About once a month or so, I’ve wanted to write a post about where I am with my relationship with all things God, religion, or church. It’s been such a sweet time of reflection and I’m thankful for you guys reading through that monthly post. You can read the previous ones if you’ve missed any in that series (My Rabbi, Generous Giver Initiator, Creator, Rescue, Savior, Church, Redeemer, and Tension). I call it a series, but they’re really sporadic and really only related because of the idea.
This is a heavy topic to try and tackle. In a culture where daddy issues are often a common bonding ground for people, it’s hard to try and portray God as a father. Most of us have such negative views on what a father is, and the few of us that are blessed enough to have a good dad still have an incomplete picture of a perfect father. After all, when Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, the first word of his prayer wasn’t “Lord” or “God” but “Father”. So how do you see God as a perfect father with such tainted views here on earth? A lot of times we just have to use glimpses that are in front of us and piece it together. Let me take a stab at it.
I recently watched the attempt to bring CS Lewis’ work The Chronicles of Narnia to the big screen, and while I don’t think anything can compare to the picture of Narnia and Aslan that I have in my head, it was a good shot. There are two back to back scenes that just depict a solid portrayal of a good father that I wanted to share with you. I’ll start with the second one first for no particular reason.
In this scene, the younger brother, Edmund, has just been rescued from captivity by the White Witch. Aslan, the God figure portrayed by a lion, pulls Edmund aside to talk about what has just happened. Edmund was not originally kidnapped by the evil witch, but rather chose her over Aslan after she promised all the riches and power in Narnia. Before Edmund knew it, he was a prisoner of the witch and would soon become her bargaining chip in securing the death of her only opposition, Aslan. After a long discussion, Aslan walked Edmund down and told no one to speak of Edmund’s mistake or betrayal because it had already been forgiven. A few scenes later we learn that it was because Aslan took his place, and sacrificed himself to the evil witch in Edmund’s place. Sounds kind of like that story of Abraham and Isaac, or the other one. Who was the sacrifice of that one? Oh yeah, Jesus.
In the scene right before, Aslan addresses the older brother, Peter. This boy has been with Aslan the whole time, but has yet to step fully into his role as protector. While two vicious wolves have his sisters trapped in a tree, Peter shows up to their rescue with his sword. Unfortunately, we’ve already seen Peter succumb to fear once before, and expect that he himself will need to be rescued soon. While the wolves spit their threats at Peter, Aslan shows up to even the playing field with his army. Aslan pins one of the wolves to the ground and holds back his army and tells them to stay away from Peter’s fight. Now Peter is left one on one with an incredibly tough enemy in front of him. As the wolf lunges toward him, Peter thrusts out his sword for the kill. Aslan then walks to Peter’s side and says one of my favorite lines from the story, “Clean your sword and rise.”
What I get from these two pictures almost sounds contradictory. On one hand, we have a father that would gladly take our place to rescue us from harm and danger. But on the other hand, we have a father that makes us fight our own battles so that we can become the man or woman he wants us to become. The first truth is that because of our choices and the fact that we’ve turned our backs on God at some point, we’re facing death. But the good news is that the one we betrayed is a good dad and he’s the only one that can take our place; and he did. The second truth is that our rescue isn’t where the story ends. Since he is a good dad, he puts us in a place where we get to be the hands and feet and further the kingdom of God. You see, there are times when he not only takes our place when we can’t face it, but he also lets us take his so that we can look a lot more like him.
So in the midst of all the daddy issues and attack on true manhood, what does a perfect father look like? i don’t know if I’ll ever get the full picture, but I’ve gotten a glimpse, and man is He good. He’s not safe and his path is not easy, but He is good and He is perfect. That’s my heavenly dad…
