Hello, My Name is Edmund

This weekend, as part of my recharge/renew/declutter my head plan, I reread one of my favorites books from childhood. Well, one of my favorite books ever....The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. Curled up in my bed, my cat sleeping next to me, with the tattered copy my mom originally read to me as a kid in my hands....it doesn't get much better than that.

Actually, it does. I love that as I grow older and grow in my faith, the book changes with me.

As a child, I always identified with Lucy, and I really, really wanted to BE Lucy. Adventures in Narnia, talking animals, fantastical creatures, Aslan...she's pretty much the luckiest girl ever. I was about the same age as her character when I was first introduced to Narnia; curious, questioning, faithful, wanting to see the best in people. Just like Lucy.

But now....I still want to be Lucy. However, now that I'm older, I understand more than ever the Christian allegory even more that C.S. deftly wove within this classic children's story. I always knew that Aslan was a lot like Jesus, but it resonated with me on this reading. Aslan IS Jesus.

And that makes me realize that I'm really Edmund. We all are. Which burns, because even on reading the book this time, I still don't like him. He's an annoying, selfish, whiny kid...aren't we all, deep down?

Maybe our sin isn't as obvious as betraying our family to an evil White Witch for Turkish Delights (by the way, I still don't quite understand what that is, and it doesn't sound delicious to me). But we are all tempted, sin, mess up, what have you. And our Aslan, Jesus, is the sacrifice, the innocent, willing victim, to free us from our sin and eternity with Satan.

Here's an interesting passage......

"Does he know," whispered Lucy to Susan, "what Aslan did for him? Does he know what the arrangement with the Witch really was?"

"Hush! No. Of course not," said Susan.

"Oughtn't he to be told?" said Lucy.

"Oh, surely not," said Susan. "It would be too awful for him. Think how you'd feel if you were he."

"All the same, I think he ought to know," said Lucy.

Percolate on that! We know what Jesus did for us; Edmund did not know what Aslan did for him.

How does that change our response to Jesus' sacrifice? That we have that knowledge, that it should make is feel awful in a way. That we are truly redeemed, new creations. How will our lives change, our stories change, with this amazing gift written into their pages?

From that point in the story, even being in the dark of Aslan's sacrifice, Edmund is a reformed character, truly redeemed. My favorite Biblical stories are of redemption...Judah. Joseph. Paul. Peter.

And Edmund. And Erin.

Redemption...it makes 'being' Edmund pretty cool, I reckon.