Into the Wardrobe Luke 2:25-32
Outline
The feeling that most characterizes American life is boredom.
Regaining our lost sense of wonder.
1. The first requirement is to: Stop. Look. Listen.
Stop. In our hurry we miss the wonder God has for us.
Look. Those who can truly see can enjoy the wonder all around.
Listen. God is speaking and those who are listening can hear Him.
2. The Place of Exploration is Inside and Out
The world around us is filled with the wonder of God.
The world inside is infinitely larger than the world outside.
3. The Way in is through the Door
The meeting of our hunger and God’s provision is found in Christ.
This is why God sent Jesus, and why our life is found in Him.
Before scripture reading…
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? This is the story of four schoolchildren who find themselves at a large manor house because of the war. Their parents sent them to the country because the city was being bombed, and while they were there they found a portal to another world. The door is a beautiful wardrobe made of wood that came from a tree grown from a seed; brought from that world through magic years before. I want to invite you into the Wardrobe into another world. Jack Lewis wrote this book because he wanted to introduce children and adults to truths that are here, but missed. Sometimes it is not until we enter another world that we see our own for the first time. Lewis wrote a letter to a fifth grade class in Maryland, and he revealed the seed from which all the meanings in the books come: Let us suppose that there was a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would happen…
Scripture
Luke 2
25Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
Message Text
It was a rather strange scene at the Louvre, France’s most famous art museum. Here displayed in exhibit after exhibit are the treasurers of Western Civilization. The works of Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Gauguin and
Michelangelo. The Mona Lisa and … recently one visitor walked the galleries and was struck
by a group of blind students being led by their teacher. Blind students in an art gallery
cannot help but draw one’s curiosity. How could they take in what was around
them? What value could all of the glorious art have to them? But the
instructor became their eyes, going to great lengths to describe
each painting. Then he led them to a room where the
stature of an ancient Greek Olympic athlete
stood on a pedestal.
The teacher took each student’s hand, one by one, and guided it so that the student could feel the muscle
bound figure and the “perfect physique” of this specimen. The young boys were awe-stricken just
to touch the powerful body, contoured down to the veins in stone. Here was another world
they were being invited to explore and it was right here in their own. It is at Christmas
that I come to feel like the schoolboys learning that more each day about another world that has always been in their midst, but they simply have
been unable to see it. Our advent study this years will be taken
this year from the birth accounts from Jesus’ life with
the help of another story, the Lion, the Witch,
and the Wardrobe by Jack Lewis.
Why? With the hopes of being led on a visit to the gallery of wonders by one who can see just a little bit
better than we can. Both stories, the one true, and the other made up, start in the same place. The world of
the ordinary. Here there are no surprises. There is never more than meets the eye, and there is
nothing that can end happily ever after because there really seems to be no story line
at all. Every day seems, well, they seem very much like the day before. This is
the way we experience life, is it not? Our scripture text actually takes
place a few days after Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Actually,
it was the eighth day. Joseph and Mary were required to
make a sacrifice for Jesus.
Ever since the Hebrews had been saved from slavery in Egypt, and that had been more than 1,000 years before. Every child belonged to the Lord and had to be ransomed. Joseph and Mary took Jesus and
their small offering. Scores of other parents made this visit every day. They were among them carrying their precious boy. They arrived with the offering made only by the
poorest class of people. But when they arrived, some was waiting for them.
Standing at the door was Simeon. Elderly and ready to rest with his
Fathers, Simeon had a tour guide. He had a teacher. The Spirit
of God was with Him telling him what he could not
see. The baby was like any of the others who had come, but the Spirit said…“That’s the one.
The time has come!”
It is then we realize that we have entered another world, or perhaps seen the world as it really is for the first
time. Now this is the theme of thousands of stories, from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass
to the movie, the Matrix. Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth or Tolkien’s The
Lord of the Rings. There is another true world, and the one we are living with is either
not the real world at all, or else it is enchanted. Now I know at this point we are
beginning to sound a bit odd. We Christians hear that we are escapists creating
other worlds because we prefer them to our own. But, that is not what
is happening here. Because this event, the birth and coming of
Jesus, does not beckon us to another world. But, it is the
only medicine that enables us to live in our own
world.
Now before we can get to that…we must ask why we enjoy stories so very much. Why we live by our
imagination and why we are such dreamers. Either, there must have been flaw in our evolutionary
design or we ourselves were meant to live in a story. Either it is an accident or part of a plan.
