looking at Aslan

A couple weeks ago my phone went missing. I was without a phone for nine days, and the original one has still not been found. (Luckily, my parents had a spare that I am now using.) It was strange to be without it, but really, really nice, too. Keep track of your things, but remember that your phone was not created to be an extension of you.

Nevertheless, over that week I had a lot of free time that would have otherwise been occupied by some mindless scrolling. So, I read a book. I walked down to the dock, started The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and sat there without distraction until Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy tumbled back out of the wardrobe.

And I met a character in a new way.

I've read this book numerous times and seen the movie probably the same amount. Like many, I've always been partial to Lucy (and not just because we share a name). She is the original explorer of Narnia and a beautiful picture of childlike faith. She is fun, kind, and diligently loyal to the truth of Narnia. I've respected Susan and Peter, as the older siblings who lead the younger in wisdom and humility even, as shown in their apologies to Lucy.

Here's a recap of the book:

The four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy) are sent to a country home during WWII. Lucy finds a wardrobe, which happens to be a passage to another world. No one believes her. One day, Edmund follows her in, but they end up on vastly different sides of the land. Lucy is welcomed by friendly creatures, while Edmund meets a Great Witch. Herein we find the truth of Narnia: it has been lured into a great winter that only four human beings can end (two sons of Adam, two daughters of Eve).

The Witch hears that Edmund has a brother and two sisters and tells him to bring them back. She has been feeding him a delicious batch of Turkish delight, and because he wants more. He acquiesces. He comes back with all three siblings, but Lucy knows that the Witch is evil and refuses to go. The other two decide to stay with Lucy. Edmund returns to the Witch. The other three go to meet the most powerful being in Narnia, the Great Lion Aslan. The Narnian creatures all say that He can save Edmund.

Meanwhile, the White Witch hears of Aslan's return to Narnia and becomings increasingly frightened of Him and his power and sets out to meet and defeat Him at the Stone Table. The Lion meets the other children and begins a similar journey to the Stone Table.

The Witch becomes more and more paranoid about the power of Aslan, and begins to bind Edmund to ensure his death and her power. Then, all of the sudden Edmund is saved by the Aslan's army. We do not fully understand why he was saved or even how– we simply know he was. When he is cogent, he finds himself in a conversation with the Lion. Words were exchanged but not recorded by Lewis. The conversation is private, save for the boy and His Savior. 

Aslan has a conversation with Edmund about the boy's choices and then declares it a closed matter. He looks the other Pevensies in the face and says that Edmund's past is no longer relevant.

This is where we find our friends. Edmund has reunited with his three siblings and they are relieved at his restoration among them, but in their excitement they have forgotten that the White Witch is not far behind. When she appears in the camp, her presence demands attention. I imagine Peter's eyes narrow as he set his feet, Susan cowers but still peers at her, and that Lucy stands on her tiptoes to gaze upon the giant. The attention of the each person in the crowd is riveted upon the newcomer... all except for Edmund.

“You have a traitor there, Aslan,” said the Witch. Of course everyone present knew that she meant Edmund. Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he’d been through and after the talk he’d had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn’t seem to matter what the Witch said.

Edmund does not share the same fear as his family or friends, he is not fazed by his accuser. This passage floored me, and I'll tell you why.

1. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9. (Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he’d been through and after the talk he’d had that morning.)

It is easy to read Edmund as an indifferent villain, I think. I always felt that Edmund did not get what he deserved, and reveled in scraping past punishment. He seems like a recipient of grace who cares very little about the gift He has been given. I think that is an overly errant read, for Edmund is deeply aware of his redemption. 

Edmund is a traitor, and he knows it throughout the entirety of the book. Though he is blinded by Turkish Delight and pride, throughout the whole book there is an undercurrent of guilt within his soul. When he arrives in Aslan's camp, everyone stares upon him– the other brother, the traitorous one. In the humiliated and humbled posture of Edmund's heart, he is acutely aware of his sin. 

But, he is far more acutely aware of his Savior. Think about the worst thing you've ever done: you get caught and found out. Everybody knows. The person in authority pulls you aside to tell you why you were definitely in the wrong but still definitively forgiven. Then, you and the authority see your siblings and before they can laugh or scold you, the authority figure says that your actions are never to be revisited.

