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The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Posted by Derrick
on
09:59
Need I retell this story? Surely this is one of the most well known of Christian books. Once there were four children, whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. Words which excite me still, even after having read them dozens of times.
(Interestingly, this book also contained my first experience with a cultural misunderstanding. In the wardrobe room Lucy sees only a dead bluebottle on the windowsill. When I grew up dead was a way of adding emphasis. Hence dead blue was really blue. So I didn't realise till much later that the object was a deceased fly. I used to think it was a really blue bottle. Weird eh?)
The story is a simple one. A child stumbles on a land in the back of the wardrobe. This land is oppressed by an evil queen. She tells her family about this wonderful place but nobody believes her. Her brother also finds it but is seduced by the darkness on offer from the evil queen and becomes quite beastly to her. Eventually they all get in and it becomes a story of betrayal and of finding the truth. It is the quintessential battle of good versus evil. There is redemption and love, sacrifice and faith and joy (literally) unbounded. The death of Aslan on the Stone Table hurts me to write about. I don't think I have ever found a passage in a book so pregnant with desolation and pain. I still read those chapters with a heavy heart even though I know that He will rise from the dead on the very next page. Finally it is a story of the restoration of how things should be. The natural order is reapplied and all live happily ever after.
Lewis never meant Aslan to be an allegory of Jesus. He wanted to tell the story of Christ's sacrifice but as animals would is Jesus were to have been one of them. Right at the heart of the story (indeed of the whole series) is the fact that Aslan goes willingly to his death to buy the freedom of someone who does not know. Edmund did not ask Aslan to do it. In fact, he had betrayed the Lion but still he padded to his death on a macabre execution table. This is just what Jesus did for me. I betrayed him and still he went to his death.
Even if this was where the story ended it would be a magnificent tale (witness the fabulous scene in Disney's Jungle Book where Baloo is though dead and Baghera says 'greater love has no man than this; that he lay his life down for his friends' and then we see the awesome sight of Baloo's eyes opening and he sniffs and says 'he's cracking me up'. I defy you to find a better scene in a Disney film) but it doesn't. Aslan returns from the dead. He is alive and well just as was always predicted. This echo of Christ's resurrection stirs me today. Because He is alive there is hope that everything will be alright now. It's all ok and we needn't worry about anything. The long dark night is over. The sun (Son) has risen and a new day has begun.
Moreover, this is a story not about Peter or Susan really but largely about Lucy and (arguably) mostly about Edmund. This is his story. He is beyond redemption in some parts. He hates his family and has abandoned them. He has (albeit unknowingly) sold them into slavery and he has caused pain for Mr. Tumnus. Yet he is the most transformed by his encounter with Aslan. The others find strength and courage from their meeting's with the lion but Edmund is transformed into the old Edmund. He becomes the hero that it was obvious that he would become. He almost dies trying to save people he had no knowledge of nor any care for mere pages before. Through his encounter with Aslan, Edmund becomes the best of all. He never forgets what has happened (in PC there is a wonderful moment when the others are excited about finding their gifts from LWW and Edmund must surely have felt stung that he had none) but he is not burdened by it any more. The redemption of Edmund is something we can all find hope in.
In Prince Caspian we find out a little bit extra about this book. It is only a tiny aside but it reaches out and punches you in the guts if you let it. When Aslan lay bound to the Stone Table mice began to eat the ropes to free him. In his most desolate and destroyed state, these creatures who had been forgotten when Aslan gave the power of speech to the animals take care of him. The lowliest of Narnia's animals are rewarded for their love of Aslan with the gift of speech. For me, this says that it is never too late. I am sure that some may find this a spurious point but I love it. Aslan never forgets the service done to him by the least of his subjects and the rewards are magnificent.
There are other themes worthy of discussion but I shall leave it at these for now. These are what scream out at me.