Why do we keep asking: is this all there is? Why we are like children who after opening a thousand beautiful Christmas presents keep asking for more? It
sounds greedy or ungrateful, and so we pretend to be satisfied. What
do children search for even after opening their thousand
Christmas presents? For more of the same? And who
who ever put such a thought into our heads?
The feeling that most characterizes American life is boredom.
The truth is that we were created for wonder. For life in a far greater story… But we have gotten caught
in a world that has become disenchanted. Empty and cold, we are constantly seeking wonder but not
finding it on our own. One study of life in America found the most common feeling among
Americans is: boredom. That is right, the people living on earth with the most choices and
opportunity, we yawn our way though life. Been there, done that.
Malcolm Muggeridge explained:
For me there has always been—and I count it the greatest of all blessings—a window never finally blacked out, a light never fully extinguished…I had a sense, sometimes enormously vivid, that I was a stranger in a strange land; a visitor, not a native…a displaced person…The feeling I was surprised to find, gave me a great sense of satisfaction, almost of ecstasy…Days or weeks or months might pass. Would it ever return, the lostness? I strain my ears to hear it, like distant music; my eyes to see it, a very bright light, very far away. Has it gone forever? The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves to be at home here on earth. As long as we are aliens, we cannot forget our true homeland.
We love children because they show us what we were like before we had done and felt everything. Perhaps,
we can feel through them. These feelings are why this week in advent is such good news. I’d like to
talk about regaining our lost sense of wonder. Or, how we can enter the greater story, the story
and the world we were made for. Regaining our lost sense of wonder. How can we
do this?
1. The first requirement is to: Stop. Look. Listen.
The problem is, in Harry Potter terms, we’ve become muggles, mundane creatures unable to accept that there
is anything we cannot see, hear, feel, taste or touch. The modern routine and our hyper-rational view
of the world have worn us down. Work is life, and we laugh off childhood fantasies. If we are
going to experience our longing, if we are going to enjoy the season, if we are going to
enter through the wardrobe, we must stop and look and listen. These are the
first things we read in the Dick and Jane books, right? What is Simeon
doing? How can He see what others cannot? He is waiting.
The text says: He was waiting for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Everyone else had given up on the great promises of the prophets, that another King David would come…that
God had a plan for His people and would not forget them in their distress, that there is a deep mystery
in the plan of God that existed since the dawn of time and would one day be fulfilled.
Stop. In our hurry we miss the wonder God has for us.
This is the first thing we must do. Stop. You see weariness in life does not come chiefly from being weary
of pain, but weary of pleasure. Or perhaps just of activity. Sandy and I had a rare moment to get a
Starbucks coffee the other day and we left feeling hw fast we needed to enjoy this time. We
were rushing and hardly knew it. Stop. This is how Simeon first saw the truth, how he
could see what God was doing. The Spirit of God made it possible, but he was
waiting. Are we? For waiting requires us to engage at a deeper level.
The level of our heart. From the very large lips of a rock star
like Mick Jagger, who recently told Rolling Stone
magazine, "Of course I have a spiritual side.
Everyone has one. It’s whether they’re going to lock it up or not. Our lives are so busy that we never get any
time to be, first reflective, and then afterward, to let some sort of spiritual light into your life." He went
on to clarify the meaning of one of his newer songs by saying: "It’s about the joy of creation,
inspiring you to a love of God." Mick Jagger… He has the longing, too! Look. Those
who can truly see can enjoy the wonder all around. Second is to look for it.
Seek and you shall find, knock, and the door shall be opened. Ask and
it shall be given. This also is what Simeon is doing. He is seeking, asking, and knocking. I have often wondered,
why could Simeon see what everyone else in the
temple was missing?
I have thought this about the transfiguration of Jesus. The gospels tell us that at one time during Jesus’ earthly ministry, he was with his disciples, and he invited three of them, only three up to a mountain
to pray with Him. He got them all quiet. They were waiting upon God. Peter, James, and
John saw Jesus transfigured before them, and Moses and Elijah also visited with them
on the mountain. I have often wondered this: is it possible that Jesus was always with them in glory, but they couldn’t see Him? This is what I
believe happened. Jesus didn’t change. But they see him as
he truly is. Bright as light. Full of glory.
Was this also true of Moses? How many burning bushes did he see in the wilderness through the years?
Why did he see the presence of God? Was Moses looking for the Lord? Did the Lord enable him
to see? Yes, of course. There are many with eyes who cannot see, and ears but cannot hear.
Saul, later named Paul, could not see until he was blinded by the bright light on the
road to Damascus. When Lucy first returned from Narnia, no one believed she
had been to another world, or that there was another world. No one else
could see.
