any other way would not be the way of Love.
If that is so, then God would be no more likely to fix the world’s problems in one fell swoop than Gandalf is to rescue Middle-earth by assuming the Ring’s power. [6] What if God’s solution to the terrible dissonance clanging around us is not to “move with terrible speed,” but to “work slowly,” bringing about a resolution that we cannot yet hear but will one day recognize as music of astonishing beauty? [7]
And what if this is the sign of Christmas: that the supreme ruler of the universe became God-With-Us, helpless and mortal, patient with human frailty, coming not to be served but to serve and by so doing rescuing the world from itself? [8]
God’s Way as Our Way
And perhaps this is to be my way too in response to the world’s woes. [9]
For just as I thought Gandalf should swing his stick and crush the forces of Sauron, so I imagine great power overwhelming all kinds of evil. If none could stand against me, I would end wars, trample oppressors, punish exploitation, avenge greed, go all-Batman on the bad guys — all by immediate force. And I would probably leave the world worse than I found it.
But the God of mercy has chosen not to give me such power. And over time, with enough reminders, I’ve seen that Christ’s way is for me too — to work patiently and slowly but also tirelessly and doggedly, not forcing but nudging and advising, in hopes that peoples’ hearts will respond to the Holy Spirit working through me and that a better world will emerge.
Pray that I do not lose hope and take matters into my own hands.
And in honor of the One who gave up more power than we can fathom to do something that could only be done without power — Merry Christmas to you all.
Somewhere along the Way —
Forrest
[1] If the link isn’t broken, you can find the whole article here. You can probably also find it on Substack if you subscribe.
[2] First, before the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm; second, before the Witch-King at the gates to Minas Tirith. (Perhaps you remember more.)
[3] Eru Ilúvatar, for those of you who are keeping track.
[4] Sauron.
[5] Sounds a lot like Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness, doesn’t it? Keep reading…
[6] Gandalf is not the Deity in the Tolkien universe, no. But the choice for self-limitation may be similar.
[7] The great Advent verse II Peter 3:9 comes to mind. So does the Gospel line, “He may not come when you want him, but He’ll be there right on time…He’s an on-time God, yes He is…”
[8] Mark 10:45 should sound familiar here.
[9] By now you’re probably thinking that I don’t really mean it when I say “perhaps.” Perhaps you’re right.
[10] Photo used under the terms of the Creative Commons License, NonCommercial 4.0 International. Click here for link to photo.
