Sunday Sermon
This weekend, I went to see the movie version of CS Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). Lewis was a very devout and Outspoken Christian. He wrote books defending the Christian faith, we have quoted him, when teaching Confirmation here, I have a book of Reflections on the Psalms written by him in my office. Lewis would weave in ideas of the Christian faith into what he wrote. I would call the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe an allegory of the Christian faith in that it means by telling a fictional story to explain a real story in message of the Christian Gospel. There are so many refrences to concepts from the Bible, that to stand up here and do justice for, would require hours. Before I keep preaching this morning, I must warn of plot spoilers in the next few minutes for those who might go see the movie, or read the book. But this is to illustrate how it connects with Today’s gospel which speaks of Jesus being the light in our world?
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a fantasy story in that it speaks of undiscovered worlds, talking animals, half-human/half-animal creatures, witches, and magic spells, it tells the story of four children, who enter into the world of Narnia . Narnia used to be a beautiful place with wonderful weather, but Narnia has since fallen victim to endless winter. Now the Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books, the first book The Magican’s Nephew speaks of the suffering of endless winter being brought on by a character ringing a bell he was told not to, which brought an white witch into rule Narnia. who has police and an army to see that her evil wishes are carried out. So Narnia had been transformed from paradise to a land with an evil dictatorship, and endless winter leading to much suffering for the creatures that live there.
The four children enter into the world of Narnia through contact with a wardrobe (Which I learned watching the movie is another way of describing a large dresser, When one of the children (Edmund) who I could probably best described as a rotten, spoiled child is in Narnia, he is tempted and promised by the white witch (who calls herself the queen of Narnia) to give him all the candy he wants, as long as he would serve the white witch by bringing her the other children.. When the four children are in Narnia they hear that a Lion named Aslan is coming back to Narnia, and Aslan hadn’t been in Narnia for many years. The The Magican’s Nephew tells of how Aslan is the creator of Narnia. The Children here a Prophecy about how Aslan is going to bring the end reign of the white witch , when four human children called (Sons of Adam, and Daughters of Eve) are in Narnia.
Edmund soon realizes after seeing the horrors of the reign of the white witch by seeing her put inhabintants of Narnia to death,
, the mistake that he made siding with the white witch and the forces of evil. Aslan’s followers than save Edmund from certain death by rescuing him from the white witch. Then occurred what I thought was one of the most touching scenes in the movie, where as soon as Edmund is rescued, Aslan tells Edmund that all he did will be forgiven. The White Witch then comes and finds Aslan forcing a meeting, demanding that he give Edmund to her, so he can be put the death. Since Edmund is a traitor, and all traitors have belonged to White Witch from the beginning of time. The White Witch had a point, Edmund for being a traitor, deserved any punishment, even death that he was going to receive. Aslan comes out of the meeting and tells everyone, that Aslan and the White Witch have figured out a way to settle the White Witch’s demands of the Justice of Edmund’s death. Aslan was going to die in the place, of this spoiled child. A couple of the children then see Aslan being put to death on a stone table, while being mocked and humiliated by the white witches’s forces, all the while Aslan doesn’t fight back. The white witch is convinced that she has achieved victory.
But then as two of the children sleep through the night the next day, they see that Aslan’s body is gone. They then see Aslan behind them and he tells them that the white witch had failed to see that when a willing victim of death, who had committed no treason or sin was killed as a traitor, the suffering brought to Narnia would begin to end. The story closes with the White Witch in a weakened state being killed by Aslan in a great battle, The four children then go on to live and reign as kings and queens of Narnia for years in the paradise as the suffering caused by the reign of the white witch was over.
What does this have to do with today’s scripture reading speaking of Jesus being the light of the world, one might ask? For Narnia was a land of perpetual winter, and suffering brought on by the reign of the white witch. When I was doing research this week on the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I thought that the White Witch was meant to illustrate the devil, but in reality the White Witch was mean to illustrate sin, and all sins consequences were illustrated by endless winter. Scripture desbribes in places like Job (10) , Micah (7) , Lamentations (3), and the Psalms (107) us living in a world of darkness, where we deal with suffering because of the consequences of human sin. The truth is everyone in this room will endure bad things in life. For the reality of sin is that has corrupted all of creation as stated in Romans (8) so that it will bring pain, it will bring suffering, and it will bring death. This is a reality of the darkness brought on by each and everyone of our sins. For myself and every person in this room is guilty of being sinner For Edmund, as for us, we deserve punishment for our sins and not a light in the darkness .
