Eyes on the Lion

"You have a traitor there, Aslan," said the Witch. Of course everyone present knew that she meant Edmund. But 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. - C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Anyone who has read Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia knows that Edmund did many terrible and shameful things - and his actions took him places far darker and life-threatening than he could have possibly imagined. Pursuing life on his own terms, he was willing to sacrifice everything to satisfy his own carnal and prideful desires. He only lived for himself. He wanted to be THE king before whom all others would grovel. In the end, the things he sought enslaved and almost killed him.

Edmund's story is compelling not because of how he extricates himself or becomes a better person, but because of what happens TO him. You see, Edmund should have died, he deserved to die, but the lion Aslan pursued him, delivered him from certain death, and then as the ultimate deliverance -satisfied the judgement Edmund deserved by dying in his place. When Edmund is accused of treason by the Witch, he has peace not because he had not done the terrible things of which she spoke, but because those things were taken care of by another. When Edmund looked to Aslan, every other thirst, desire, and fear faded completely away.

The image of Edmund looking to the Lion, unshaken by his accuser, is one that has stuck with me. Why? Because it is a picture of the Christian's hope - not something from within, but something given from without. I too am a traitor restored, a slave made free, a prodigal brought into the fold. I am not a good person, but I have a good savior.

My desire in this small venture here, and the writings that will follow, is to emulate Edmund - and direct my own, and other's, eyes to the Lion.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2

References

• Lewis, C. S., and Pauline Baynes. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, EPub ed., vol. 2, Harper, New York, NY, 2010.