Narnia Christmas Series
“The Adventure Begins”
Oakbrook Church 12/11/05
Intro.- Just curious, have any of you seen The Lion... ,yet?
Assoc. Press review by David Germain in Thursday’s Press Gazette-
3 stars out of 4; “a rollicking work of pure escapism definitely worth your time and money.”
Some journeys take us far from home, while others become adventures that lead us to our destiny. Such was the case for Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy in C.S. Lewis’s classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
They took a journey far from home and while there they discovered their destiny. The adventure begins as the children walk through the door of a wardrobe into the world of Narnia, where it is always winter and never Christmas.
Through cowardly and courageous choices they each face their fears and frailties, and as they do, their destiny unfolds, they become who they were destined to be.
The Story- The four Pevensie children are sent to stay in a professor’s rambling historic mansion to get them safely away from the urban bombings of WW II.
While the children are exploring the house they find an empty room, empty of everything but an ordinary old wardrobe. One day while playing hide & seek, Lucy, the youngest, hides in the wardrobe and when she presses her way behind the fur coats, she stumbles into Narnia.
Subsequently, her brother Edmund finds his way to Narnia where he meets the wicked White Witch Jadis. Eventually all the siblings enter the magical wardrobe and discover the fantasy world of Narnia, a frozen wonderland inhabited by talking animals, beasts, fauns, dwarfs, centaurs and giants. A land that has been cursed by the evil white witch Jadis, who has declared herself queen, casting Narnia into perpetual winter.
But according to Narnian prophecy two Sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve would arrive in Narnia, defeat the wicked witch, restore Narnia, and Rule Cair Paravel.
All of Narnia is instructed to be on the watch for sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. Everyone is ordered to report any sightings directly to the Queen; the penalty for withholding information or aiding one of the sons or daughters is to be turned into stone by the queen’s evil magic. When word of their presence in Narnia reaches her, Jadis targets the children for elimination.
The Children- The witch’s evil deception tempts Edmund to betray his family and this raises the stakes for Edmund and ultimately for Aslan, a talking lion who is the “True King of Narnia”.
C.S. Lewis uses the children to reflect parts of all of us, our frailties, failures and fears. We are not Peter, or Susan, or Lucy or Edmund, but rather there are parts of them in each of us; to different degrees at different times and in different ways. Throughout the story each child must face their own fears and failures and make choices, sometimes cowardly, sometimes courageously, but always with consequences.
Lewis doesn’t idealize the characters (except for Aslan), they are real, they all make mistakes, and they each experience the consequences of their mistakes. They each must deal with and work through their failures.
Edmund- Edmund is an independent self reliant, but troubled boy, he projects his own tendency toward selfishness and lying on others, (his siblings, the Beavers, Aslan)
Edmund is prone to selfish and deceitful behavior. He feels inferior to his older siblings, especially Peter. He believes they are always picking on him and that he is never good enough, or smart enough. Edmund doesn’t like to listen to others; he prefers his way. He doesn’t like to admit he’s been wrong. (ex. Edmund refuses to support Lucy’s finding of Narnia, b/c he had been teasing her that it didn’t really exist ...)
When Peter discovers Edmund’s deceit he calls him a “poisonous little beast.” Edmund thinks to himself “I’ll pay you all back for this.” And he does.
But after siding with the evil witch and betraying his siblings, Edmund realizes how foolish he has been and how cruel she truly is. But Edmund’s sincere repentance and his forgiveness by others are not enough to balance the moral scales of Narnia. The wicked witch invokes the “Deep Magic” law engraved on the Stone Table: the rule that any traitor, like Edmund, must forfiet his life as her lawful prey. Edmund is condemned to die. Consequences of his cowardly choices.
Peter the eldest, is the natural leader, he’s always fair, very respectful of other’s feelings and courageous. In spite of this he lacks self confidence, he’s not very sure of himself. When Mr. and Mrs. Beaver report to them the prophecy regarding the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve setting Narnia free, Peter quickly responds, “We’re not heroes.”
Or When called into his first battle by Aslan, he very honestly comments “I’m going to be sick.”
Yet his loyal courage flashes when he hears that Mr. Tumnus (the faun who first protected Lucy) when he hears that he had been taken by the white witch and was being held captive, probably frozen in stone, Peter agonizes, “There must be some way. This faun saved my sister.”
Peter’s a little bossy, inherit in being the 1st born I think, but he’s also very protective of his siblings, wanting to send them back to the wardrobe while he stays and fights the evil witch.
