10 THE FAITHFUL READER not strike this thing lying in the dust, forlorn, ruinous, utterly wretched. He himself, though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum’s twisted mind and body, enslaved to that Ring, unable to find peace or relief in life ever again. Sam realizes how pitiful Gollum truly is, and he spares the creature even though he would be justified in killing him. In the end, the decision proves to be vital since Gollum is the one who inadvertently destroys the Ring and completes the quest for them. Without Gollum, the Ring would have continued to exist. If Bilbo had killed him back in the Misty Mountains, or if Frodo or Sam had killed him along their quest, they would have inadvertently sealed the fate of the whole world. It is not difficult to look at this story and see the parallels to Christianity. Tolkien was heavily influenced by his faith, and however aesthetically unappealing a concept, it is an apt comparison to see ourselves as Gollum in our pitiful, twisted nature of sin. We do not deserve life, but rather death, and yet the Lord looked on us with mercy and spared us because he had the ability and power to do so. David tells us in the Psalms that “the LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8). Grace refers to freely-given goodwill, while mercy is a far more conscious decision; mercy is the act of withholding judgment that is deserved and that you have every right to deliver. Of the two, mercy is arguably the hardest to extend—it requires one to disregard justice, something we are very eager to demand as humans. All throughout the Gospels, we see people approaching Jesus and begging Him to “have mercy” on them. Paul tells us that “because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4-5). It is our responsibility then, to treat others with the same mercy we have been shown, whether or not it serves our sense of justice. When we see others and pity them, it allows us to empathize with them, and then encourages us to reconsider the judgment we want to enact. It is an incredible act of bravery in faith.
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