Christmas in Narnia
“Of Course He’s Not Safe…But He Is Good!”
Luke 1&2, Matthew 1&2 Romans 8:28
At this time of year, I love going into offices, stores, even schools and hearing music celebrating the birth of Jesus – places you would never expect to hear a gospel message play music that contain some of the best and clearest sermons ever written! Of course that’s not true of all the music we hear played during this time of the year. Some of the so-called “Christmas music” we hear at this time of the year has nothing to do with Christmas at all – it’s all about the “holidays:”
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"
It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call
It’s the hap-happiest season of all[i]
That song not only misses the real meaning of Christmas – it’s just simply not an accurate statement – for many people, this is NOT the most wonderful time of the year!
Not when there is an empty chair at the table.
Not when your body is ravaged with illness.
Not when the depression is too much to bear.
Not when mom’s voice is not joining in the Christmas carols.
Not when you feel all alone - even in a crowd.
Not when you are not sure you can afford the rent or mortgage, let alone the presents.
Not when another Christmas party means he’ll come home drunk again – or not at all.
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year?” No, quite often it’s not. Sometimes Christmas is not all about cookies – sometimes it’s just crumby! Not only is it rough for some of us today – it was a difficult and scary time for the main characters in the Christmas story as well!
Oh, how we have glossed over the Christmas story! Joseph somehow didn’t mind that his girlfriend was pregnant and he wasn’t the father. Mary’s parents must have been thrilled! We picture Joseph smiling as the Innkeeper turns them away. We somehow make a smelly stable and a cold, stone feeding trough “romantic.” Mary miraculously delivers her first-born without pain. Instead of the animals doing what animals do, with the accompanying odor and mess, we have the ox and lambs keeping time to the Little Drummer Boy’s music! In the song Away in a Manger, we sing, “The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.” Oh, come on! How many babies have you been around that didn’t cry? Especially if they were laying on a mattress of straw?! It didn’t get any easier either. When Joseph and Mary went to the temple in Jerusalem 40 days after the birth to present Jesus to the Lord, they offered two pigeons for the sacrifice – a sign of abject poverty. In the days to come, this young family would become refugees, fleeing Bethlehem as the king sweeps through the city in an act of terrorism that killed every male child less than two years of age. Somehow, I just don’t think that Mary and Joseph would label those days as the “hap-happiest season of all!”
What we have done to the Christmas story is just the beginning of what we have done to the entirety of Jesus’ life. We’ve portrayed him the Lamb of God, the one with children crawling all around Him. Think of the typical picture of Jesus, especially that brown one, looking off into the distance, where he has the long soft-looking hair that looks like he spent all day at the beauty parlor, and those soft looking feminine eyes. People like that Jesus because he’s safe:
“He’s not going to judge anyone!”
“He’s not going to confront my sin.”
“He’s loving, and He will have mercy on everyone and take them into heaven when they die.”
“He’s good!” “He’s safe!”
That kind of thinking leaves us with a distorted picture of Christ.
In “The Chronicles of Narnia,” C.S. Lewis tells the story of a land held under bondage by the curse of the White Witch – a land where it’s always winter, but never Christmas. The inhabitants of Narnia have long ago lost the memory of warmth and sunlight, they cannot recall joyous or happy times – but they hold out hope – they look forward to a day when deliverance will come to their land – when the rightful ruler of Narnia will return and do battle with the Witch, and bring renewed life and liberation to their land. That ruler is named Aslan – and while the Narnians speak of him in hushed tones, just the sound of his name fills the air with excitement. Upon first hearing of him, Lucy asks who Aslan is. Mrs. Beaver replies:
“I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe?
Of Course he isn’t safe. But he is good.”[ii]
Aslan, in the Chronicles, is a portrait of Jesus Christ. In fact, CS Lewis said that he did not set out to write an allegory about Jesus – but rather a supposition. He started out by asking, “Suppose Jesus were to come to a world of talking animals, how would He come?” Aslan is intended to be a representation of Christ.
How, then, can Lewis claim that Aslan is not safe? Isn’t Jesus safe? Isn’t He ultimate good?
Jesus is, in fact, good – after all He is God! He is indeed called “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” And He does love children, and welcomed them to his side. He did forgive those who abused Him, and He encouraged His followers to do the same – but if we only see one side of who Jesus us, we are at great risk of misunderstanding who He is, His nature and how we should respond to Him.
In a single chapter of the Bible, Revelation chapter 5, Jesus is described as both the “Lamb of God” and the “Lion of Judah.” He is described as the One who was sacrificed, and the One who has prevailed. The Lamb who was slain, and the Lion who is victorious. His is good – but He’s not safe. And the life of a Christ-follower is not one of safety, riches and comfort. Believing so is bad theology, and it leads to disappointment, discouragement and defeat.
When we tell ourselves that Christians always have it safe and good, and then things go bad, we doubt our faith, we are perplexed by adversity, and we set ourselves up for confused anger. A quick look at the Bible and you will see that the life of a God-follower has NEVER been safe.
Ø Abraham had to leave his home and go to a land he did not know in obedience to God.
Ø Later, he had had to take his only son up a mountain and place him on an alter. That couldn’t have been great for either of them!
Ø Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape, and spent years in prison.
