I want to preface this by saying that I have tremendous respect for the writings of C.S. Lewis. He is an excellent teacher of faith. He explains complex truths simply, and I pray that my own generation will produce works that help children understand the truth of the Gospel the way that The Chronicles of Narnia have done. That said, his teachings are not flawless, and I want to address one particular thing today.
Are you familiar with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? It is the most well-known and probably most beloved book in The Chronicles of Narnia series. The premise is that the Pevensie siblings enter a land called Narnia through a wardrobe, where they discover that this wonderful place is under a curse where it is "always winter and never Christmas." There is an act of betrayal when one of the siblings aligns with the witch who has cursed this place, and Aslan - the Lion who created Narnia - must die in order to redeem the people and animals from the curse. Even if you're not familiar with this book, I'm sure just from this you can see the parallels to the story of the Messiah's redemption of Israel.
I grew up in a Christian home and I loved celebrating Christmas, so "always winter and never Christmas" did indeed seem like a curse to me. However, there was one thing that never quite made sense to me about this story. When the spell begins to break it is signified by the winter thawing, and Aslan (the savior of Narnia) is said to be on the move. The weather turns to spring and Father Christmas arrives and then the spring flowers are coming up. I always found that disconcerting because who associates Christmas with spring weather? In fact, that kind of weather would have been a disappointment to myself, siblings, cousins, and peers growing up. So why did he tell the story like this?
I can see the logical sense of it. Springtime exemplifies like no other season the Creator making all things new. There is tangible joy when the earth thaws and flowers and food crops make their first appearances. Lewis's transition from the land being stuck in the darkness of Winter finally into the warmth of Spring is a superb analogy of what accepting the Messiah is like. We know this is the parallel Lewis intended because once it is Spring Aslan willingly allows the witch to kill him because of humanity's betrayal.
Lewis painted this analogy beautifully and was correct about this in every way except one: he was wrong about the holiday.
Christmas doesn't happen in the springtime, but there is a holiday that does. Unlike Christmas, it wasn't a creation of man, but an ancient set apart time made by the Creator himself.
The holiday that happens in the spring when the winter freeze has been lifted is Passover. Passover is first described in the book of Exodus when the Living God freed his people from slavery. It is perhaps better known as the day the Messiah was killed for the sins of mankind. At the end of winter we celebrate this set apart time, remembering the Savior who was killed to redeem the curse against us and those who aligned themselves with the witch of our world. Like Yahusha, Aslan was resurrected from the dead and returned to help his people destroy the works of the enemy. We would indeed be under a curse if there was no Passover sacrifice of the Messiah.
I believe that C.S. Lewis used the example of Christmas because it was all he knew at the time. Now that we know better we are called to remember and celebrate the amazing significance of the death and resurrection of the Messiah when he was killed and resurrected - on the Biblical holidays of Passover and First Fruits. These are not just for those with Jewish ancestry - they are for all of us who would align ourselves with the Savior. These holy days are placed in Scripture for a reason, and we can rejoice that we are made able by the blood of the Messiah to truly rejoice in what he did for us at these times.
Related posts:
The Beginner's Guide to the Biblical Holidays
Five Reasons Believers Should Keep Passover
Why I Stopped Celebrating Christmas
Preparing for Passover
Why I Started Celebrating the Biblical Holidays
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