Do you see what I see?
Said the night wind to the little lamb, "Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb, Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night With a tail as big as a kite, With a tail as big as a kite."
Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, "Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song high above the trees With a voice as big as the sea,
With a voice as big as the sea."
Listen. God is speaking and those who are listening can hear Him.
Finally, listen. How must it have been for Simeon to hear the Lord directing him. Go to this couple, their
child is the one. There. Go over to them. Speak to them. Simeon listens to the Lord, the Spirit of God directing Him. This is what Moses and Elijah, and the disciples and finally we are asked
to do. He who has an ear, let him listen… Listening to the voice of the Lord.
Stop. We are running from life and from God. Stop. Be silent. Wait upon
the Lord….
2. The Place of Exploration is Inside and Out
Second, there is the place of exploration. How are we to experience this other world. This place of wonder?
Before we consider that it is out of this world, we also need to see that it is in this world. Simeon went
up to the temple in Jerusalem. The four children, went in via a wardrobe. It is here in our world first. The presence of God is not some far off thing only for clairvoyants or
magicians. It is the realm of children at play. This is the way the whole story
begins. With children. They are playing in the old manor house went
little Lucy seeks refuge while playing hide and seek. She steps
through the wardrobe into Narnia. All around us are hints
of this other world.
The world around us is filled with the wonder of God.
The very world around us is filled with the glory of God. When God’s people looked up into the sky, the
wonder of the creation caused them to recognize and praise God. When Moses sees the presence of
God in a bush, can He look at any bush as ordinary.
One of my favorite books of the past year is entitled: Exuberance. Kay Jamison talks about the power of
experience in teaching. She tells about one of the greatest British teachers Michael Faraday known
for his Christmas lectures. Here were some of his titles: “The Chemistry of Coal,” “Water
and its Elements,” “Atmospheric Air and Its Gases.” His most popular teaching was
called: “On the Chemical History of a Candle.” Doesn’t sound like the sort of
teaching people would stand in line to hear. But, you couldn’t get a
seat at one of these meetings. Why not? They were experiences of life. There would be bangs, flashes,
soap bubbles filled with hydrogen floating
upward, and other effects.”
He was not teaching. He was inviting people into the joy of discovery about the world we live in. He
would teach on magnetism and hurl a fire poker through the air and see it drawn to a giant magnet.
Folks, we have domesticated worship and by doing so, we have lost the joy of being able to
experience the presence of the Lord of the universe. I love Faraday’s favorite saying:
“Nothing is too wonderful to be true…” The latest book for me Skeptics and
True Believers: The Exhilarating Connection Between Science and
Religion, Chet Raymo, professor of Physics and Astronomy
at Stonehill College, he is not a Christian, but he can’t
help but see the wonder…it intrigues him.
He spends some time describing the migratory habits of the red knot. It is a sandpiper bird that journeys each
year from the Southern tip of South America to the Eastern shores of the United States and beyond and
then back again. The round trip covers more than 18,000 miles each year taking this little bird
through the arctic islands of the Canadian north, making a brief refueling stop on the
beaches of Delaware Bay and Cape Cod. The bird begin their northward journey each February, up the coast of Argentina, over Brazil…Then
they made a non-stop flight that brings them mid-May to the
shores of Delaware Bay at the very time horseshoe crabs
are laying their eggs by the millions.
They each eat an average of 135,000 horseshoe crabs and plump up for the rest of the journey to Hudson Bay.
They mate, and each female lays four speckled eggs, which she and her mate take turns incubating.
Baby red knots develop feathers quickly after bird, and there is an amazingly scripted trip for
return to S. America. The females leave in mid-July for the return journey, and the
males a week later. This leaves the little ones to fend for themselves until late
August. Then they commence their 9,000 mile journey to Tierra del
Fuego to travel a path they have never traveled before, as if with
perfect radar. Their arrival with their parents is almost as
if scripted as an appointment, as they fly in for a
southern summer. Here they fatten up for
the journey north.
There is wonder here, but we simply have quit seeing it. The average American has no idea what birds are
native to their neighborhood and which ones migrate through and at what times of the year. We are
missing our on wonder. It is right here. Listen to the birds singing, look at the moon and
the stars, the wonders are too many to contain. The first time Mother Teresa visited the
United States, she was asked for her reaction to American culture. She said, "I
have never seen a people so starved." The saint from Calcutta, who had
worked with the bony bodies of the destitute and dying, wasn’t
talking about physical hunger. She could see through the
illusion of material affluence to the spiritual
hunger and thirst in the gut of modern America.
