Lee and I have recently been reading through The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis together. Strangely enough, I never read these books as a child, but they are such a blessing to read as an adult! The way Lewis weaves rich theological principles into his stories is nothing short of brilliant. Over the next couple of days, I want to share with you some excerpts from Lewis' The Silver Chair, which really spoke to me in a powerful way.
In this story, two children named Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb enter the fantastical world of Narnia where they go on the adventure of a lifetime. Throughout the series, we see the lion Aslan reappear again and again. He is the king of Narnia and is the character Lewis uses to symbolize Jesus Christ. In the following excerpt, Jill encounters Aslan for the first time at a stream.
"And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.
'If you're thirsty, you may drink.'
They were the first words she had heard since Scrubb had spoken to her on the edge of the cliff. For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, 'If you are thirsty, come and drink,' and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking. Anyway, she had seen its lips move this time, and the voice was not like a man's. It was deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice. It did not make her feel any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.
'Are you not thirsty?' said the Lion.
'I'm dying of thirst,' said Jill.
'Then drink,' said the Lion.
'May I--could I--would you mind going away while I do?' said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.
The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.' (The Silver Chair, p. 20)."
I love this passage! The following paragraphs are equally as incredible, but we'll discuss those next time.
In this passage, we see a description of Aslan, who is a symbol of Christ. Lewis chooses a lion to portray Jesus, which is a great choice in my opinion. The first emotion that Jill encounters when she sees Aslan is fear. She is afraid he is going to devour her! However, once she hears him speak, we read that she is still frightened, but in a different way. We have to get past the horrible illustrations that we have in our mind of Jesus that have been in picture Bibles and paintings. The Jesus they portray can't possibly depict His divinity. Jesus is not the wimpy and weak-looking guy artists often portray Him as. He is fully God...a perfect, majestic, powerful, and mighty King! The initial reaction we get when encountering this supernatural and divine being is fear...fear at the sheer power and wonder of such a mighty God. Lewis describes Aslan's voice as unlike any man's, because it was "deeper, wilder, and stronger; a sort of heavy, golden voice" (20). Clearly we don't know what Jesus really sounds like, but I love this description by Lewis. Our Lord is mighty, great, and yes, fearsome. Would you really want to worship anyone else?
Jill is dying of thirst and is quite desperate at this point. Aslan invites her to come and take a drink if she is thirsty. Jill is hesitant to do this and certainly doesn't jump at the invitation. She asks if the Lion can go away while she drinks. After she asks this, she realizes that this was a ridiculous question to ask and compares it to asking a mountain to move.
What is Lewis getting at by this story? We are like Jill, many of us dying of thirst, longing for someone to satisfy and fill us. Jesus is standing there with open arms, inviting us to drink from Him, for He is the Living Water. When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, He told her about this Living Water: "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life'" (John 4:13-14). Many times we'll try to look to other places to fill our thirst...guys, material things, entertainment...but doing so never brings lasting satisfaction. Jill quickly realized her foolishness when she asked Aslan to move out of the way. Our Lord is unshakable and immovable, and you can't get around Him! He is everywhere all of the time (omnipresent).
Are you thirsty right now? What is keeping you from running into the open arms of Jesus and drinking His Living Water to your heart's content? Stop trying to seek other ways to satisfy you, because it's useless to do so. Only He can satisfy your thirst and "pour water on the thirsty land" (Isaiah 44:3).
