Here's something I pondered this time through Lion: Lewis' descriptions of three critical walks that Edmund takes. Mostly they're in narrative voice, so you know what's going on inside Edmund's head. The three walks provide an interesting micro-example in how we "walk" with temptation and sin, and also repentance.
The first walk I'm thinking of is the one Edmund takes when he slips out of the Beaver's house and stumbles his way through the snow to the Witch's palace. Of course, by that time he has entertained temptation, and been entertained by it. He has eaten its seductive fruit and given his heart to walking in its ways. Even when he learns the truth about who he's been consorting with, he closes his ears to it ("she can't be all that bad - that's just her enemies talking"). Even when he's taking the frigid walk, stumbling in the dark and being snowed upon, he chooses illusion over reality. He magnifies his complaints against his siblings, particularly Peter, nursing his grudges as an excuse for doing what he does. He comforts himself with illusions about how good things will be when sin delivers on her promises and grants him the power he's been promised. He wraps himself in illusion, ignoring even the bitter reality of the snow and harsh conditions. He forces his way through, cherishing the false hope that it will all prove worthwhile.
Isn't this a little picture of how we behave when we're choosing sin? We close our ears and avert our eyes from the clear consequences. We hearken to the blandishments of sin's seductive whisper, choosing to believe that this time we won't be lied to, and sin will come through as promised. We magnify the wrongs committed against us, while minimizing or ignoring our offences against others, and use that to justify our sinning.
The next walk is the one where he's a captive of the Witch. It begins in the sledge, but as spring arrives, they have to abandon that, and Edmund is driven like an animal to slaughter (which, as it happens, is just how the Witch sees him.) Here Edmund is reaping the fruit of his dalliance with sin - he is captive to it, and must do as he is commanded. He has no comfort - no food, no drink, no sleep, no warmth. He sees clearly the bitter truth that his captor doesn't care a whit for him, and will dispatch him as soon as she is finished with him. The illusions are gone, but so is an hope of self-liberation. He is totally in thrall to the sin he toyed with.
So it is when we realize that we have given ourselves to sin. As Jesus says, "Whoever sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34), and sin is the cruelest slavedriver there is. Sin will allure us as long as it needs to, but once we are in its power, we are driven like slaves and slaughtered like cattle. How many of us have walked this walk of Edmund with no freedom - our arms bound and the whip at our back - once we have given ourselves to sin?
The last walk is Edmund's walk with Aslan after he has been rescued from the Witch's clutches. Edmund was powerless to free himself, but Aslan has many troops at his disposal, and they were able to rescue him. Edmund is given an chance to walk with Aslan - you now he wasn't forced to do so - and confess his sin and folly. Aslan offers him freedom - even to return to the Witch, if he chooses (you know that, too), and he chooses to side with Aslan. This will mean trial and danger, of course, but now he knows: struggle and suffering with Aslan is better than Turkish Delight in the Witch's sledge.
How many of us have walked that walk with Aslan and accepted His offer of freedom? How often do we remember the price He paid to free us, and our dire condition before He did so?
