The Gospel According to The Lord of the Rings: Week 29, The Temptation of Galadriel

During their sojourn in Lothlórien, Galadriel brings both Sam and Frodo to look into her mirror. After looking and comprehending the power of Sauron seeking him and standing against him, Frodo despairs and offers the Ring to Galadriel. This becomes Galadriel's great moment of temptation. She declares to Sam and Frodo:

"You will give me the Ring freely! In the place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen! ... All shall love me and despair!"

It's the same temptation that Gandalf faced earlier when offered the Ring, the temptation to use power benevolently. As Sam shares, he wishes Galadriel would take the Ring as, "You'd put everything to rights!" But Galadriel pushes back, "I would...but it would not stop at that, alas!"

The scene reminds us of Jesus' temptation in the desert where Satan offers him the Ring of Power:

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me.”

Jesus refuses the Ring. As does Galadriel. Refusing Frodo's offer, and Sam's wish that she use power to set things right, she says, "I pass the test."

There's many things we could unpack here. I'm pondering Sam's comment, how we're tempted to use power to make things "right." Who hasn't been tempted in that way? Anyone with power, of any sort, tries to use it make the world come out right. And we would, I'm sure. But alas, it wouldn't stop at that.