Rev. Lin Smalec Salem Church, Waynesboro, PA
ENCOUNTER THE POWER
Second Sunday of Advent
4 December 2005
Well, folks, this is the week - on Friday, the Narnia movie comes to our local theaters! One question on my mind, and I’m sure many of you are thinking the same thing, is will the movie truly capture the spirit and power of the book? A recent review in Time magazine noted that the movie “punches up” some of the dialogue and makes the final battle much more dramatic. As the screenwriter, Christopher Markus, says, “It’d be a crime not to show a fight between a centaur and a minotaur!” (1) I expect the special effects to be awesome, since they are done by the same effects people who worked on the Lord of the Rings movies. I do believe this will be a powerful movie experience!
When we say something has power or is powerful, what do we mean? Power refers to strength or force or energy. Power can also refer to control, the ability or authority to act. There is a great deal of power at work in the world of Narnia - power for good, and power for evil. This morning we will encounter the power in Narnia and in our own world by exploring the story of Edmund.
Edmund is the youngest brother of the family, a year older than Lucy. In the early chapters of the book, we get an idea of Edmund’s personality. He is rather unpleasant, wouldn’t you say? He complains and grumbles, and he is very cruel to Lucy when she comes back from her first visit to Narnia. None of the other kids believed Lucy - but Edmund is really mean about it. As the book says, “The others who thought [Lucy] was telling a lie, and a silly lie too, made her very unhappy. The two elder ones did this without meaning to do it, but Edmund could be spiteful, and on this occasion he was spiteful. He sneered and jeered at Lucy and kept on asking her if she’d found any other new countries in other cupboards all over the house.” (2, chapter 3) Ah yes, Edmund is a lovely child, isn’t he?
A few days later, while the children are playing hide-and-seek, Edmund follows Lucy into the wardrobe - and finds himself in the cold frozen world of Narnia. He doesn’t see Lucy anywhere, and assumes she’s off somewhere sulking. Then he hears bells - sleigh bells - and out of the snowy woods comes a sledge - another word for a sleigh - pulled by reindeer. And the passenger of the sleigh is a beautiful woman - listen to how the book describes her - “a great lady, taller than any woman that Edmund had ever seen. She also was covered in white fur up to her throat and held a long straight golden wand in her right hand and wore a golden crown on her head. Her face was white--not merely pale, but white like snow or paper or icing-sugar, except for her very red mouth. It was a beautiful face in other respects, but proud and cold and stern.” (2, chapter 3)
This, of course, is the White Witch, who calls herself the Queen of Narnia. When she finds out that Edmund is a boy - a “son of Adam” - it seems at first that she will place some horrible enchantment on him. But then she changes her mind, and is nice to him, in a way that makes Edmund rather nervous! She invites him up on her sleigh, covers him with her cloak, and offers him a magical drink that warms him right up.
Then she asks him what he likes best to eat - and he answers “Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty!”. (2, chapter 4) Turkish Delight is an extremely sweet sugary soft candy. You can imagine how good it would taste to a child during World War II in England, where sugar was strictly rationed. The White Witch creates an enchanted box of Turkish Delight for Edmund, and he eats every bite. As he is scarfing down the candy, he’s telling the witch everything she wants to know about his brother and sisters, and about Lucy’s previous visit to Narnia.
When Edmund has eaten all the candy, he still wants more. This is because the witch has enchanted the Turkish Delight so that “anyone who once tasted it would want more and more of it, and would even, if they were allowed, go on eating it till they killed themselves.” (2, chapter 4) And indeed, the Turkish Delight has totally captured Edmund - he will now do anything, including turning his brother and sisters over to the White Witch, in order to get more of that candy!
Edmund has encountered the power - the power of evil, the power of temptation, the power of addiction. And those powers are a reality in our own world. The power of evil is real -- modern culture scoffs at the reality of evil, and ridicules anyone who believes in a person such as Satan. But all we have to do is look around to see that Satan is alive and well and powerful and working in our world. The power of temptation is real -- all of us have been tempted, haven’t we? Not one of us is immune to that human reality. Scripture teaches, “Remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT)
And the power of addiction is real -- There are all kinds of things in life that tempt us - but among the most destructive temptations are addictions. Edmund’s experience with the enchanted candy truly illustrates the power of addiction -- that craving for nicotine, alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, food or anything else that is so compelling that we will continue to pursue it, even as it destroys our lives and eventually kills us.
