C.S. Lewis...man that guy could write. If you haven't read "Out of the Silent Planet" or "Perelandra," you should. You really need to. Like it's almost imperative for you. You might as well add "The Great Divorce" to that list. Anyway, in Perelandra one of the overarching themes, which happens to be truth, is that God's Kingdom takes any goodness, sense of identity, or reality, and amplifies it into something so much more beautiful, vivid, and awesome, that it is almost entirely inconceivable to us. In other words the goodness, truth, and love in this world that we perceive is really just a vague, dim, pixelated, representation of what the creation was actually intended to enjoy. And so in Perelandra our hero visits another world that has not fallen into sin. It is a good world. And aside from the presence of the Satan figure on Perelandra (Venus), it is a perfect world. Things are still functioning as God intended them. There is an Adam and Eve figure. They don't just have control over the creation–they love the creation. And the creation loves them. Huge fish fighting over who gets to serve as the aquatic ride to the adjacent island. Every piece of fruit the characters eat is the best they have ever had. Ransom, the protagonist is the only human creature who knows what sin is–because he's from earth. It's weird, because the long talks with the Eve character show a considerable disconnect between the two. Ransom is baffled that the Eve character has never wanted something that God has not provided. She does not know discontent, or greed, or envy, or hatred, or any of it. She can't understand Ransom's probing questions that are sin-laced. It becomes clear that even his basic understanding of the functioning of life is wholly infected through and through with effects of sin. Ransom looks at her in some way like a child. And yet he craves to have what she has. It is incredibly beautiful way to live. Mr. Lewis also writes about similar things in The Great Divorce. A bus ride to heaven–what's not to love?
That sizable jaunt was laid out to come to this point. The un-falleness of Perelandra was real. It was more real. It was more vivid. It was brighter. Quickly, it became evident that Perelandra was what it was supposed to be like. Same with Adam and Eve's earth. For the short time (could have been days, weeks, years, or what I think a LONG time) that Adam and Eve lived on this earth before the fall into sin, that was their reality. It was as God created it. Sinless. Wantless. Painless. Deathless. It was full of life. That's the real thing. Ain't nothing like the real thing baby!
Horseshoes & Hand Grenades
Now you and I know there is good stuff in this world. There is a lot of it. I can show you some if you'd like. But the good-est of good, the most beautiful, the most kind, the best of the best in this world is just counterfeit. It resembles in some small way the original beauty–but slightly. It's not really that close. Not good enough to be horseshoe. Not good enough to be a hand grenade.
The View
I thought about the good ole viewfinder recently. Filming during our Academy graduation, I found myself dialing things in through the viewfinder. Watching closely...it was finally perfect. And yet I continued to watch the next few minutes of the service through the viewfinder. It was dim, it was pixelated, it was small, and it was hard to see. For a few short minutes it was the reality. It was the show. But it wasn't. It was wasn't reality. It wasn't the show. It was counterfeit. It was just a cheap representation. The viewfinder's job is to make sure you are getting the subject of the video into frame-thats all. It's not the clarity of the video being recorded. And it's certainly not the real thing. No the reality. Not what is really happening. And yet I found myself staring at the viewfinder instead of watching the real.
Everything that we experience in this life is through the viewfinder. That's not to say it isn't real. It is real. What we do and do not do in our lives is real and it matters. What we do with Jesus, who we say and believe He is, is real and it matters in this life. How we decide to treat people is real and it matters. But beyond he view in the finder of this life is something more. It is more real. It is really real. Ain't nothing like the real thing baby! Beyond the here and now is another truth-another reality. It's all around us. It's heartbeat is felt by us. It breaks through here and again. And when it happens sometimes...sometimes we spy it. It's God's Kingdom. The truth. The reality. The real thing. Our beautiful hope and future that every once in a while gets so energized, so electric, that like a child on Christmas Eve can't help but jump the gun just a little. And when it does sometimes we are lucky enough to catch it on the viewfinder. The hungry person fed. The downtrodden gospeled. The sin falling from our tightened grasp. It's still small. It's still dim. It's still pixelated. But it's caught on the view for me and you. And we marvel through it all because it is the counterfeit of the real thing to come. And everyone knows ain't nothing like the real thing baby! The Kingdom is coming. The show is coming. The action is coming. No more viewfinder. It's all coming. Sinless. Wantless. Painless. Deathless. Soon we are getting pulled into the Kingdom. Soon we are getting pulled into the reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment