Source: Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008) 87. Quotations are in italics.
Cathleen Falsani discusses a conversation she had with Jean, who was helping people hurt by Hurricane Katrina.
[G]race[,] Jean explained, is like Narnia from C.S. Lewis' allegorical fantasy books. "It's all thawing and it's all coming to life," he said. "The rivers are flowing and everything is alive, and the grace is real and everything is real, but there continually are new places. The place God has led me in the last few years is taking me to the places in Narnia where I realize it's OK not to be OK. The law could have just beat my ass telling me to love people, and grace took me by the hand and romanced me to Bay St. Louis and said, 'Just love people.'"
This quote stood out to me for two reasons.
1. First, I identified with its criticism of law. I often feel that God's standards "beat my ass," for they seem to command me to suppress my humanity, to be something that I'm not, or to do everything with absolute perfection. "Reach out to people." "Don't hate others." "Forgive others from the heart, or God won't forgive you." "If you say you've forgiven someone and still don't want anything to do with him, then you haven't truly forgiven that person." "If you do good deeds grudgingly, or without the right motivation, then you might as well not do them." "True Christians have this glow of love, joy, and peace that attracts others to them." These are ideas that I've heard in various churches, or read in Christian writings (including the Bible).
No wonder people think that Christianity is a royal pain in the you-know-what! I can't live up to that!
But Jean's statement places the issue in a different perspective. Rather than focusing on if I'm loving others perfectly or even sub-standardly, why can't I "just love people." I may not love others all that well, but this doesn't have to be a contest or a final exam. I may not even be able to do it all of the time. But I can still do something. I can smile at someone, or use the person's name (which people like), or donate to charity, or visit a nursing home on a weekend. And if there are holier-than-thou religionists who want to grade me or beat up on me, let them do it! I don't have to beat up on myself.
In Jean's scenario, it's not a matter of having to love, but getting to love. That allows me to love others without pressure, to seek opportunities to help or reach out to people, to be creative. That's the difference between law and grace!
But I wonder if Jean's view is biblical. I think that the New Testament presents a scenario in which God loves us first, then we love others. At the same time, the Sermon on the Mount presents commands of "don't hate," "don't lust," "forgive, or you won't be forgiven," and "be perfect." And the Sermon on the Mount often acts as if we'll go to hell if we don't obey these commands. It's hard to lead a pressure-free life when Jesus' commands are beating me over the head! Is there a way to embrace Jean's perspective, while being fair to the Sermon on the Mount?
2. Second, the quote got me thinking about the kingdom of God. In the first Chronicles of Narnia movie, the white witch (who represents Satan) traps all of Narnia in a harsh winter. Under her dominion, it is always winter, but never Christmas. But when Aslan (Jesus) is on the move, this very sign of her dominion begins to crumble. The ice thaws, as Narnia begins to return to its previous paradisaical condition. And Christmas arrives! Although the white witch is still technically the queen of Narnia, her tight grip on the land is starting to loosen, as it becomes subject to the righteous realm of its true king, Aslan the lion.
According to many Christians, something similar has been occurring since the first coming of Christ. We are in a state in which the kingdom of God is "already and not yet": it's here on some level, but not in its fullest form.
But I've often wondered what Jesus brought that did not already exist before he came. God forgave people before Jesus' first coming! Jews before his resurrection believed in an afterlife! Also, did Jesus truly make things better? Is the winter of Narnia truly thawing right now?
In Matthew 12:28ff., Jesus brings the kingdom of God to people when he cast out demons, thereby binding the power of Satan. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the new things that Jesus brings include forgiveness (Romans 5; Hebrews 9-10), the hope of the resurrection (I Corinthians 15; Hebrews 2:14), a new creation accompanied by the death of the sinful flesh (Romans 6-8; II Corinthians 5:17), and spiritual enlightenment of the Gentiles (Acts 26:18; Ephesians 2:2ff.).
Maybe Jesus thaws out Narnia through his example, his presence, and the hope that he offers us. When Jesus showed us God's love, he gave us a new paradigm of looking at life, one that differs from our usual selfish outlook. Narnia thaws when we help people and remind them of the love and reign of Jesus, in spite of whatever evil remains in the world. But Jesus is an integral part of all of this: he's the one who empowers the church to free people from bondage (spiritual and physical), and he's the one who is the ground of our hope, since he will one day overthrow evil and raise the dead. On some level, we have a right to dance and rejoice right now, whatever evil may exist! We can bring Narnia to people, as we offer them hope and concrete love.