For my picture, I have chosen the resurrected Aslan. The joy on the faces of the girls and of Aslan is wonderful to behold. Well drawn Pauline Baynes.
(Interestingly, this book also contained my first experience with a cultural misunderstanding. In the wardrobe room Lucy sees only a dead bluebottle on the windowsill. When I grew up dead was a way of adding emphasis. Hence dead blue was really blue. So I didn't realise till much later that the object was a deceased fly. I used to think it was a really blue bottle. Weird eh?)
The story is a simple one. A child stumbles on a land in the back of the wardrobe. This land is oppressed by an evil queen. She tells her family about this wonderful place but nobody believes her. Her brother also finds it but is seduced by the darkness on offer from the evil queen and becomes quite beastly to her. Eventually they all get in and it becomes a story of betrayal and of finding the truth. It is the quintessential battle of good versus evil. There is redemption and love, sacrifice and faith and joy (literally) unbounded. The death of Aslan on the Stone Table hurts me to write about. I don't think I have ever found a passage in a book so pregnant with desolation and pain. I still read those chapters with a heavy heart even though I know that He will rise from the dead on the very next page. Finally it is a story of the restoration of how things should be. The natural order is reapplied and all live happily ever after.
Lewis never meant Aslan to be an allegory of Jesus. He wanted to tell the story of Christ's sacrifice but as animals would is Jesus were to have been one of them. Right at the heart of the story (indeed of the whole series) is the fact that Aslan goes willingly to his death to buy the freedom of someone who does not know. Edmund did not ask Aslan to do it. In fact, he had betrayed the Lion but still he padded to his death on a macabre execution table. This is just what Jesus did for me. I betrayed him and still he went to his death.
Even if this was where the story ended it would be a magnificent tale (witness the fabulous scene in Disney's Jungle Book where Baloo is though dead and Baghera says 'greater love has no man than this; that he lay his life down for his friends' and then we see the awesome sight of Baloo's eyes opening and he sniffs and says 'he's cracking me up'. I defy you to find a better scene in a Disney film) but it doesn't. Aslan returns from the dead. He is alive and well just as was always predicted. This echo of Christ's resurrection stirs me today. Because He is alive there is hope that everything will be alright now. It's all ok and we needn't worry about anything. The long dark night is over. The sun (Son) has risen and a new day has begun.
Moreover, this is a story not about Peter or Susan really but largely about Lucy and (arguably) mostly about Edmund. This is his story. He is beyond redemption in some parts. He hates his family and has abandoned them. He has (albeit unknowingly) sold them into slavery and he has caused pain for Mr. Tumnus. Yet he is the most transformed by his encounter with Aslan. The others find strength and courage from their meeting's with the lion but Edmund is transformed into the old Edmund. He becomes the hero that it was obvious that he would become. He almost dies trying to save people he had no knowledge of nor any care for mere pages before. Through his encounter with Aslan, Edmund becomes the best of all. He never forgets what has happened (in PC there is a wonderful moment when the others are excited about finding their gifts from LWW and Edmund must surely have felt stung that he had none) but he is not burdened by it any more. The redemption of Edmund is something we can all find hope in.
In Prince Caspian we find out a little bit extra about this book. It is only a tiny aside but it reaches out and punches you in the guts if you let it. When Aslan lay bound to the Stone Table mice began to eat the ropes to free him. In his most desolate and destroyed state, these creatures who had been forgotten when Aslan gave the power of speech to the animals take care of him. The lowliest of Narnia's animals are rewarded for their love of Aslan with the gift of speech. For me, this says that it is never too late. I am sure that some may find this a spurious point but I love it. Aslan never forgets the service done to him by the least of his subjects and the rewards are magnificent.
There are other themes worthy of discussion but I shall leave it at these for now. These are what scream out at me.
For my picture, I have chosen the resurrected Aslan. The joy on the faces of the girls and of Aslan is wonderful to behold. Well drawn Pauline Baynes.
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