A while back a friend of ours said that their pastor told the congregation that "He didn't see anything Christian in Lord of the Rings" and didn't encourage anyone to see it. As the Monty Python lads would say "Yes, well, that's the sort of blinkered, philistine pig-ignorance I've come to expect.." I'll try to spell it out for you slowly and maybe you'll get it.

There is no one figure of Christ in Lord of the Rings (LOTR) as there is in Lewis' Narnia tales. In LOTR there are, in fact, three Christ figures. These figures represent three of the offices of the Christ: prophet, priest and king.

The prophet figure is Gandalf. He roams among men, encouraging, exhorting and counceling them. The apex of his story line is where he battles a major force of darkness and returns from the dead as the untimate authority of his order.

The priest figure is Frodo. The priest has to make sacrifice to expurge sin and evil. It's Frodo's task to bear the ring of evil up the mountain of darkness to its destruction. He stumbles along the way and has to be helped out. He accomplishes his task at great personal cost: he is wounded and his wounds will never heal.

The king is of course Aragorn. He has to win his kingdom through battle in order to secure his bride. But he and his bride are separated: one is mortal, the other immortal. The immortal must relinquish immortality and be doomed to death in order for the wedding to take place. Aragorn must take up his rightful place as king, the office he was born to hold. This was prophecied from days of old. But he's not just a warrior because it's said "the hands of the king are hands of a healer."

Ok people, does ANY of this sound familiar?!?!