But there is a light in the darkness. One time I was working as a hospital chaplain in Fargo, and I was visiting a gentleman in his room who had been given that very day been given a dianogis of terminal cancer,. His son was taking the uncertainty hard by hitting the bottle, and called up his dad’s room to yell at him. He would tell me of the sadness his wife of around 40 years was going through. He was telling me how he would cry all night until eventually he fell asleep. For if I didn’t believe in Jesus Christ there was no nothing I could tell this guy, to offer any hope in this situation.
For the reason scripture refers to Jesus as Light in this world, is because scripture speaks of light as identical with salvation in Psalm 27, Isaiah 49, and Isaiah 60. It is this salvation from this darkness that gives us hope in these most difficult of situations. So what I could tell this guy as he was dealing with terminal cancer. I could remind him of the hope of salvation by telling him that Jesus Christ died on the cross for his sins as well as mine. For Christ didn’t die to save those who are perfect, Christ didn’t die to save those who lived holier lives than others, Christ died to save sinners, so that our sins may be forgiven. Christ died so he could undergo and overcome the punishment, we deserved. Christ died so we may have faith in the light of his salvation in our darkest, most difficult of hours. Christ died so believers don’t say on their death bed “Is this all there is” “Or now things are really going to get bad.” Christ died for us, out of his love for us, so on our days of greatest sadness, we may have hope that we shall be with Christ, some day in Paradise, not because of what we did, but because of what Christ did. Just as in Narnia, the children lived in Paradise because of Aslan’s death and resurrection, ending the reign of the white witch and the suffering it brought .
In Conclusion: Jesus is refered to as a light because he offers the hope of Salvation in the darkest of situations. Like Aslan in the movie, Jesus overcame sin by his sinless life as stated in 1 Peter 2, and overcame death by his resurrection, so we may overcome death and be with God upon our death as stated in Philipians 3. Edmund deserved death for his treachery, where we deserve death, and separation from God on account of our sins. But as Aslan died for the sake of Edmund, Christ died for our sake. But we don’t place our hope in a fictional story, but rather in Jesus Christ alone. So in this world of total darkness-,in this world of our endless winter, we have light in the darkness. A hope of salvation in that we will one day be with God in paradise on those darkest of days. This is why Jesus Christ is called the Light of the World.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a fantasy story in that it speaks of undiscovered worlds, talking animals, half-human/half-animal creatures, witches, and magic spells, it tells the story of four children, who enter into the world of Narnia . Narnia used to be a beautiful place with wonderful weather, but Narnia has since fallen victim to endless winter. Now the Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books, the first book The Magican’s Nephew speaks of the suffering of endless winter being brought on by a character ringing a bell he was told not to, which brought an white witch into rule Narnia. who has police and an army to see that her evil wishes are carried out. So Narnia had been transformed from paradise to a land with an evil dictatorship, and endless winter leading to much suffering for the creatures that live there.
The four children enter into the world of Narnia through contact with a wardrobe (Which I learned watching the movie is another way of describing a large dresser, When one of the children (Edmund) who I could probably best described as a rotten, spoiled child is in Narnia, he is tempted and promised by the white witch (who calls herself the queen of Narnia) to give him all the candy he wants, as long as he would serve the white witch by bringing her the other children.. When the four children are in Narnia they hear that a Lion named Aslan is coming back to Narnia, and Aslan hadn’t been in Narnia for many years. The The Magican’s Nephew tells of how Aslan is the creator of Narnia. The Children here a Prophecy about how Aslan is going to bring the end reign of the white witch , when four human children called (Sons of Adam, and Daughters of Eve) are in Narnia.
Edmund soon realizes after seeing the horrors of the reign of the white witch by seeing her put inhabintants of Narnia to death,
, the mistake that he made siding with the white witch and the forces of evil. Aslan’s followers than save Edmund from certain death by rescuing him from the white witch. Then occurred what I thought was one of the most touching scenes in the movie, where as soon as Edmund is rescued, Aslan tells Edmund that all he did will be forgiven. The White Witch then comes and finds Aslan forcing a meeting, demanding that he give Edmund to her, so he can be put the death. Since Edmund is a traitor, and all traitors have belonged to White Witch from the beginning of time. The White Witch had a point, Edmund for being a traitor, deserved any punishment, even death that he was going to receive. Aslan comes out of the meeting and tells everyone, that Aslan and the White Witch have figured out a way to settle the White Witch’s demands of the Justice of Edmund’s death. Aslan was going to die in the place, of this spoiled child. A couple of the children then see Aslan being put to death on a stone table, while being mocked and humiliated by the white witches’s forces, all the while Aslan doesn’t fight back. The white witch is convinced that she has achieved victory.
