The restless wind is cold and merciless as it blows over the land. It stirs the blanket of snow covering the landscape without moving or melting it. The snow would be beautiful if it were new and if it had not been there for a long time, a time which seemed to approach forever in the memories of the inhabitants of the land. The snow, beautiful once, has now become hateful and oppressive. Even with that snow, the land has become cloudy and dark.
If not for the hardiness of its citizens, the land of Narnia would appear to be near death, the last of its life oozing away as it writhes in the talons of the witch. Yet something remains that cold, brutality, wickedness, and oppression cannot seem to destroy: Hope. Hope stirs the hearts of the faithful, and it gives them the strength to go on as if the oppression were only temporary, as if the world might be different somehow, as if it made sense to live counter-cultural lives.
What stirs these hearts? What moves as a threat to this wasteland of white? What keeps this hope alive? Three little words. Three little words that are the beginning of a narrative subversive to the hate and the oppression and the waste holding the land and its population captive. The words? Aslan is coming. People who do not even know who Aslan might be are moved by these words. The way that the words are spoken, you know that Aslan must be a savior or king. It seems obvious that Aslan is bringing something vital: rescue, light, and life. Three words bring all of this good news and more. Aslan is coming.
Since C. S. Lewis writes this story for children, he does not conceal too carefully the metaphoric connection between Aslan and Jesus. One does not need a PhD in Composition and Rhetoric to see that feelings experienced in the anticipation of Aslan are parallel to the emotions stirred at the coming of Christ. But his story does make us think. It makes us think about how things were just before Jesus.
It makes us think
of the many failed efforts at human government.
It reminds us about
humanity’s struggle with faithfulness before a faithful God.
It brings to mind
the tendency for people with power to abuse power,
turning it to their own purposes
instead of those of God or his people.
Misgovernment, unfaithfulness, and abuse of power
always lead to poverty, despair, and oppression.
But God will not leave us there.
For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
Ezekiel 34:11-13 – NRSV
Yet for God’s people in captivity, a short sentence reveals the belief that Yahweh is not about judgment, but about salvation. His Torah was not meant to bring condemnation but peace. His Word is intended to bring the opposite of despair; it stirs hope. The Messiah is coming. Have we become callous to the power of that brief sentence? Surely we still see the need? Surely the cold winds of life have not snuffed out this hope in our heart?
Yes, Jesus came to us nearly 2,000 years ago. But the people of this planet are still looking for him. If we are truly the body of Christ, if each of us can enact our part within that body, he will come here today, too. His presence in his people can still save, can still heal, can still comfort. But we have to believe. We have to remember to believe, and behave as if we really do believe. Faith. Hope. Love. Faith will stir hope, and hope will empower love. That kind of love is more than wishful thinking; it is hopeful living.
Learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17 – NRSV
Grace and peace,
Ron
*C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia
