Facing God in the Claws of Sin: Aslan's Tears

©2010, Randall A. Beeler

Digory kept his mouth very tight shut. He had been growing more and more uncomfortable. He hoped that, whatever happened, he wouldnt blub or do  anything ridiculous.

“Son of Adam,” said Aslan. “Are you ready to undo the wrong that you have  done to my sweet country of Narnia on the very day of its birth?”

“Well, I dont see what I can do,” said Digory. “You see, the Queen ran  away and—

“I asked, are you ready?” said the Lion.

“Yes,” said Digory. He had had for a second some wild idea of saying “I'll try to help you if you’ll promise to help my Mother,” but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could try to make bargains with. But when he had said “Yes,” he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes, and he blurted out: “But please, please—wont you—can't you give me something that will cure Mother?”

Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.

“My son, my son,” said Aslan. “I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another. But I have to think of hundreds of years in the life of Narnia. The Witch whom you have brought into this world will come back to Narnia again. But it need not be yet. It is my wish to plant in Narnia a tree that she will not dare to approach, and that tree will protect Narnia from her for many years. So this land shall have a long, bright morning before any clouds come over the sun. You must get me the seed from which that tree is to grow.” (C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew)

Is God our enemy?

Such is the fear that leads us to try to be god-in-place-of-God. All sin is rooted in this mistrust of the Author of Creation.

In C. S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, Digory Kirke struggles to save his mother from a terminal illness only to find that his own attempts to be god-in-place-of-God not only ruin the chances for her cure but also taint the newly created Narnia.

How is he to repair his sin? How are we, in our sin, to repair the damage done to others and ourselves?

God is an enemy—the One True Enemy to our sin and its effects.

When face-to-face with our sin, we can try to lie or bargain our way to a solution. For too long, we have been so intimate with our sin that it is the only thing we see: the claws that rend our hearts and flesh. God calls us away from our self-deceptive bargaining, to face Him. Yet, as Lewis notes elsewhere, how can we face God, till we have faces?

Sin literally "de-faces" us, takes away our dignity. Digory's name is no accident, for he is the story of our defaced dignity. How, then, are we to regain our dignity, an unshamed face by which we might lovingly face the Maker of all faces?

By looking into His eyes. By daring to see there not the mirror image of our shame and degradation … but His tears. Who is the offender and Who the Offended by our sin? Our Beloved, Who weeps tears in sighs and groans too deep for our mere words.

Some may remember that The Magician's Nephew begins with Digory's face soiled from crying and wiping away his tears with dirty hands. Now, in this moment when Digory faces His Beloved, Aslan's diamond-clear tears wash away Digory's mask of dirt and shame. Aslan "de-faces" Digory of his mask and restores him to his true dignity. The baptismal nature of the tears washes away Digory's sin. Here, C. S. Lewis has crafted a beautiful image of the Sacrament of Penance—absolution, which solves our sin by dissolving our shameful, self-deceptive masks. Digory's last name is "Kirke," the Germanic word for "Church." Christ again and again restores His Body, the Church, through the Sacrament of Penance.

Absolution is granted before we do our penance because, if we are going to take part in repairing the damage done by those sins, we need to experience the Truth that our sins are absolved. God's forgiveness is no mere mental pronouncement, a mere naming-away of our wrongdoing. Rather, God restores our dignity by empowering us to take part in the redemption of Creation.

Aslan does not need Digory in order to restore Narnia; Aslan can do the job quite well. Rather, Digory needs the restoration of himself through his restoring Narnia. God does not simply wipe away our sins but rebuilds us in the rebuilding of what our sin defaces—including ourselves.

Penance is not a chore—it is an adventure, a means by which we may return to the Garden that has been trampled by our soiled boots and to sow it anew, to walk its flowered and fruited paths again with our Beloved.

And to face our temptation again—with a new chance (and a powerful Grace) to face it down.