🐮 Proper 11

Readings: Genesis 18:1-10a; Psalm 15; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42.

Christ, Tom Bombadil, and the Virtuous Mean

By Brother Logan Isaac, broadcasting from Albany, Oregon

This morning’s lectionary readings are from Genesis 18, Psalm 15, Colossians 1, and Luke 10. But I want to riff a little—circle around some ideas before bringing it all back to center—particularly with a detour through Tolkien and the curious character of Tom Bombadil.

Tom Bombadil as a Christ Figure

Bombadil is an odd but powerful figure in Tolkien’s legendarium. He’s clearly not the Christ—not Jesus or Joshua—but he is a Christ figure. Even the likes of Gandalf regard him with awe. Bombadil stands outside the struggle that defines much of The Lord of the Rings. He doesn’t fight in the war. He’s not afraid. He simply is—content, grounded, and free.

That freedom is not apathy. It’s virtue.

The Virtuous Mean and the Quiet Life

Coming at Tolkien through Aristotle’s virtue ethics, Bombadil embodies what Aristotle called the golden mean: the moral middle point between deficiency and excess. Take humility, for instance. Between arrogance (too little humility) and false modesty (too much humility), true humility accepts neither more nor less than is deserved. It is firm, grounded, and real.

Bombadil is that golden mean made flesh. He doesn’t seek praise. He doesn’t flee from danger—but neither does he chase it. He opens his door to strangers. He lives peace without denying the storm beyond his borders.

In that way, Bombadil is a vision of what it means to be truly human. And if you’ve chosen Christ as your metaphor for the human ideal, Bombadil can help illuminate that path.

Suffering, Justice, and Bearing Witness

Being human means accepting suffering. Not more than necessary—but not less, either. Suffering is part of life, and ignoring it isn’t strength—it’s delusion. When injustice happens, there’s a choice to be made.

Do we lash out? Do we turn the other cheek? Do we name what happened and call it wrong?

Sometimes we’re the ones hurt. Sometimes we’re the witnesses. But either way, we are called to bear witness to truth. That’s what the word martyr really means—martus, one who testifies.

And here is where Gandalf differs from Bombadil. Gandalf enters the storm. He confronts evil. He suffers and dies and returns changed. Gandalf represents another way to be Christ-like—an active, sacrificial engagement with injustice. Not better or worse than Bombadil—just different.

The Christ You Choose

Christians get to choose which vision of Christ they follow.

• Is Christ the still, steady presence of Bombadil—welcoming, peaceful, unmoved by the chaos?

• Or is Christ Gandalf—deliberately entering the fray, resisting evil, and laying down his life?

Maybe it’s both. Maybe it has to be.

The Gospel of John tells us that Christ always was—that he is the logic and glue of the universe, in whom “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). The eternal good has always been among us, even as its form changes across cultures and time.

Tolkien, a devout Catholic and philologist, knew this. His characters embody theological virtues: Gandalf as a sacrificial leader, Bombadil as the peaceful sage. Both are Christ figures. Both are human ideals. And both show us what it might mean to be good in the world.

The Final Question

So the real question isn’t whether Bombadil or Gandalf is more Christ-like.

The real question is:

Are you?