Finding Ourselves In Narnia: The Edmund In Us.

Yesterday I took my girls to see the movie “Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and I have to tell you I was really impressed. I had told myself I was going to wait to see it till we took the kids from the church to see it, but I just couldn’t wait. I figured since I was preaching on it today then it was necessary for my theological studies (or at least that’s how I convinced myself), but it really was a powerful drama that had an impact on a lot of people, kids and adults alike.

In an article put out by the Christian news service, Agape Press, they interviewed a woman named Lynn Noe of Nashville, TN who took her 5 year old daughter Abi to see the movie. She said the it was a moving experience for her little girl Abi to watch Aslan (the Christ-figure) die and then come back to life again. Lynn Noe said that her daughter is very tender, and she is still crying. She doesn’t have words for it yet.” Abi’s friend Bailey who also is five, went with them had no trouble finding words for it. She said, “My favorite part was when the lion turned back alive”.

A person who was at that theater said that when Aslan was humiliated and put to death, the theater was filled with mute crying-a response that is appropriate to an innocent God laying down His life for the guilty, and then she adds, “A response that is just as suitable but sad to say often missing from our Good Friday and our Easter services.”

Now as I watched the film, I was thinking that I would relate more to the character of Peter (the strong, the oldest of the kids, the leader) who most resembles the biblical character, you guessed it…Peter. Or I thought I might be more like Lucy. Lucy is the tender hearted one. She is the one who sees Aslan the most and her heart is so pure and innocent that she is most in tune with Aslan, and she is believed to most represent the apostle John, the beloved disciple. Susan is the smart one, she is the one who has to have the evidence before her, she has to see before she believes, much like we would think of the disciple Thomas. But I didn’t find myself resembling, Peter, Lucy, or even Susan. Sad to say, I found myself most resembling little Edmund and I am convinced that there is a little bit of Edmund in all of us. There’s a little spoiled brat in all of us.

Now Edmund is the kind of kid you just want to smack upside the head. He’s a mean little kid. He is always griping and complaining about something. He picks on his little sister Lucy, who if you see the movie is just so darn cute, to the point where she is in tears. He’s vindictive and prideful. When Lucy tells him about the wardrobe, he makes fun of her. But when Edmund is the 2nd one to go in, instead of admitting he was wrong, he continues to pick on little Lucy about the Wardrobe and pretend like he was never there. I don’t know, but sometimes I have a hard time admitting I’m wrong about something.

From the beginning, Edmund is a grumbler, a tease, a liar, a skeptic, and ultimately he is a traitor. The last thing you would think Edmund would deserve would be to be rescued from the clutches of the White Witch, on whose side he has purposely sided. Still less does he deserve to be saved at such a high cost as the blood of a king, the mighty Aslan. Yet Aslan was willing to pay the price, not because Edmund deserved it, but because that’s the kind of love that Aslan has.

Sound familiar? It should, because that’s the kind of love that Jesus has for us. Listen to what the apostle Paul wrote in the book of Titus 3:3-7, it says, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” The story of Edmund is the story of a sinner who was redeemed and then restored. It’s the story of me, and it’s the story we can live in our own lives, not because we deserve it, but because Jesus stands ready to forgive and restore us today.