Yeah. That's what Aslan did for Edmund– that's what Jesus does for us. 

Edmund is no longer thinking about his sin or himself, because all he can think about is this King who has been gracious to him.

So, when the witch condemns in the presence of the Lion who has already acquitted, upon what do we reflect?

2. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2. (He just went on looking at Aslan.)

Edmund has just left a conversation with his Savior. Yes, Aslan is the Savior that Edmund willingly sold out for a bite of Turkish Delight.

Edmund has taken a drink both both the wellspring of death that seems satisfying and now the    wellspring of life that has is salvific. This young boy has fallen into earthly temptation and it has taken him farther than he wants to go and kept him longer than he wanted to stay. In his conversation with the Great Lion, he discovers rest. I have a feeling Aslan gave Edmund a glimpse of what was to come.

"Son of Adam, your choice necessitated death, and I will die on your behalf. But I will rise again, and you will share in fullness upon my resurrection." I believe C.S. Lewis imagined the conversation went similarly to this. Why? Because that is how my conversation with the Great Lion went, and Lewis' was  likely akin to that as well.

Jesus, our Great Lion, our Warrior King, meets us where we are and tells us what He has done on our behalf. I believe our conversations all go differently, but Christ's response remains the same. He loves us, He speaks to us, He seeks us out.

Thus, when the Witch appears, when temptations and evil arises, our instinct should be to go on looking at Aslan, to fix our eyes upon the Author and the Perfecter of our faith for that is the only thing worth looking at. He found joy in what was to come– Eternal glory with the Father and communion with the saints.

Edmund knows that the White Witch will provide unfulfilling solutions to his desire, but he has been rescued by the Lion who fulfills his deepest need. For Edmund, there is no question that his gaze should be fully fixated upon Aslan. Nothing else is worth looking at.

So, when the witch stands across the Lion, where do we look?

3. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1. (It didn’t seem to matter what the Witch said.) The White Witch is still speaking, and the crowd is still listening. The words she is saying are not unfounded– they are, in fact, true! She does not know that is truth is no longer true, or that it will rather soon be rendered irrelevant. Three pairs of human ears are pricked in fear, but one does not listen at all. A sacrifice is about to atone for Edmund's misdemeanors, and only the Lion and the other boy know it.

You see, Peter, Susan, and Lucy have not yet been told the end of the story. They know a fight is coming, and they've been preparing. They didn't know that their brother might have to lose his life. Fear radiates through them because they do not know the end. His condemnation resounds and feels final.

My friend Edmund, though, knows the end of the story. Again, I'm inclined to believe that Aslan told him what was happened, but maybe not. Maybe he has just met a merciful Master who is a reprieve from the thankless taskmaster he first served, and is willing to die because of the grace gifted him. Regardless, he is confident in the moment. The Witch's words didn't matter.

Her message didn't fall on Edmund's deaf ears, it fell on his faith. The Lion had been good to him before, and He would continue to be good. Nothing else seemed to matter.

When the witch speaks in the presence of the Lion, whose message do we hear?

And what happens to Edmund? 

He rules Narnia alongside his siblings for hundreds of years. He is a major player in three more installments of the Narnia series (Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Last Battle) and a minor player in one (The Horse and His Boy). He is called King Edmund the Just, which made me tear up. Edmund, the young boy who had so felt the glories of mercy became the reigning judge and giver of mercy. The prideful, foolhardy middle schooler becomes an extension and extender of the mercy of the Lion.

On an even more sober note, The Last Battle speaks of Susan's split from Narnia, that perhaps she never fully built her life on the power of the Lion. We like to think of Edmund as a wayward wanderer who is unworthy of forgiveness, but when he receives it, he responds, and he never truly stops responding.

Edmund Pevensie is a picture of the Christ follower. Of me, of you, of who you can one day be because the Lion's offer stands for you, too. He is despicable and vile, and then He meets a Lion who saves Him and cleanses Him and everything else ceases to matter. The land that he was convinced his kid sister made up becomes the land of his salvation because it is the home of his Savior and his true home.

May our minds linger only on the Savior. May our gaze not waver from the Lion. May our ears only hear the truth of our King. May we be Edmund Pevensie, the broken brother who is enraptured by the Father.

"Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love." Micah 7:18

Love you, mean it.