Act III

There is a website entitled “How It Should Have Ended” that takes movies that they feel didn’t come to their natural conclusion and rewrites the third act. My personal favorite is their take on Superman, but it is their reaction to Return of the King that I want talk about today.

They postulate that The Lord of the Rings Trilogy would have been better served, if during the first movie, Gandalf had called the Eagles to fly Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. As they fly off, Sam comments, “Imagine if we had to walk all that way.”

Obviously, Tolkien’s tales are about the journey more than the destination. However, Tolkien also knew the importance of the destination. In fact when Sam and Frodo finally reach their destination, the movie still has several more endings.

I absolutely love the fact that each character gets their ending. Whether it’s a returning to the woods, back to Shire to raise a family, or a boat trip to lands unknown each character is rewarded for their sacrifice. But more than that, each begins a new adventure. For when Frodo and Sam drop the ring into the Mount Doom, to coin a phrase, it is not the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning.

And so it is with us. The story of God continues throughout history. The story begins in the Garden and its second act starts with Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. And the story doesn't end with Christ on the cross or even with the empty tomb. It's ending does not come with Jesus eating fish on the shore, or at the day of Pentecost. It is not with John on Patmos or Paul in Rome. It continues on through the early church and to Constantine, to the Aztecs, to Feudal China, to Washing, Lincoln, to Martin Luther King Jr. It continues on to us.

The story of Christ, the story of redemption, the story of God's love for His Creation includes us. And not in "we are connected to the past by our stories" or in a "it makes me feel better to be a part of something better" kind of way.

Rather, the story of redemption includes us because it was always meant to. When Adam and Eve broke communion with God, He looked down from heaven and saw Abraham and Moses, He saw the death and resurrection of His son, and he saw us.

It is one story. We were always meant to be a part of God and His love.

--Serving Him alongside you,just from further away,
--Jesse Letourneau