Our Last Battle (6)

 Six – Not A Tame Lion?

While Lewis titles chapter three, The Ape in Its Glory, I think the question for the reader is, “What do I see happening as a result of the Ape having such glory?” That is, what do we see happening on the inside of people as a result of the Ape’s words and actions?

Here is the second phase of Our Last Battle, while this phase was introduced in Chapter Two, it comes into focus in Chapter Three. It is a phase that is deeply ingrained in the professing church of our own day, whether it styles itself conservative, progressive, liberal, or with, I suppose, any other label – including the label of “no label.” 

In Chapter Two, as the King and Jewel are rejecting Roonwit’s warning not to believe that lie that Aslan has returned, Jewel argues that Aslan need not be consistent with the stars that Roonwit points to because Aslan is not a Tame Lion. At this Tirian cries, “Well said, well said, Jewel. Those are the very words: not a tame lion. It comes in many tales.”

Then in Chapter Three, as Tirian and Jewel deal with their shame over the murder of two Calormenes, who were unarmed, and struggle with how it is possible that Aslan would decree the enslavement of Narnians, the destruction of Narnian trees, and an alliance with the Calormenes, Tirian says again, “He is not a tame Lion.” 

Later, when Jewel and Tirian are brought before the Ape and witness the Ape’s interaction with the crowd, we see a Boar asking Shift why the people can’t actually see Aslan and talk to him. The Boar points out that in the old days, when Aslan appeared, people clearly saw him and spoke to Him face to face. 

The Ape responds by saying that times have changed and that Aslan will “teach you to think he’s a tame lion.” 

A Bear then says, “We want to hear Aslan speak for himself.”

A young lamb then asks how Aslan could be friends with Tash, a god who is worshipped with human sacrifice. Then the Ape gets things out in the open with the statement, “Tash is only another name for Aslan…Tash is Aslan: Aslan is Tash.” 

Finally Tirian comes to his senses, “Ape,” he cried with a great voice, “you lie. You lie damnably. You lie like a Calormene. You lie like an Ape.”

This phase of Our Last Battle can be thought of as knowing Aslan, or knowing Jesus – as opposed to believing and accepting a caricature of Him. This includes seeing the perfect harmony and correspondence between Aslan and the stars, or more perfectly, between Jesus and His Word. 

Let’s explore a few of the threads inherent in this phase of Our Last Battle. 

The first thread has to do with the idea that Aslan is not a Tame Lion, an image we find in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Mr. Beaver had warned the Kings and Queens concerning Aslan, “He’ll be coming and going. One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down – and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” 

What does this mean? What doesn’t it mean? How did Tirian and others misunderstand this? 

There are six books that precede The Last Battle in the Narniad. Each of these stories reveal Aslan, and in revealing Aslan they reveal His character, His Nature. We see Aslan’s loving self-sacrifice, His kindness and gentleness, His righteousness and justice, and His forgiveness and mercy. We also see that while He is not a tame lion, that He is approachable and trustworthy and safe to be with. We might say that while we do not tame Aslan, that Aslan tames us by teaching us to trust Him and obey Him in love and truth and righteousness and courage. 

In The Last Battle, not only do the King and Jewel reject Roonwit’s appeal to the message of the heavens, but the King, Jewel, and many of the King’s subjects reject the testimony of previous generations concerning Aslan. They are duped into believing lies. They actually believe and accept the caricature of Aslan as portrayed by the Ape. Those few Narnians who take issue with the Ape’s message are quickly shouted down and are not supported by their fellow Narnians. 

This entails more than believing lies, it also attributes evil to Aslan, the Christ figure. This is what occurs when we do not really know Aslan, when we do not speak to Him face to face. This is how we can be led to attribute evil to God when we don’t know the Nature and Character of God. When we don’t know the Word of God, when we don’t know Christ as revealed in the Bible, then we can only rely on hearsay, on what others have told us as opposed to what we have experienced. 

In Scripture we are told that Jesus, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He become poor. Is it likely that this Jesus would send us a message that we ought to accumulate wealth? That we ought to seek bigger and bigger houses, jewels upon jewels, exotic automobiles, and hoard more money than we will ever need? Does it make sense that this Jesus would send messengers, pastors, priests, archbishops, prophets, evangelists who are not transparent about their (and their churches) finances, who make displays of wealth when people are starving and homeless? Who lay up treasures on earth when people need Jesus and food and shelter and medical care? 

Jesus says that we are to allow the little children to come to Him. Does it make sense that this Jesus would tolerate the abuse of children? That He would cover it up? That He would enable abusers to continue their evil practices? The Jesus of the Gospels provided a safe place for women. Do we not think it strange that institutions that purport to be from Him perpetuate the abuse of women, making excuse after excuse for the practice. 

Jesus said that we will know trees by their fruit. If a system, if an institution, is producing sinful and evil fruit – how can we think that the Ape is actually representing Aslan? 

Jesus teaches us that we are His brothers and sisters, that we are the daughters and sons of His Father. Jesus teaches us that we can know Him, speak to Him, hear Him, abide in Him and have Him abide in us. Yet, we are often taught that we cannot come near Him, but that we must have others speak to us on His behalf. In fact, we are often taught that He no longer speaks to us, in spite of what Jesus Himself tells us in His Word. 

Some teach us that nationalism should share the stage with Jesus. Others teach that this or that economic system has been sanctioned by Jesus and that we ought to propagate it. Others teach us that there is a certain way to look at the world, they call it a worldview, and they make it equivalent to the Gospel. 

But the Jesus of the Bible is transcendent, and He makes us citizens of heaven. Jesus calls us to be His Ekklesia, His Church, His Body, His Bride, His Temple – there are no national flags or national constitutions within the Temple of God – there is the Father and the Son.  

There are those who claim to be messengers of Jesus who keep people in slavery to guilt, they measure the effectiveness of their so-called ministries by how guilty their people feel from week to week. They pay lip service to the New Covenant, but they practice the guilt-ridden Old Covenant where there is a constant reminder of sin. (Actually, the men and women of faith under the Old Covenant knew the blessedness of forgiveness – see Romans Chapter 4). Yet, the Jesus of the Bible comes to forgive and cleanse us once and for all (see Hebrews Chapter 10; 2 Cor. 5:21). 

If we don’t know the Nature and Character of Jesus, as displayed in Scripture, we will be duped by the Ape and dead lion skins. 

People will say, “Well, He isn’t a tame lion,” and we will take that to mean that the Bible can be superseded by our whims and fancies and pragmatism. 

An element of Our Last Battle is whether we know Jesus or whether we have bought into a caricature of Him. Are we attributing evil – including religious evil - to the spotless and holy Lamb of God? Are we following dead lions’ skins? 

“I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). 

In our next reflection we'll consider what it means that Aslan is not a tame lion on the positive side.