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In C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian, the 4 Pevensie children are once again swept into Narnia to try and save it. This time, they are to make their way to Prince Caspian, the rightful ruler of the land, and help him reunite the kingdom.
On the way, Lucy catches a glimpse of Aslan, the stand-in for God in the Narnia series, who seems to be motioning her to follow. However, none of her siblings see the Lion. There’s a choice that has to be made, to either go up and further in the forest to follow Aslan, or to go down and be closer to the river and the seemingly more sensible way to go.
Lucy’s siblings choose to go down and almost immediate regret their decision. The way ends up being harder, and when the day ends they set up camp, not having made much progress at all.
At this point as they all get ready to sleep, Lucy feels pulled to a place where she finds and talks to Aslan, who says they have lost much time and must go quickly if the children are to still help Prince Caspian.
Immediately Lucy places the blame on her siblings, but Aslan’s silence helps her realize the truth. She could have always followed Aslan on her own. As she is the only one who can see Aslan for now, she comes to realize, with the Lion’s help, that she may have to follow Aslan on her own if her siblings refuse to follow.
All is well in the end and the children do eventually see Aslan for themselves again as they let Lucy guide them in following Aslan to where Prince Caspian resides. You may remember this from last year’s Prince Caspian book group materials. Their story also helps us understand what is going on throughout our Scripture today.
In the end, it wasn’t about Aslan being either up in the woods or down by the river. The truth is that Aslan was with the children all along. They, aside from Lucy, just couldn’t see that yet.
The same is true for us. As Paul reminds us, we are not called to build ourselves up, as Lucy did for a little bit, by asking who will go to Heaven. We are not called to look down on others, as Lucy also did, thereby asking who will “descend to the abyss.”
In both cases, we misunderstand Jesus and His role. By asking who will go to Heaven, we are making an attempt, Paul tells us, to “bring Christ down” and bringing Him to our level instead of realizing we need to go to His. When we ask who will “descend to the abyss”, Paul tells us we are bringing “Christ from the dead.” In other words, we forget that Jesus’ primary role in this world is to bring all of us up from the dead into Heaven by His Grace alone, no matter whether we deserved it or not.
What we are called to realize instead is the truth of the words Paul quotes just after these words in Romans today from Deuteronomy, the final Book of Torah chronicling Moses’ final words, his second repeating of the Law, to the Israelites. It is there at Moses says, “The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.”
God is right there with us, if we can only be like Lucy and open our eyes to see the Lord. That’s a very good thing. We don’t have to be searching high or low. Whether we look for God above, in an attempt to drag Christ down as Paul says and maybe to rise ourselves up, or if we look for God below, to lift Christ up from the dead as Paul says, maybe even to take Jesus away from those who need Him most, we do not have to fear. God is with us, and with us all, for Paul tells us there is no “distinction” in God’s eyes, “between Jew and Greek”, meaning God’s Chosen People and the rest of the world. God is with us and that is a very good thing.
It is good because often times we build ourselves up to be greater than we actually are. Take Joseph for an example. What we don’t see in our reading today, though you will if you read through the whole Genesis account or in our Psalm appointed for today, is that Joseph is a spoiled brat. What we do get a hint of in our reading is that he’s also a narc. He spies on his other brothers for his father since he’s Jacob’s favorite, not just because he is the child of his father’s old age, but because he is the first child of his favorite wife.
Because he lords this over his brothers, Joseph is understandably very much hated by them. Unfortunately they do the unthinkable and throw him in a pit, one completely empty as we are told. After that, they sell him into slavery.
Peter too held himself high. When he saw Jesus walking on water, he immediately tries to do it himself. That is how confident Peter is in his faith. He does float for a while, yet when it really counts he sinks to the bottom.
Both Jospeh and Peter pride themselves. Both of them fall. Yet for both, God is there to pick them back up.
Joseph finds himself in a pit right before being sold into slavery. There are some who point to the emptiness of the pit to say that it is absent for all except Joseph and God. There’s nothing in Scripture to suggest anything one way or the other, yet it is clear that God is present with Joseph through all his ups and downs. Because of God’s presence, Joseph makes it through enslavement and prison to become the Second-in-Command of Egypt. Through his suffering, Joseph also becomes God’s tool for saving not only Egypt, but Joseph’s own family too, including his brothers.
Even though Peter’s Faith wasn’t as strong as he thought, Jesus was still there to pull him back up from drowning. Yes, Peter gets chastised, but he’s still saved.
Even in our darkest moments, God is there. We see that with Joseph in slavery and Peter in almost drowning. Even when we are less than, God is there. We see this with Joseph being a bratty narc and Peter failing to be perfect in his Faith. Even when it seems like no one else is with us, God is there. We see that with Lucy.
We are not called to hold ourselves up as better than or to look on at others as less than. Just like Joseph, Peter, and even Lucy, we will always find ourselves falling short. Yet for all of them, God is there to pick them back up and help them start again. God is there to save us from ourselves.
We’ve seen this throughout this Season after Pentecost. God is giving us examples to learn from. We even see in Joseph’s brothers how the namesakes for the tribes of Israel were really acting. With the mirror of the stories of Scripture, we can see ourselves: our problems and difficulties. God is there with you in the midst of those stories. Listen to our Lord. Grow better as people and in your Faith through these examples of old.
Living into Faith can be hard. Even Peter struggled to stay upright. Lucy too had to come to terms with the possibility that she would have to walk that path alone. This journey and struggle is exactly what we saw in Easter. It is what we all have to live with. There are times when our Faith in God will be the very thing that leaves us alone.
Yet no matter what we go through, no matter what we face, no matter where we are, God is there. Be like Joseph and come to terms with that. Be like Peter and grab God’s hand when you need it. Be like Lucy and open your eyes to see our Lord before you, and be willing to follow God on whatever path our Lord may lead you.