A Coronation, a Crucifixion, and a Good King
The music swells with a familiar motif, as the camera swoops towards the white city. The stone glows and the crowds smile and cheer. The atmosphere is hopeful and serious at the same time, solemn would be a good way to describe it. Elven soldiers line the way of the open air procession, and the silver and gold gleam, as the crown is finally placed on the head of the king. Old friends are there – healed and whole after many battles fought together – everyone has come to honour the new king, and white petals fall from a tree that was as good as dead.
Aragorn son of Arathorn is finally crowned, he has come a long way from his days rescuing hobbits as a ranger and hiding his true identity behind the name of Strider. And yet the newly crowned king bows humbly before his halfling friends.
Viggo Mortenson as the recently cowned Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Good King
Aragorn’s Coronation is the highpoint of the story, across three books and 9 hours of film everything has built to this point: when the long awaited king finally returns. Set free from the shadow of Sauron and the threat of Orcs and Uruk-Hai, and having defeated the leaders like Saruman, Denethor and Aragorn’s own ancestor Isildur who were corrupted by the power they held, at last Middle Earth can breathe a sigh of relief; the world of men finally has a good king.
A king who didn’t seek recognition or glory for himself.
A king who heals and serves.
A king who was willing to die even to protect the lowliest of his friends.
A king who is humble and puts others first.
A king who makes everything right again.
But it’s no secret that all those good, kingly characteristics of Aragorn are based on another king with a very different coronation.
The Coronation at the Crucifixion
That other king would be crowned in the open air, but under supernaturally dark skies. His friends didn’t beam with joy, but ran away to save themselves or cried at his side. The soldiers didn’t defend this king but beat him, stripped him, spat on him, nailed him to the cross and stabbed his side to confirm his death. The crown he wore wasn’t made from silver and gold but from a twisted ring of thorns. And at this king’s coronation he would bow his head and humbly give up his life so that many others could be saved.
The coronation of Jesus Christ on the cross at Golgotha seems to be a day of horror and desperate sadness. Surely the death of the king means defeat and not victory. But what looks like a disaster, is actually a demonstration of what it means to be a good king. Jesus represents his imperfect people on the cross, taking the punishment that we deserve so that we can be set free. What looks like the low point in the Bible, as God’s son is cruelly executed, is what everything has been pointing to; the time when the king defeats sin and evil and starts to build a new kingdom where God’s love reigns and the last become the first.
The Invitation
On the cross Jesus invites everyone to believe in him; the lowly shepherd and the wise astrologer, the fisherman and the pharisee, the thief and the centurion, the mother, the prostitute and the serving girl - everyone is welcome to pledge their allegiance to him at the cross. He invites us to be his subjects not from a place of finery and honour but one of absolute humility and service. He invites us to work with him in building God’s kingdom as his friends, brothers and sisters. But perhaps movie Aragorn has the best summary of what I want to say:
“This day does not belong to one man, but to all. Let us together rebuild this world that we may share in the days of peace.”
~ By Hannah Lewis