The powers that Edmund encounters in Narnia are all part of the power of sin. And we have all encountered that evil power! As the Apostle Paul teaches in the letter to the Romans, “[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23, NRSV) It is sin that has caused our own world to be in a sort of frozen state of hopelessness and despair. In some ways, we are just as frozen and cold as the world of Narnia!
The evil power of sin remains with Edmund - when he and Lucy return to their own world, he continues to be spiteful and cruel and self-centered. And when eventually all four children come to Narnia, Edmund’s true colors are revealed. During their visit with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Edmund sneaks off to find the White Witch and deliver up to her his brother and sisters. Then he will have his promised reward - all the Turkish Delight he can eat, plus the witch will make him the Prince of Narnia - Edmund quite looks forward to bossing his siblings around! Except that isn’t exactly what happens, is it? When he finds the White Witch and gives her his information, she rewards him with dry bread and water instead of enchanted candy. And she makes him accompany her on a cold and exhausting race to capture the other children.
But in Narnia, the powers of evil and sin are about to meet an even greater power! The snow is melting, spring has arrived, and Father Christmas has come bearing special gifts - because Aslan is on the move!
It was Mr. and Mrs. Beaver that first told the children about Aslan. When they first mentioned his name, the children each felt something strange inside. “Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.” (2, chapter 7)
Later the children find out more about Aslan. He is the “King of the wood”, the “son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea”. He has not been in Narnia for a long time. But there is an important prophecy about him. It says: “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight; At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more; When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death; And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” Aslan, you see, is the mightiest of beasts, a lion - the Great Lion. And when Lucy asks if he is safe, Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe?... Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”
(2, chapter 8)
After a series of adventures, the Beavers and Peter, Susan and Lucy come to a beautiful green open place at the top of a hill, where there is a great Stone Table. Around the Table are gathered a number of strange creatures - nymphs and centaurs, unicorns and leopards, dogs and eagles. And in the midst of these is the Great Lion, Aslan. The book describes this first meeting this way: “{A}s for Aslan himself, the Beavers and the children didn’t know what to do or say when they saw him. People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan’s face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn’t look at him and went all trembly.” (2, chapter 12)
When the children actually talk with Aslan, he asks about Edmund and hears of his treachery. Then Lucy says to him, “Please, Aslan, can anything be done to save Edmund?” And Aslan answers, “All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think.” And a great expression of sadness comes over Aslan’s noble face.
A little while later, Edmund is rescued from the White Witch, and he and Aslan have a talk. Aslan then brings Edmund to be reconciled to his brother and sisters. It seems that Edmund has learned his lesson, and that the power of Aslan’s love has broken through the power of sin. Edmund is changed. But sadly, the results of his sin remain.
You see, there is a “Deep Magic” in Narnia, placed there by the Creator Himself, that gives the White Witch the right to kill any traitor in Narnia. The witch now comes before Aslan and claims her right to Edmund - “His life is forfeit to me”, she says, “His blood is my property.” And sadly, Aslan agrees that it is the witch’s right to demand blood in payment of Edmund’s treachery. But before she can take Edmund away, Aslan takes her aside, and after some conversation, they return and Aslan announces that it is all resolved, and she has renounced the claim on Edmund.
It is only later that Susan and Lucy witness the true culmination of Edmund’s treacherous sin. For the deal Aslan made with the White Witch was this - that he would die in Edmund’s place. That dark night, Aslan gives himself over to the White Witch, and as Susan and Lucy watch from a hidden place, the witch and her evil cohorts humiliate and torture Aslan, tie him to the Stone Table, and finally, with an cruel steel knife, the witch kills him.
