Our Last Battle (16)

 Sixteen – In His Arms

The conclusion of Chapter Nine of The Last Battle sees Shift telling the Narnians assembled at Stable Hill that a donkey in a lion skin has been masquerading as Aslan, thus knocking the props from under Tirian’s plan to unveil the Ape’s lies by showing everyone poor Puzzle. Tirian realizes that lies can be strengthened by just a little truth.

We see this all around us, lies incorporating truth; religiously, politically, academically, lies and lies and lies…but do we care as long as we get what we want? 

While the story of The Last Battle isn’t finished, in one sense it is, just as Our Last Battle is completed by this point, well, for many of us it is, we’ll get to the rest of us in the next reflection. While a physical battle awaits Tirian and his cohort, their internal battle, the battle of the heart is consummated, for they are willing to follow Aslan and to be faithful to one another even to death, an honorable death, that treasure which no one is too poor to purchase. 

You see, if we haven’t fought the battles of our heart, if we haven’t taken up our cross and followed Jesus, learning to live lives of denial and self-sacrifice, we will succumb to the notion that Aslan and Tash are the same, we will worship Tashlan. It may be from fear, from moral and spiritual confusion and promiscuity, from ego, from peer pressure, from a lust for power and prestige and material gain; I suppose the list is endless. Initially, our Tashlan will probably look good. It will look Biblical and theological and religious and maybe patriotic and political and make social and economic sense and be alluring. Tashlan will appeal to whatever is in us that is not surrendered to the Lamb of God. 

Tirian has taken a journey from anger and murder to self-sacrifice for the sake of his people and for Aslan. I think we all have journeys from the self and the ways of the self to laying down our lives in love for others, which is the greatest love. This means laying down our lives for “the least of these my brethren,” a prospect we seem reluctant to embrace. (Matthew 25:31 – 46). Will we take these journeys? 

In Chapter Ten the Ape then tells the Narnians that Tashlan will no longer leave the stable to appear to them, but that if they wish to see Tashlan that they can come, one by one, into the stable. 

As Tirian and his friends contemplate the unfolding events on Stable Hill, the King says to Jill, “Courage, child, we are all between the paws of Aslan.”

These are not words of resignation; they are words of trust and commitment. These are the words of those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, those who have the testimony of Jesus, who overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and who do not love their lives even to death. 

These must be our words as we live in a world that has gone mad, and in the midst of a professing church, at least in the West, that is selling itself to the surrounding culture – and make no mistake, I am talking about “us” and not those other people who do not profess to hold Scripture in high regard. We must trust the arms of Jesus, the One who says, “I will never leave you or forsake you. I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.”

When no one volunteers to enter the stable, Ginger the Cat, now a coconspirator with Shift, says that he’ll go in, and with that he primly and arrogantly enters the stable, thinking that nothing will happen to him. What follows are noises of terror, with Ginger bolting from the stable, making unintelligible sounds while climbing a tree for safety, having lost the Narnian gift of speech. Whatever happened in the stable is not what the Cat expected, nor was it what Shift and the Calormene officer, Rishda Tarkaan, expected. 

The Narnians recall the teaching that at the creation of the world, when Aslan bestowed the gift of speech on some animals, that He warned them that if they learned the ways of the dumb beasts that they would lose the gift of speech and become like them. 

When we learn the ways of the world, the ways of false thinking and religion, we also lose the gift of speech, the gift of discernment, of clear thinking and feeling and loving and living. Words no longer have real meaning for we have prostituted them, we now use words for manipulation, we have become a nation, a world, of liars – the great liar must be rejoicing. People who are good at “spin” now make good money as consultants, are now elected to high office, and have great religious followings, including within the professing church. 

Major “Christian” institutions now produce miracles of spin, justifying sexual abuse, greed, political alignments, hoarding wealth while people go hungry and homeless, Tashlan seems to be reigning. If someone questions their actions, they quickly spin a response, using ever more convoluted language – I think these practitioners even confuse themselves. 

When Vickie and I watch television advertising we often look at each other and ask, “What was that about?” There are images and words, but there is no substance. But that is the way of our society, in religion, in politics, in commerce, in education – we have destroyed words and language and coherent thought, and in the process are destroying ourselves. 

We are an example of people living in a strong delusion, for we have not received the love of the truth…we are living in a delusion so strong that only God could have sent it (2 Thessalonians 2:11 – 12; Romans 1:18 – 32).

Amid the deceit and ugliness of the assembly on Stable Hill, an unlikely man of integrity and purity arises, Emeth, a young Calormene officer. Even though Emeth worships Tash, or at least thinks he does, his is a pure heart, a heart of devotion to an image which he thinks is the true God. Tirian and his cohort recognize this in Emeth, and honor and admire the young officer. The faithful Narnians have more in common with Emeth than they do with the Narnians who have abandoned Aslan. 

It is not unusual for those who follow Jesus to have more affinity with non-Christians than with professing Christians. Many men and women who respond to the common grace of God in Christ have a greater sense of compassion and care and concern for others than professing Christians, many of them have a nobler sense of ethics and integrity than professing Christians. Vickie and I have known folks of other religions who have a clearer sense of morality and ethics than professing Christians, and it has been much easier to talk to them about issues of truth and falsehood than with professing Christians.

Perhaps one reason for this is that American Christians tend to politicize and monetize everything, rather than view life through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course the core issue is whether we belong to Jesus or not, whether we are following the Lamb wherever He goes. Whether we have determined to know only Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

Are we taking the adventure that Aslan gives us?

The adventure from living for ourselves to living for Jesus and others, to surrendering our lives, our hearts and souls, to Jesus Christ. Is this our journey?