In the allegorical tale TheLion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan are sent to live with a Professor in the country in order to be safe from the air raids on London during WW II. One rainy day while playing hide and seek Lucy hides in a wardrobe. After going through rows of fur coats, she finds herself in the land of Narnia. In Narnia she had tea with a faun, who tells her about the White witch, who has Narnia under her control. The white witch has caused it to be always Winter and never Christmas in Narnia.
When Lucy tells Peter, Edmund and Susan how she entered Narnia through the wardrobe, they don’t believe her. They even go into the wardrobe and show her that it has a wooden back.
The next day while again playing hide and seek, Edmund follows Lucy into the wardrobe. Edmund discovers that there really is a Narnia which may be entered through the wardrobe.
Instead of following Lucy to the faun’s cave, Edmund meets the white witch who says she is the Queen of Narnia. She feeds him enchanted Turkish delight—once you tasted it, you wanted more and more. If allowed people would eat so much of it, it would kill them. The white witch lies to Edmund, she tells him that if he brings his brother and two sisters to her, she will give him more Turkish delight. She says she would raise him as a Prince and someday he would be King of Narnia. He could wear a gold crown and eat Turkish delight all day. Edmund sees the white witch and her desserts as beautiful.
When Lucy and Edmund return to the Professor’s house via the wardrobe, Edmund lies to Peter and Susan. He says Narnia only exists in Lucy’s imagination. Peter and Susan are concerned about their Sister and go to consult with the Professor. They tell the professor the whole story of Lucy, Edmund, the wardrobe and Narnia. The logical Professor replies, “Either your sister is telling lies, or 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 … we must assume that she is telling the truth.”(The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, New York: Collier Books,1970, p.45).
A few mornings later, while attempting to stay out of the way of house guests, Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan all enter the wardrobe. Peter and Susan discover that Lucy was telling the truth and that there really is a Narnia. In Narnia the four children meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver who tell them that Aslan is on the move and coming back to Narnia. Aslan the lion is the true King and Lord of the wood. When Aslan returns to Narnia, he will put the white witch in her place and ’put an end to Winter and the evil time in Narnia’. Spring and new life will come at last to Narnia.
Before facing other adventures in Narnia, three of the four children and the beavers meet Father Christmas. Father Christmas gives the children the tools they will need for what lies ahead. He gives Peter a sword and shield; he gives Susan a quiver of arrows, a bow and a horn to summon help; he gives Lucy a dagger and a bottle of healing potion. After giving out gifts, Father Christmas cries out, "A Merry Christmas! Long live the true King!"
I could share more of this story with you, but in the interest of time, I’ll just encourage you to see the movie. So what does The Lion, The witch and the Wardrobe have to do with Christmas? Everything.
Evil seeks to be sovereign in our cosmos. Evil masquerades as beautiful, enticing, something to be desired. Evil can be so tempting and appealing. But once evil has gotten hold of us, it freezes us in its grip. Evil causes it to be always winter and never Christmas--at least not Christmas, as we understand Christmas. Evil promises one thing and delivers something else. It traps us, separating us from God and each other.
But Christmas reminds us that Christ is on the move! The baby born 2000 years ago has already defeated evil and can put an end to the icy cold grip which evil has on us. Christ is on the move bringing Spring, bursting forth with new life and new opportunities. It may seem that evil reigns supreme in our cosmos, but the true King of kings and Lord of lords has already defeated evil and he shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah.
Through the wardrobe the four children entered another world. Through the stable we enter another world. As ‘sons of Adam and daughters of Eve’ we humbly approach the stable. As we enter the stable with a child like faith, we encounter a new world. Without faith we will only see a stable with a back wall. With faith we see a stable that leads to a whole new realm, a whole new way of living.
Through the stable we see what we truly desire in life. “All our restless striving, our rushing here and there, our grabbing and getting, our buying and accumulating, all was an attempt to find what we”(Bishop William H. Willimon, Pulpit Resource, Vol 33, No. 4, p.63) truly desire. The stable shows us that light and life has come to planet Earth and that is what we truly desire.
Some do not enjoy Christmas, because their expectations are too high. Their preparations have been frantic and stressful. They want the day to be perfect and worthy of a ‘Norman Rockwell’ painting. They want for one day to have no family squabbles. Their expectations are way too high!
Our Christmas expectations are centered on the stable. The stable serves as a silent reminder that what we truly desire cannot be ordered from a catalog or purchased through a Christmas savings account. What we truly desire is for God to bring light and life into our darkened world. And that light and life is a gift, which cannot be bought. It can only be received as we humble ourselves and kneel in front of a stable.
As we enter the stable, we see life as God intended it to be lived. We see new life and new possibilities. We see a world of truth and grace and love, where people are truly set free from the icy cold grip of evil. Christ came to set us free. The law could not set us free; the prophets could not set us free; the great stories of faith cannot set us free. It is only Christ who can set us free from the icy cold grip of evil.
While in Narnia, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy faced the same spiritual and moral issues they faced back home in England. Narnia is not paradise as long as the white witch is there. Planet Earth is not paradise as long as evil is present. But God gives us the gifts and tools we need to engage in our struggle against evil. God encourages us to strive for perfection and assures us that He is with us. Emmanuel—God is with us. God is on the move; the stable shows us that God is on the move.
That is why we sing the Hallelujah Chorus; that is why we sing Joy to the World, the Lord is come. Because God is on the move, bringing light and life to a dark world. As we end 2005, we see that much is still not right on planet Earth. We still live in a world of hurricanes and natural disasters. We still live in a world of corrupt city governments and elected officials. We still live in a world that wants to secularize and materialize Christmas and squeeze Christ out of Christmas. We still live in a world of violence and war. We may in despair bow our heads, there is no peace on earth we may say. But
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, The right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men!” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
And so it is with hope and joy, I say.
Merry Christmas! Long live the true King!
