journey through silence...

How often in the midst of conflict, especially when I 'feel' I am the one attacked have I lashed out in anger. Now, obviously it was to make the truth known or perhaps to defend my case and cause or to prove my rightness... And yet, my lashings out to those acting and speaking against me are from the selfishness and insecurities of my own heart. This selfishness and insecurity manifests itself at making others look bad to make myself look better. I am certainly along way from the way of Jesus in dealing with my 'enemies'...

Lewis, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe paints the scene of Aslan's unjust death better than almost anyone. As Susan and Lucy look on in secret at what the witch and her cohorts are doing to Aslan they watched with anticipation at the ferocious response Aslan would make at any minute. They knew with one swipe of his paw or one bite of his jaw he could have sent the enemy fleeing in fright. And yet Susan and Lucy notice something... 'they held their breaths waiting for Aslan's roar and his spring upon his enemies. But it never came.' How in the world could we follow in the way of Aslan... impossible.

For those not making the connection, Aslan is a certain and obvious Christ figure. Isaiah the prophet told us He would respond like this... 'He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.' How can the King of kings respond to such unjust cruelty from his inferior enemies as a Suffering Servant? He knew full well with one thought he could have destroyed his enemy in a moment.  Why did He not?

Grace... He suffered graciously so that we could experience His saving grace.

Oh, and by the way, He does defeat His enemy... just not in the way he (or she) would have thought. For Aslan is not laying on the stone table nor is Jesus in the grave...

Wonder at Jesus' sacrificial love as servant and triumphant rise as King!







 

journey in our spirit...

Few things make me feel a jump on the inside. But there are a few... a kiss from my wife, a moment of snuggling with my daughter, my son actually making the shot, the first hint of a Christmas carol played at a store, the first coolness of the fall, the first warmth of the spring... The Spirit moves within our spirits as we experience the goodness and joy of God's good gifts on this earth. Oftentimes, however, the One thing or the One Name that my spirit sometimes is immune to is the One Name it should respond to the most.  

Mr. Beaver was quite excited to tell the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve that Aslan was on the move. And Lewis writes eloquently about what happened in the spirit of the children at the sheer mention of the name of Aslan. "And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different... At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in his inside." I long to feel my spirit jump at the sheer mention of the Name of Jesus. I long to feel my spirit jump as I experience his presence. I long for the response a mere child can give at the mention of His Name.

This scene in Lewis' masterpiece reminds me of an account in the beginning of Luke's Gospel. In this account, Mary, the soon to be mother of Jesus, goes to visit her very pregnant relative Elizabeth. As soon as Mary, bearing Christ, enters the home Elizabeth 'feels something jump inside' or as Luke puts it "... the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit... and she exclaimed, 'As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy". Those that truly experience the Name and the Power of Jesus respond inside. It is inevitable.

May the Name of Jesus move your spirit to jump within you...      

journey through Narnia...

Our faith is only as firm as its object. Many people have faith, but many have no thing or no one in mind worthy of being trusted. Peter and Susan so desired to believe in Narnia as Lucy was proclaiming it. Yet, they could not bring themselves to trust in what to them seemed like a fantasy. They struggled so much with the concept that they even dared enter the professor’s study in the house and spoke with him about it. Their conversation concluded with thoughts that we hear elsewhere in Lewis’ writings… 

The professor debated with Peter and Susan over these three issues: First, was Lucy known to lie frequently? Peter and Susan responded in the negative claiming that Lucy was rather truthful. Second, was Lucy known to be crazy? Once again, Peter and Susan were forced to answer in the negative. Then according to logic states the professor, “There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” Peter and Susan had a reasonable object or person (Lucy) of faith in which to trust.

Lewis remarks elsewhere that we must view Jesus the same way. We have three options with Jesus’ claim to be God. One, Jesus was a liar. Two, Jesus was nuts. Or three, Jesus was telling the truth. The Scriptures give us quite a remarkable picture of Jesus who time and again claimed to be God and time and again proved that He was God in flesh. Many believed, many more doubted... The first ones to believe however were the most unlikely...  

In Eastern religions, there is a general religious belief in 'pantheism' that proposes that god is all and in all. It is not far fetched that god could take on the personality of a human. In the Roman world in which Jesus lived there was a religious belief of 'polytheism' where there were a multitude of gods. And these gods would visit from 'heaven' from time to time. In fact, Paul and Barnabas were mistaken for gods on one of Paul's missionary journeys. The disciples, however, were Jewish.... that is their religious system was monotheistic. For a Jew to believe in anyone being a God was the unpardonable sin. This is a chief reason the Jews crucified Jesus. 

For monotheistic Jewish men to believe, from what they saw and heard of Jesus, makes their claim credible. It makes the object of their faith worthy of trust. They had to come to grips with a conclusion: was Jesus lying, nuts or was He God? They gave their lives assenting to Jesus being God. 

One of the things that attracts me to Christianity is that, yes, it is a matter of faith. We are called to be ‘sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’. However, we also have quite an object of our faith. We worship a God who, while on earth, has a credible testimony of truth and was commended, not as one who was crazy, but as one who was wiser than all around Him. 

I pray that we would realize that ours is not a blind faith. While there are large parts of our faith that are based on things we cannot see, it is equally true that large parts of our faith are based on reason. May your faith be strengthened by the strength of its object.