As Christmas approaches some of you might be tempted to go a see the new movie version of ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. Lin and I went last week and enjoyed it very much. This is the first Disney film to teach me something about Jesus (although I suppose C S Lewis had something to do with it), so I thought I’d share it with you.
For those of you who don’t know the story, the climax (at least from my reading) is when Aslan the mighty lion allows himself to be executed by the Witch, for the wrong deeds done by Edmund. The parallels with the gospel story are obvious. However, the thing that really struck me as I watched the scene unfold was how willingly Aslan allows himself to be bound, mocked, abused and killed. He is a powerful lion, and could easily overpower his captors. He could tear at them with his claws, and terrify them with his roar. And yet he is submissive; he behaves like a pussy cat.
I have been studying Isaiah this year, and the same week we looked at how God defeated the Assyrian army and saved Jerusalem (chapters 36-37). As God strikes down 185,000 men, we see his terrible judgement, as well as his incredible power and might. The King of Assyria mocks the Israelites for thinking their God will save them, when the gods of the other nations had failed to do so. And yet our God is powerfully vindicated and shown to be the Lord of all the nations.
When we consider that Jesus Christ is this God of power and might, it puts his journey to the cross in a different perspective. At first glance he looks like a dejected and defeated man being led to execution, but in reality he is the powerful ruler of the nations humbling himself for us. Though he was ‘led like a lamb to the slaughter’ he is in fact the mighty Lion of Judah. We sometimes forget how perverse it is that the Lord of all should be a man hanging on a cross. Jesus submits himself to mockery, abuse and death, so that we will not feel his terrible judgment. How amazing that God should do such a thing for us!
Have a very Merry Christmas!
# posted by Chris Allen @ 11:19 PM