Ø King Saul chased David all over the Judean hills – out of nothing more than paranoia and jealousy!
Ø Jeremiah went to jail for telling the people what God told him to say!
Ø Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, falsely accused and ultimately beheaded for his teaching.
Ø The book of Hebrews tells us that people of faith were “sawn in two, tempted, slain with the sword, destitute, afflicted and tormented.”
The life of a Child of God doesn’t sound too safe does it? Christmas wasn’t safe either. Over the last several weeks I have been reading and re-reading the Christmas accounts from Matthew and Luke. I realized something a couple of weeks ago that I guess I had never really thought about before. You know, I don’t know if there are any other four chapters in the Bible where the word afraid appears more than in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. It was a time when it seems everyone was afraid or anxious.
Zacharias - Luke 1:12ff
Mary – Luke 1:29ff
Joseph – Matthew 1:20ff
Shepherds – Luke 2:8ff
Joseph (again!) – Matthew 2:22ff
And these are just examples of fear – imagine the other struggles and emotions that people were going through at this time. Zacharias couldn’t speak (Elizabeth must have love that part!) and they had to face the prospects of raising a baby when they were both old – that’s an unexpected struggle, and couldn’t have been easy. Imagine Mary facing the neighbors and family members throughout her pregnancy - and for the rest of her life - with the stigma of being an unwed mother. Consider the discomfort and frustration of traveling to a far away city in the last days of her pregnancy, and not finding suitable lodging. The people of Bethlehem “marveled” at the words of the shepherds. The wise men had to return home by another route out of fear of Herod. Herod himself and the entire city of Jerusalem were all “troubled” by words of the Magi. And of course the people of Bethlehem suffered terribly at Herod’s command that the baby boys be killed.
So what’s the point?
The point is this – Christmas was not a “safe” time for them, and following God is not “safe” for us either – but it is the right thing to do! Following Jesus doesn’t mean that you’re mortgage will be paid off – or that your interest rates will be below the market. Following Jesus doesn’t mean that your car will always start and run without troubles. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that illness will never hit your home, or that death will never break your heart. In fact, Jesus made some statements that are shocking:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” (Matt 10:34)
“Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me." (Mark 10:21)
About Paul, He said, “I will show him the things he must suffer for me.” (Acts 9:16)
Jesus is not safe but he is good. He has provided for us a way to the Father. Salvation is through Christ and Christ alone. There may be times it may be terrifying but we must put our trust in him. Even when it’s hard, even with it’s not safe. We must always trust in His goodness.
In a later Chronicles book, “The Silver Chair,” a young girl by the name of Jill Pole visits Narnia. When she gets there she is very thirsty and she spots a beautiful little stream but between her and the water is a huge lion, Aslan, and she is too frightened to go toward the water.
”Do you eat girls?” She asked.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys and women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion…
“I daren’t come and drink, “ said Jill
Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
”Oh dear!” said Jill coming a step nearer. “I suppose I must go look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion
There is no other source for the water of life than through Jesus Christ. If you have not come to Jesus and trusted him with your life, is it because you are afraid of what he might do to you? Maybe He’ll demand you give up some habit you love – maybe He’ll call you to some far away mission field. I don’t know about those things, but I do know this – He will ask you to give up control over your life and surrender it to His control. ("Narnia: Not A Tame Lion" Pastor Ray Carter)
“Pastor Bob, You’re not selling this thing the right way! You should be sugar coating it – tell me I’ll be rich like those TV guys! Tell me I’ll marry the perfect woman – or that my failed marriage will be perfect! My teenagers won’t rebel – my parents won’t get sick - tell me about “joy to the world” and “peace on earth!”
There is joy – joy that goes beyond happiness because it is not dependant on what happens. There is peace – it’s a peace from God that transcends all understanding – because it’s a peace that we have even when things don’t go the way we want. It’s a peace that comes from knowing that Jesus isn’t safe – but He is good.
God never promises that all things will be good for those who love Him – what He promises in Romans 8:28 that He will make all things work together for good, to those who love Him – that good is described in the next verse – so that we can be conformed to the image of His Son. God uses the harsh, the difficult and the struggles of this life to shape us more and more like Jesus…He teaches us patience, goodness, meekness, self-control obedience and faith as we face the uncertain times and the unexpected trials of life.
So if this season isn’t “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” for you – that’s OK – the story of Christmas, and the story of Jesus’ entire life, is not a story of ease and comfort – it’s not a safe story. Jesus left the glory of heaven to come to live among humans. He left the streets of gold, to walk dusty trails of earth. He laid aside the glory that was his as Creator to become one of the created. He grew tired, he suffered from hunger and thirst. He had nowhere to lay his head. He was abandoned by his closest friends when times got tough. He died a cruel and unfair death. There’s nothing safe about His story – but it’s all good.
And the same can be true for you. Allow God to be God in your life – place your life in the paws of the Lion of Judah – You’ll be able to live your life in the confidence of knowing that even when it’s not easy, comfortable or safe, it in His hands, and it’s under His good control.
Prayer
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[i] It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year © 1963 By Eddie Pola and George Wyle
[ii] CS Lewis: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe © 1950, 1978 by CS Lewis Pte.Ltd. Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, NY.
