Because everyone loves a good story
Aslan and Anastasis
Once upon a time, a little boy named Lawrence felt guilty. He was worried that he loved Aslan more than he loved Jesus. His mother wrote to C.S. Lewis and asked whether she should be concerned about this. Lewis’s response has brought comfort to hearts like Lawrence’s and mine ever since.
“Tell Laurence from me, with my love, [that he] can’t really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that’s what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things Jesus really did and said. So that when Laurence thinks he is loving Aslan, he is really loving Jesus: and perhaps loving Him more than he ever did before.”
Past Watchful Dragons
That’s why God himself often uses the power of story to transmit truth through our heads and into our hearts. This biblical tactic is also used with heart-melting force by Lewis in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The beauty, gentleness, ferocity, power, and humility of Aslan steal past the “watchful dragons” of our familiarity and callousness, bringing the truth of the gospel into poignant focus.
Another powerful truth-conveying medium is song. We’ve probably all been brought to tears by music at some point (even if we managed to suck it up in front of people). For me, the power of story and song collided this week as I practiced piano for church. I was singing and playing “O Praise the Name” from Hillsong, and images of Jesus and Aslan began coming to mind. The words about Jesus’ burial combined with scenes of Aslan’s death. My heart broke again over the brutal slaughter of my humble king. I began to cry.
Anastasis
The second name for the song “O Praise the Name” is “Anastasis.” I admit that I had to look up the word. In Christianity, the Greek word means resurrection, specifically the most glorious resurrection of all—that of Jesus Christ. The song ends not with the sorrow of the tomb but the splendor of the resurrection. Hallelujah!
So this week I wanted to give you the chance to praise the name of the Lord our God with me. My suggestion? Listen to the song. Then read the cutting from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe below. Then listen to the song again. For bonus points, read all of chapter 15 from the book and John 19:28-20:18 from the Bible. I know it’s not Easter time, but any day is a good day to meditate on the glory of Jesus. I hope you’re as encouraged by this as I was.
Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time: A Cutting
As soon as the wood was silent again Susan and Lucy crept out onto the open hill-top. The moon was getting low and thin clouds were passing across her, but still they could see the shape of the Lion lying dead in his bonds. And down they both knelt in the wet grass and kissed his cold face and stroked his beautiful fur—what was left of it—and cried till they could cry no more. And then they looked at each other and held each other’s hands for mere loneliness and cried again; and then again were silent.
At last Lucy said, “I can’t bear to look at that horrible muzzle. I wonder could we take if off?”
So they tried. And after a lot of working at it (for their fingers were cold and it was now the darkest part of the night) they succeeded. And when they saw his face without it they burst out crying again and kissed it and fondled it and wiped away the blood and the foam as well as they could. And it was all more lonely and hopeless and horrid than I know how to describe….
[To warm themselves, the girls] walked to the eastern edge of the hill and looked down…. As they stood for a moment looking out towards they sea…the red turned to gold along the line where the sea and the sky met and very slowly up came the edge of the sun. At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise—a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant’s plate.
“What’s that?” said Lucy, clutching Susan’s arm.
“I—I feel afraid to turn round,” said Susan; “something awful is happening.”
“They’re doing something worse to Him,” said Lucy. “Come on!” And she turned, pulling Susan round with her.
The rising of the sun had made everything look so different—all colours and shadows were changed that for a moment they didn’t see the important thing. Then they did. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.”Oh, oh, oh!” cried the two girls, rushing back to the Table.
“Oh, it’s too bad,” sobbed Lucy; “they might have left the body alone.”
“Who’s done it?” cried Susan. “What does it mean? Is it magic? “
“Yes!” said a great voice behind their backs. “It is more magic.” They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
“Oh, Aslan!” cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad.
“Aren’t you dead then, dear Aslan?” said Lucy.
“Not now,” said Aslan.
“You’re not—not a—?” asked Susan in a shaky voice. She couldn’t bring herself to say the word ghost. Aslan stooped his golden head and licked her forehead. The warmth of his breath and a rich sort of smell that seemed to hang about his hair came all over her.
“Do I look it?” he said.
“Oh, you’re real, you’re real! Oh, Aslan!” cried Lucy, and both girls flung themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.
“But what does it all mean?” asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
“It means,” said Aslan, “that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know: Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards. And now—”
“Oh yes. Now?” said Lucy, jumping up and clapping her hands.
“Oh, children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!”…
It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.
Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. New York, Harper Collins, 1950.
One Comment on “Aslan and Anastasis”
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Thanks for that great post on the description and use of anastasis in Narnia. Love how Lewis was able to use the power of story to show us the resurrection and sacrifice of Jesus for us. And I love how you are doing to same through your writing!