Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Loving Aslan More Than Jesus

The last time I read through the Narnia series (about a year ago) I remember thinking (with some measure of guilt) that I liked the character of Aslan more than I like Jesus. He seems more wild, dangerous, tender and free than the Jesus I am familiar with.

One concerned mother of a small child who said that he loved Aslan more than Jesus wrote to C.S. Lewis and asked his advice. The child's name was Laurence, and here is Lewis' response:

Laurence 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. (Letters to Children, p. 52-53)

What I love about Aslan is what I love about Jesus. It's just that my view of Jesus is so messed up by my own sin, woundedness and religious baggage that the real Jesus in the Scriptures is obscured.

The figure of Aslan is able to sneak into my heart through the "back door" of the imagination more easily. In loving Aslan, I love Jesus.

(thanks to blogger Tyler Kenney for posting this quote.)

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