Bowing Before Aslan
Today, I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time. I have never read the fictional fantasy books by the late C. S. Lewis, but I do appreciate Lewis’ other writings very much. The movie itself was, to my taste, not quite as entertaining as it could have been. What I did notice, however, was the beauty of the pictures presented in it. I watched intently, searching for details that were designed by Lewis to mimic the gospel story in some way. What I saw during this adventure of discovery brought me to tears.
There is a scene at the end where the resurrected Aslan (a lion representing Jesus) is helping to coronate the four kids in the story as monarchs over various realms of Narnia. It suddently occurred to me all over again that Jesus is not merely the human, suffering Savior, but the risen and triumphant King. And furthermore, His worthiness to be followed and worshipped overwhelmed me. I sat there thinking, “I want to live all of my life for “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” Jesus Christ.
One of the aspects of the movie that I enjoyed the most was the courage with which Aslan was portrayed. We think of Jesus as compassionate, wise, gentle, but rarely do we think of Him as the confident warrior or the courageous King. I’m not sure of all of the symbology in the movie, but I do plan on seeing it again (and, of course, reading the book along with the rest of the series). In the meantime, I’m reminded of the picture John saw in his revelation. First, no one was worthy to claim the title deed to planet earth. Then John records, “one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain…” He was slain for you!
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