“Did he borrow that?” my eldest son asked. “The Stone Table breaking in two. Did he borrow that from the curtain tearing?”
My heart swelled. I shot a thrilled glance at my husband. “Yes. That is exactly where he (C.S. Lewis) got it.”
I had not planned on drawing all the parallels between Christ and the story of Aslan to my boys just yet. As we read the first of my favorite childhood books aloud together, (YES, Please read these books in published order… for some great arguments for that, see here, bottom of the page) I prayed that my sons would first fall in love with the story.
As they grow to love Aslan, I had hoped to later share how he is like Jesus. However, my 10 year old recognized it right away.
One of my house rules is ALWAYS READ THE BOOK FIRST. I do have some exceptions, but never when there is a great book. It also serves as motivation for us to finish the book, then we can watch the movie together. Since I have started reading aloud to all three of my boys everyday, we have read Indian in the Cupboard, The Greatest Gift (Advent book by Ann Voskamp), The Pilgrim’s Progress, and now we have started The Chronicles of Narnia. They all enjoy listening, even when they are old enough to read on their own. I relish this time as well, since it seems to be the only way I can finish a book lately. So today, we finished the book, made popcorn, and it was almost as if we were in the story ourselves since the view outside our window matched the everlasting winter in Narnia.
“Yes, the Stone Table breaking in half is like the veil in the temple ripping from the top to bottom when Jesus died on the cross,” we explained. We also discussed how Aslan dying for the traitor Edmund is like Jesus dying for us. This time, we left it at that.
To this day, when I picture Jesus as my Majestic King, the Lion of Judah, I still sometimes think back to Aslan.
I realize that what I love about Aslan- His unfailing love, His terrible roar, magnificent strength, boundless patience, subtle growls that set you right, His beauty, and His goodness- all who He is, it’s really God that my heart loves so. C.S. Lewis simply gave me a way to picture it in my mind. The way I longed for Narnia as a child was merely but a whisper of how I now long for my King and Heaven.
I don’t know if my boys will love Narnia the way I do. If they don’t find the stories as captivating as I do, still I pray that Jesus will call to their hearts in a way that stirs their souls and makes them yearn for His goodness.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Jodi Arndt 