The world inside is infinitely larger than the world outside.
Then there is the world inside. The deep spiritual truths. The meaning and purpose of life. That is why
Simeon is so enthralled. When he sees the baby he says, “That is all I need.” He knows the truth.
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
He wasn’t simply seeing a baby, he was seeing the promise of the ages. You see all the things in this world
are a shadow of the things in the other. Plato knew it, he explained that we are as people who lived in
a cave with out legs and necks chained so that we cannot see outside. He could not get out, but
light came in and cast a shadow on the wall of the cave. They could never see what
was going outside but only a shadow of those things. Even if we were to be
released how could we see, because having been in a cave the light
would blind us. We have always lived in the shadows. Now it
is interesting, the person that Plato tells this story to
is a man named: Glaucon. He is the blind man
who cannot see the truth about life.
This name is where we got the name for Glaucoma, the disease of the eyes that prevents vision and plunges
us into darkness. The truth is that we are living in the shadowlands and fail to see the true world of the
Spirit and the deep spiritual meanings in life. This is why we fail to see Jesus and what his
kingdom is all about. The truth of God’s word and His grace is so bright a light it
threatens to blind us. We are unaccustomed to its brilliance and glory.
But, it is in this world that we live and where the truth of our purpose
and meaning is found. We are much the man F. W. Boreham
describes that is looking at a telescope:
One can look at the geometric design of the telescope and admire its burnished brass rings or its highly
polished lenses. But to really admire and understand a telescope, you need to pick it up, set it upon a
hill somewhere, and then by placing your sight through the viewing lens, see the starry hosts
above and marvel, not just at the heavens but at the incredible telescope that makes
such viewing possible. Our physical world is the telescope, and the other world,
is the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is revealed in His word and by
His Spirit. It is this world that we were created and for and that
we yearn for. The question is: how can we capture this
wonder and have our life in this world?
3. The Way in is through the Door
The story of Simeon shows us the way into this wonder. Simeon takes Jesus in his arms. The connection
between this world and the next, between the shadows and the light, between us and God is Jesus.
This is the message of Christianity. This is the wonder of this picture. The religions of the
world have God so far away, so grand and transcendent, almighty, terrifying and
large beyond our knowing. Either that or quite unreal to us. He is a Spirit.
What can we make of that. We cannot know Him even though we were
made in His image. But, here is a baby that you can take into
your arms. He is being held. The only way we can
know God there is by finding Him here.
How He lives and what He says and does, well, this is what we can know of God. Martin Luther said, the
only God we can know is the one born to the virgin Mary. Here He is. Joining earth to heaven.
1 John 1 says it like this: 1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this
we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it
and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with
the Father and has appeared to us. The unseen is beheld. The
eternal takes on flesh. Simeon is astonished at it all.
The appearance in history of Jesus was the story finally made real, the hopes and fears of all the
years finally incarnated, made flesh in a God willing to humble himself to save an absurd species made in his image. Christianity would be just another story, except a baby was born. The
story became all too real. The meeting of our hunger and God’s provision is found in
Christ. Do you know this is how Jack Lewis became a Christian. He knew
literature and stories, and once talked with Tolkien about how the
stories were all so similar. Another world, a lost hope, the
future regained. Lewis thought Christianity was just
another of these stories.
Then Tolkien said what would change Lewis’ life: “But in Christianity, it happened”. A baby was born. It came about in history. This is why God sent Jesus, and why our life is found in Him. This is the message of Christianity. God was unwilling for his creatures, made in His image to be cut
off from him, so he made a way… He created us for life in His great story, but we
became lost through our sin and rebellion. Story upon story reflects this great
truth, but in Christ it all happened. God redeemed a people for himself.
Isn’t our longing for something more our longing for the great
story where God is our King and we are his people and
have our life in Him? Haven’t we carried this
in our hearts all our lives…
What story are you living in?
Are you stopping, looking, listening?
Is the world enchanted for you?
Filled with the glory and presence of God?
Have you found your place in God’s greater story for all creation?
Have you trusted in Christ.
Resources used or quoted:
Thomas Williams: The Heart of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Ravi Zacharias: Recapture the Wonder.
Kay Redfield Jamison: Exuberance. The Passion for Life.
Peter Kreeft: Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing.
C. S. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Re:generation Quarterly. Spring 2003- Re-Enchanting the World. Small Worldview by Read Mercer Schuchardt.
