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For those who have been following along with the Gospel according to Superhero’s reading of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are likely slowly finding, as I have been, Edmund is really the central character of the story in many ways.
Edmund is not a hero when we first see him. He’s not even the best of the children. In fact at the start of the story, he is the worst. It’s his predisposition to doing bad that leads evil in the form of the White Witch to tempt him to the wrong path. Edmund justifies this choice to himself by claiming that he is on the right side, until he realizes that he is not. Edmund’s heart begins to change and he starts to long for something different. This is the state he finds himself in when Aslan’s crew is able to swoop in and save him. It is after talking with Aslan in a conversation we never get to hear that Edmund is fully changed for the better.
Edmund’s path is our own. We have all found ourselves on the wrong side and in need of change. Hopefully all of us here have found ourselves, at one point or another, internally changed by our Lord Jesus Christ just as Edmund is changed by his own encounter and conversation with Aslan.
What we see in Edmund and in ourselves is played out externally for all to see in the story of Jesus’ coming into this world. This is the powerful truth of the Advent Season.
The story of the Israelites throughout Scripture is the same as our own: they are constantly being hurt by their own bad choices and sin. Instead of seeing that internal conflict and pang of conscience, as we witness with Edmund and often ourselves, we see this realization for the need of change played out externally by John the Baptist. John came not only to remind us of the terrible weight of sin and the harm it has caused us all, but he came also to forge for us the path to repentance. John the Baptist prepares for us the way we will need to go forward.
John the Baptist prepares for us the way to begin to listen to Jesus, just as Edmund listened to Aslan. Jesus is there to help change our hearts from evil to good. Jesus is there to make us whole once again.
My hope is that we can heed the call of John the Baptist so that we will be prepared for our encounter with Jesus and that it can change us, just as Edmund is changed through his conversation with Aslan. That is the preparation that Advent calls on us to make, and it starts when we listen to the “voice crying in the wilderness: ‘prepare ye the way of the Lord.’”