The universe J.R.R. Tolkien created for The Lord of the Rings is amazing, full of mighty and majestic humans, elves, dwarves, and other creatures. Consider who is part of the Fellowship of the Ring:
- Gandolf, a powerful wizard.
- Aragorn, the king of the men
- Boromir, a fierce warrior
- Gimli, a brave dwarf
- Legolas, a skilled elf
And then there are the four hobbits: Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo.
Of these characters, who would you expect to be the hero—to be the one to fend off evil and save the noble creatures of the lands? Certainly someone from the first list, right? But while they all have a role to play, none of them are the true hero of Tolkien’s story. That would be one of the hobbits: Frodo Baggins. (Although, I might argue that Sam is the greatest hero of the story.)
Salvation came not through one we might expect—the strong and powerful—but rather through one that we might not expect—a small and timid one.
Tolkien, perhaps, did this for a reason. Many see The Lord of the Rings as a Christian allegory. A story of redemption and salvation that Tolkien intended to point people to a greater—the greatest—story of redemption and salvation in the gospel. While this is disputed, it is interesting to consider this primary theme that courses through both: salvation comes through the unexpected.
An Unexpected Birth
This week we turn our attention to a familiar story—the birth of Jesus. It might seem odd to study this passage outside of December, but it shouldn’t. It’s never a “bad” time to study any part of Scripture. But you might want to point out the “elephant in the corner” when you lead your group this week. Some of your kids may be thinking this.
Again, this passage will likely be familiar to most, if not all, of your kids. But be careful not to assume this—you may have kids who have never heard it, or they know it on a basic level and have never studied it.
As you lead this week, be sure to point out how unusual and unexpected it all was. A virgin giving birth. Good choosing Joseph and Mary, a rather poor ordinary couple, to be Jesus’ parents. A baby being born in a manger.
If we were writing this story, we would likely write it differently, wouldn’t we? Our Messiah would be born in a palace. He would be royalty. Or, we wouldn’t even start with a birth—any baby, every baby, is weak. We might introduce our hero as an adult—a strong man riding into the first scene of the story on a white stallion.
But God, the master storyteller, took a different approach for the true story He wrote. And it is so much better.
A Powerful Point
The splendor of the birth of Christ is in what we perceive as its lack of splendor. It is the very fact that the Messiah was born as a weak, helpless baby into an unknown family that makes this story so powerful. From the very beginning of the Messiah’s life, we see what God has been communicating throughout the Old Testament: He will provide salvation Himself. Humanity will not save themselves. Salvation comes only through the Lord.
Within that frail baby’s body was unimaginable power: the fullness of God. We know that Jesus was fully human, for He had to be to pay the sin penalty for people. But we also know that Jesus is fully God, for He cannot stop being who He is. So the God-man, or God-baby in this part of the story, came wrapped in humility (Philippians 2), so that He might lay down His life as the ultimate act of humility and be raised from the dead to defeat sin and death. Victory would come in such an unexpected way. That is what God is showing us here in the birth narrative. Cast aside your notions of how the story “should” go. God has a different—a better—story of a different—a better—hero.
The virgin birth is a reminder that our salvation, though it came through humanity, is totally of God.” — Millard J. Erickson
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2013), 690.
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