The Lion, the Christ and Easter

compliments of aslanscountry.com

"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 backward."  

~passage from Chapter 15 in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Some of my favorites books growing up (and even today at 20 years old) are the Chronicles of Narnia. I love love love allegories and C.S. Lewis is a master of them. 

In this scene, Lucy and Susan are grieving the loss of Aslan, the Great Lion. Just when their back is turned, the Stone Table, where Aslan had gave his life the night before, had split in two. They turned, worried that someone had taken his body away, only to find him standing there in the dawn. He was alive! 

As I sat in the Easter service, I could not help but remember this picture Lewis paints so vividly. Aslan, like Christ, had died for a traitor, liked Christ did for us. His disciples wept for him and grieved his death. But, guess what? 


CHRIST
            ROSE 
                        AGAIN 
                                   AND 
                                           CONQUERED 
                                                              DEATH!


My heart always swells when the girls hear Aslan's voice and see him with the dawn shining anew behind him. I can only imagine how Mary felt when she heard Jesus' voice in the garden or how the disciples felt when He appeared to them. Jesus is no longer in the grave. He is alive and sitting at the right hand of God, giving intercession for us who follow and are born-again in him. 
Jesus has given all of us a free gift  of salvation. All He asks is that we follow and give our life to Him. The Christian life isn't an easy one, but its definitely more rewarding.