Aslan and Jesus

Before Christmas, Brian & I had been working on explaining to Liam why we celebrate Christmas and now I've started trying to explain Easter. But let's face it, describing abstract reasoning and events from 2000 years ago tends to go right over the head of most 5-year olds. I do my best and hope something gets absorbed. I've been thrilled that he remembers that Jesus came to us to save us all from evil. It's a start.

We've been working on broadening the kids horizons past Thomas the tank engine and Toy Story. I know they go through phases, but the current diet of Toy Story 2 & Thomas non-stop has begun to wear on my nerves. So today I decided that Liam is probably old enough to understand most of the Narnia series; so down to the basement I went to dig out the 3 movies. I explained the basic idea of the movie (finding a magical world in a closet) and he was very excited to watch it!

As we watched "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" Liam asked questions and I started off by explaining that it was magic; but as the movie progressed, somethng clicked in my head and i found myself explaining events in the movie in religious terms.

Liam asked why Edmund was with the White Witch; I told him that she had tricked him like the Devil tries to trick us into doing bad things.

Liam asked about Aslan the lion; I told him Aslan was like Jesus in that he was there to protect them from evil.

During the scene where Aslan sacrifices himself in Edmund's place, I explained to Liam how Jesus had given himself to the bad guys so that they could not hurt us.

I explained that, like Aslan, Jesus had died to keep us safe from evil.

Liam asked if Aslan was going to come back (by this point he was calling Aslan "Jesus") and I told him to keep watching.

When the stone table cracked and Aslan came back, I explained to him how that was like when Jesus rose from his grave which is why we celebrate Easter.

At the end of the battle, Liam asked if the evil was dead, and I told him it was.

The end of the film shows Aslan walking across a perfectly serene beach. Lucy is sad that he is leaving, but Mr. Tumnus tells her that he will be back when he is needed. I told Liam that Jesus had left the Earth too, but when we need him most, he will come back to protect us again.

While I know CS Lewis is quoted as saying he did not write the books as a religious metaphor, the similarities were just too plain to see for me to not notice them. It fit so perfectly and finally gave me a tool to be able to show Liam these abstract past events that we had been trying to clarify for months in a way he would understand them. He seemed to understand what we were talking about, so I hope he has assimilated at least the important facts from our conversation.

One thing is for sure: I will never look at this movie the same way again...

God sent his only son to save us from evil...
Jesus died to protect us...
We celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas and we celebrate his rise from the grave at Easter...
And last but not least: God & Jesus can take on many forms... even a lion named Aslan.