The Hands of the King

In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King, there is a scene that has stayed with readers for generations. After the great battle before Minas Tirith, the Lady Eowyn lies in the Houses of Healing, caught between life and death. She had struck down the terrifying Witch-king, but his dark power left a wound no ordinary medicine could reach. The healers tried everything they knew. Nothing worked.

Then Aragorn, the long-awaited king, arrives. He takes the common herb athelas, crushes it in his hands, and breathes on it. A living fragrance fills the room. He calls Eowyn by name, and slowly, she returns from the shadow. An old saying echoes through the city: "The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known."

Tolkien, a devout Catholic, knew exactly what he was writing. The true King is not recognized by His sword or His crown but by His willingness to touch the wounded and call them back to life.

This is the Jesus we meet in the Gospels — the One who touched lepers, who spoke to the hemorrhaging woman, who placed His fingers in deaf ears. The Rightful King is known not by displays of power but by His healing hands.

Whatever shadow has settled over your life today, He knows your name. And He is calling you back.