But then as two of the children sleep through the night the next day, they see that Aslan’s body is gone. They then see Aslan behind them and he tells them that the white witch had failed to see that when a willing victim of death, who had committed no treason or sin was killed as a traitor, the suffering brought to Narnia would begin to end. The story closes with the White Witch in a weakened state being killed by Aslan in a great battle, The four children then go on to live and reign as kings and queens of Narnia for years in the paradise as the suffering caused by the reign of the white witch was over.
What does this have to do with today’s scripture reading speaking of Jesus being the light of the world, one might ask? For Narnia was a land of perpetual winter, and suffering brought on by the reign of the white witch. When I was doing research this week on the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I thought that the White Witch was meant to illustrate the devil, but in reality the White Witch was mean to illustrate sin, and all sins consequences were illustrated by endless winter. Scripture desbribes in places like Job (10) , Micah (7) , Lamentations (3), and the Psalms (107) us living in a world of darkness, where we deal with suffering because of the consequences of human sin. The truth is everyone in this room will endure bad things in life. For the reality of sin is that has corrupted all of creation as stated in Romans (8) so that it will bring pain, it will bring suffering, and it will bring death. This is a reality of the darkness brought on by each and everyone of our sins. For myself and every person in this room is guilty of being sinner For Edmund, as for us, we deserve punishment for our sins and not a light in the darkness .
But there is a light in the darkness. One time I was working as a hospital chaplain in Fargo, and I was visiting a gentleman in his room who had been given that very day been given a dianogis of terminal cancer,. His son was taking the uncertainty hard by hitting the bottle, and called up his dad’s room to yell at him. He would tell me of the sadness his wife of around 40 years was going through. He was telling me how he would cry all night until eventually he fell asleep. For if I didn’t believe in Jesus Christ there was no nothing I could tell this guy, to offer any hope in this situation.
For the reason scripture refers to Jesus as Light in this world, is because scripture speaks of light as identical with salvation in Psalm 27, Isaiah 49, and Isaiah 60. It is this salvation from this darkness that gives us hope in these most difficult of situations. So what I could tell this guy as he was dealing with terminal cancer. I could remind him of the hope of salvation by telling him that Jesus Christ died on the cross for his sins as well as mine. For Christ didn’t die to save those who are perfect, Christ didn’t die to save those who lived holier lives than others, Christ died to save sinners, so that our sins may be forgiven. Christ died so he could undergo and overcome the punishment, we deserved. Christ died so we may have faith in the light of his salvation in our darkest, most difficult of hours. Christ died so believers don’t say on their death bed “Is this all there is” “Or now things are really going to get bad.” Christ died for us, out of his love for us, so on our days of greatest sadness, we may have hope that we shall be with Christ, some day in Paradise, not because of what we did, but because of what Christ did. Just as in Narnia, the children lived in Paradise because of Aslan’s death and resurrection, ending the reign of the white witch and the suffering it brought .
In Conclusion: Jesus is refered to as a light because he offers the hope of Salvation in the darkest of situations. Like Aslan in the movie, Jesus overcame sin by his sinless life as stated in 1 Peter 2, and overcame death by his resurrection, so we may overcome death and be with God upon our death as stated in Philipians 3. Edmund deserved death for his treachery, where we deserve death, and separation from God on account of our sins. But as Aslan died for the sake of Edmund, Christ died for our sake. But we don’t place our hope in a fictional story, but rather in Jesus Christ alone. So in this world of total darkness-,in this world of our endless winter, we have light in the darkness. A hope of salvation in that we will one day be with God in paradise on those darkest of days. This is why Jesus Christ is called the Light of the World.
posted by Stew at 9:06 AM
1 Comments:
Stew, I also used The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as a sermon illustration for this Sunday. The frozen, cursed world of Narnia which was to be delivered by Aslan lent itself so well to the themes of the day...plus, it is one of my favorite stories of all time.
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