On May 13th Megan and I began reading the seven books that encompass The Chronicles of Narnia. We missed occasional nights due to late events or Megan spending the night with family, but we they were few. We jumped in with both feet. I was unsure that I could do all the voices and the British accents. But I so wanted to share this experience with Megan that I was determined to read it to her myself.
It touched my soul probably more than hers. Every time Aslan appeared in the story, I felt a surge of excitement, as if Jesus himself had appeared before me. The characters became friends. That has happened to me often in reading, but this was deeper as we shared such adventures as doesn't happen in most fiction. These adventures were with Jesus... Aslan... and they we're permanently etched into my very being.
The lessons in the story, like the parables of Jesus, will stay with me. I think we all wish to escape our reality for a Narnian land. And yet, while incredible, Narnia wasn't easy. But facing a wretched boss or financial struggles or doubts of faith all seem minor compared to defeating the White Witch or becoming a dragon or facing a usurper's army or fleeing giants or spending days crossing a hot, barren desert, or watching your own people deceived by a lie. In some way, each adventure you share with the Kings and Queens of Narnia and their friends seems to prepare you for what God has for you here.
"In your world I have another name... You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there." -Aslan
By the last page, I felt the truth of this statement. I felt that I did know my King better by reading about Aslan. Too often, in Christian circles, Jesus is portrayed as the suffering man on the cross. And He did go to the cross, and took the punishment for all our sins upon Him. But if we still see Him on that cross, it is easy to see Him as a victim, weak. But going to the cross was strength. He wasn't helpless. He could have chosen to not go.
Aslan is never portrayed as weak, even when he chose to go to the stone table for Edmund, the traitor. He chose to go. He chose to put up up with the humiliation and the taunts. He chose to let himself be killed. At any time his strength could have broke the bounds that held him... But then Edmund would have died for the traitor he was.
Through each book, from Aslan singing Narnia into existence to Aslan telling Peter to shut the stable door, Aslan is strong. He is not just a King, But God. I think C.S. Lewis wanted to show the character of Jesus in a powerful way. The phrase that stays with all who venture to Narnia is: "He isn't a tame lion, but he is good." This shows that Aslan is not only powerful, but that even when his actions weren't understood or seemed ferocious, he is still good and knows what is best.
Often times, here on Earth, we don't understand. We don't understand why there is such suffering or injustice. We don't understand why evil is allowed. We question the goodness of the Lord because we see such things. We equate good with our limited knowledge of what we feel God should do, instead of good with whatever God does because He can only be good. He can't be evil. We associate good with tame, but what if He isn't tame?
Tame means submissive, docile, controllable. Do we really want to serve a God that is controllable? Can He stand up to evil if He is docile? Jesus submitted to His Father, but not to man. Dying on the cross was not submission to man, but an act of strength submitted to His Father.
Megan is nine, and even at her young age, she seemed to grasp many of the spiritual meanings in Narnia. We discussed many things at length. We talked about which characters we connected with, why Aslan showed us Jesus, and how we are Kings and Queens here on earth, Royal children adopted by God. We talked about what being a child of God really means. At the end of The Last Battle, we discussed the new Narnia as compared with Heaven, and if Susan would one day make it to the New Narnia. (We believed she would have her own adventure full of lessons and rejoin her family and Aslan.)
I am sad that the stories have ended, but Narnia never really ends. It truly does live on in those that have gotten to visit her in the novels.
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