Susan Susan is the older sister, resourceful, very caring and sensitive, the mother of the four; very sensible, it was Susan that suggested they take the coats from the wardrobe, after all it is winter.
She’s a bit of a reluctant adventurer, even wimpy- when they enter Narnia and Peter proposes that they explore this new country Susan immediately responds to the cold and snow with”ugh”. Or later when they’re following a robin through the woods, he disappears and they see something moving in the thicket, “Let’s go home.” Susan doesn’t care to risk, she doesn’t want to rock the boat.
Then there’s little Lucy Lucy is the youngest she’s well mannered, kind, always truthful and quite adventuresome.
When she hears the frightening news concerning Mr. Tumnus (that he’s been captured, taken as a prisoner to the palace of the wicked White Witch and probably turned into a stone statue) she states, “we can’t, we can’t go back, what about Mr. Tumnus, we must do something.” Very caring for those she loves, but a little irresponsible and naive.
In Narnia the children find themselves engaged in a cause greater than themselves as they eventually join forces with Aslan, the powerful, wise, and awe-inspiring talking lion who is the “True King of Narnia”. They join forces to fight the White Witch and her evil forces to free Narnia from her frozen grip.
What lessons can we learn from the lives of the children? Many, but...
The Lessons- 1. Evil often tries to disguise itself; not by being the direct opposite of something good, but being similar to something good. Ex. Jadis when she first meets Edmund...
A great contrast once evil gets what it wants, or is thwarted from getting what it wants...
Evil trying to appear good.
She tempts Edmund with some Turkish Delight (describe) once she has him trapped, he never sees the Turkish Delight again; never experiences the fulfilling of the need that he first had when he tasted the delight. Such is the way of temptation and evil. It entices and promises, even delivers, temporarily, but then abandons us, and our final state is far worse than our first; (Edmund in chains in the witch’s palace) Instead of sitting on the throne as King he’s chained in the dungeon with a stale muffin and frozen tea.
All the while Edmund thought that this would be the way to get the approval of his siblings, to experience the power he had coming, to gain respect the he deserved. It seemed right to Edmund. Prov. 12:15... 14:12...
2. It matters what kind of person you are. In contemporary entertainment today we hear almost nothing about the character of the characters. Those who fill our movies, TV shows and contemporary novels are expected to simply entertain us, rather than teach truth, or challenge popular opinion or uphold values. Yet in the classics of the past the inner character of the individual was important, in fact a vital thread in the plot. (Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield, Of Mice and Men, Dr. Zhivago...) Who the characters were as people was paramount to the plot and to the outcome.
The character of the characters held the tension of the struggle within. Earlier writers, earlier generations, knew what we have largely forgotten, it matters what kind of person you are. It matters if you are becoming more fair, more kind, more honest, more forgiving, more like Jesus. We are becoming who we will be, by the choices we make.
Choices matter and there are always consequences to our choices.
Deut. 30:15,19...
Lesson #3, each child needed to face the reality of who they were to experience the destiny of who they would become.
Face the reality of who I am to experience the destiny of who I will become.
At the end of the story, after the battle, the 4 children are given the rule over Cair Paravel, they sit on the 4 thrones and each is given a new name. Their journey took then far from home, but the adventure led to their destiny.
Through cowardly and courageous choices they each faced their fears and frailties, and as they did, their destiny unfolded, and they become who they were destined to be. Kings and Queens.
Peter becomes- King Peter the Magnificent- courageous and confident
Susan becomes- Queen Susan the Gentle- bold and compassionate
Edmund becomes- King Edmund the Just- supportive and trusting
Lucy becomes Queen Lucy the Valiant- brave and wise
Conc. Each of us must face our own issues, our own fears and frailties. Can we, will we trust God with our fears, our doubts our regrets and our failures? The adventure of trusting God will lead us to our destiny; as Kings and Queens in His Kingdom.
We must realize that choices matter and consequences follow our choices.
The Narnia stories show us much about the spiritual battles that rage around us- good vs. evil; self vs. others; pride vs. humility; temptation vs. submission and a powerful sacrificial redemptive story.
But the story also tells us some things about ourselves as well; it tells us about the destiny God has in mind for each of us. That in this adventure called life we play our roles in this great drama, we prepare for our ultimate destiny by the choices we make, cowardly and courageous.
As the nation of Israel was about to embark on a new adventure into the promise land, their leader and friend, Moses, gave them this challenge.
Josh. 24:14-15 (The Bible)
“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”
“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Our daily life choices are impacted and directed by our ultimate life choice of who we will follow.
