"What are we holding onto, Sam?"
"That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."
These lines come from one of my favorite movies, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
In this film, a great darkness has overcome the world of men and it is up to two halflings Frodo and Sam to destroy the one thing that gives the evil its ultimate power: the ring.
The ring is such a heavy burden to carry, because it does not want to be destroyed. It is fighting for survival and killing those who are trying to destroy it.
At one point, evil is staring at Frodo and is calling everything in his being to give up the ring, to surrender to darkness. As Frodo is breaking down, his friend Sam grabs a hold of him and tears him away from this evil being.
Frodo, in anger and sorrow looks at Sam and asks him what the heck they are holding onto.
Sam, in a moment of genius says "That there's some good in the world, and it's worth fighting for."
There's some good.... it's worth fighting for.
Today is good Friday.
The day that Christ was crucified.
The day the Messiah suffered the shameful death of a criminal.
This is a day that us Christ followers take the time to remember how Jesus took the sin of the world and crucified it, along with himself, to liberate us from death itself.
He died to end death, he cried to end tears and he suffered to end suffering.
On this day, we ask ourselves, what are we holding onto?
The answer, according to Mr. Samwise Gamgee, is beautiful...
There's some good in the world, and it's worth fighting for.
Because of Christ's redemptive death, evil no longer has control.
Unfortunately though, there is this "already- not yet" tension that is our world today.
Christ has already come, but the world has not yet become the Kingdom of God. Heaven is not yet on earth, but through God's only son Jesus salvation has begun.
What in the world are we fighting for? We're fighting because there's good, and it is worth everything.
I love how David Crowder put this, "Emmanuel. God with us. Who suffered and suffers with us. This is what makes such a terrible Friday good."
This is what makes our fight for goodness possible.
This good Friday launched the fight. A fight worth holding on for. A fight worth dying for.
A fight with Easter on the horizon.