All seems lost; the girls despair; it seems as if the evil power of the witch has won. But when the sun rises, the great Stone Table cracks in two, and Aslan rises from the dead! He is no ghost, he is truly alive! He explains to the girls what has happened: “[T]hough the Witch knew the deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.” (2, chapter 15)
Aslan’s power of love and willing sacrifice changes Narnia forever. A great battle ensues, and the powers of evil are finally defeated. We’ll take a closer look at the great battle next week. But the question before us today is this - Does the power of love, the power demonstrated by Aslan, exist in our world? Of course it does! To many of us, the parallels are obvious. C. S. Lewis pointed them out himself when a little girl wrote him and asked who Aslan was in this world. Listen to his reply: “As to Aslan’s other name, well I want you to guess. Has there been anyone in this world who: 1) arrived at the same time as Father Christmas; 2) said he was the son of a great emperor; 3) gave himself up for someone else’s fault to be jeered and killed by wicked people; 4) came to life again; 5) is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb. Don’t you really know His name in this world?” (3)
Aslan is modeled, of course, after Jesus. In Scripture, Jesus is called the “Lion of Judah” as well as the Lamb of God (see Revelation 5). The Lion has been a favorite Christian symbol for Jesus.
In Aslan we see someone who is both great and kind, mighty and gentle. Remember what Mr. Beaver said about him? “Of course he isn’t safe, but he’s good!” In Aslan, C. S. Lewis reflects the powerful nature of the Son of God, Jesus. He is more than a sweet little baby or a gentle shepherd. Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah, as he spoke of the coming Messiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us: authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:2, 6, NRSV) In Jesus, as in Aslan, we see someone who is powerful, someone who may not always be “safe”, but is always good!
And Aslan’s death is, of course, modeled after that of Jesus. In Jesus we see the greatest expression of the power of love the world has ever known. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16) - how often have we quoted that passage of scripture? It is and should be the central theme of our Christmas celebrations. Why? Because it is God’s gift of His Son that changes everything. In the Gospel of Matthew, the angel of the Lord tells Joseph this very thing - that his wife, Mary, “will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21, NRSV) Jesus came to our world and died in our place, taking upon himself the punishment we each should have received - and because of that powerful act of love, the evil power of sin has been broken.
The story of Narnia is a powerful lens that helps us see our own world, our own reality, in a new and clearer way. Like Edmund, we all have made wrong, self-destructive, selfish choices. We all have been led astray by the evil power of sin. But like Aslan, Jesus has come to us to save us, through the power of his love and his willing sacrifice. I encourage you to reach out to him, and encounter the power of God’s love today!
Let us pray:
O Father God, we are more like Edmund than we care to think! We have so easily been led astray by temptations, addictions, and false promises. What the enemy offers seems so good, so life-enhancing. Forgive us, Father - and thank You for showing us the truth - for showing us so clearly the evil power of our sins.
Help us, O God, to turn our eyes and hearts and souls toward You. Help us to gratefully accept the Christmas gift You offer, the salvation You give us freely through the life and death of Your Son, Jesus. Help us to remember that the little baby born in a manger will grow up to be both a kingly Lion and a sacrificial Lamb. In the days ahead, as we sing Christmas carols and decorate our homes and shop for Christmas gifts, may we keep Your most wondrous Christmas gift ever before us.
And once again, Lord, we do pray that as the Narnia movie comes out this week, You will help those who view this film to see the spiritual truths it contains. May eyes and hearts be opened to You during this Christmas season.
We pray these things in the name of the Lion of Judah - the Promised Savior - Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
RESOURCES:
1) Richard Corliss, “Books vs. Movies”, Time, December 5, 2005, pp 98-99.
2) C. S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe © 1950 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
3) Lyle S. Dorsett & Marjorie Lamp Mead, eds. C. S. Lewis’ Letters to Children © 1996 by Scribner, New York - quoted in Brian Davis, “How to Write a Biblical, Narnia-Themed Sermon” © 2005 Sermoncentral.com.
4) Devin Brown, Inside Narnia © 2005 by Devin Brown, published by Baker Books.
