Why didn't Aslan go?

PrinceOfTheWest

PrinceOfTheWest

Knight of the Stone Table
Royal Guard
Emeritus
Something worth considering: when Aslan sent Jill (and through her, Eustace) on the quest to rescue Prince Rilian, He obviously knew a lot about his captivity. He knew the Prince would invoke the name of Aslan, He knew where the travellers would find the route that would take them to the gnomes and eventually to the Underworld City.

Here's what I'm wondering: why didn't He go Himself? Given His ability to Just Appear (as He did a few times in Horse), couldn't He have just appeared in the courts of the Queen of Underworld, roared a big roar, torn the Silver Chair to shreds with His claws (and the Queen as well, for that matter), and liberated the Prince? Why go to the trouble of summoning two unreliable children from our world and entrust them with the task that they almost blow several times? Why use such weak, flawed tools when simply doing it Himself would have been much more efficient and safe?

I don't know if there are any "answers" to this question. I have some thoughts, but they're not any more valid than anyone else's thoughts.

So - what do you think?
 
I think He saw this happening, and saw it as the perfect moment to bring Eustace back to learn more from Him and Narnia, and through Him introduce another into this world.
I almost want to say He had been looking/waiting for something like this to occur for that very reason.

IDK...
 
I think, being theological here, it's kind of like how God uses us to do his work. God obviously could save the world in one sweep, but rather than that (which would violate our freedom of 'choice' of what we will do in our life), he uses his people, or those that will become his people. this way not only does the mission get accomplished, but someone has learned to grow in him. Going back to the Narnian side of this, I don't think Jill would have ever gotten to Narnia , much less learn the lesson Aslan had for her. In Fact I would dare to say she would not have met Aslan at all.
 
Why entrust the first civil war to the leadership of a 14-year-old? He could have come in and killed Jadis at any time.

Why entrust the War of Independence to a fifteen-year-old former king to put into place a fourteen-year-old boy king? He could have kept Miraz from being king.

Aslan doesn't get into the minutiae that can be more easily handled by humans.

MrBob
 
I am reminded of something Mr. Lewis wrote about prayer. God doesn't _need_ us to pray in order for Him to be able to intervene, but He gives us the _privilege_ of being, when we pray, part of the causes and effects in His plans. Likewise in our actions, including really strenuous ones, God pays us the honor of letting us be causative agents.
 
MrBob said:
Why entrust the first civil war to the leadership of a 14-year-old? He could have come in and killed Jadis at any time.

Why entrust the War of Independence to a fifteen-year-old former king to put into place a fourteen-year-old boy king? He could have kept Miraz from being king.

Aslan doesn't get into the minutiae that can be more easily handled by humans.

MrBob
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But in all those cases, particularly in Silver Chair, the effort almost fails because of the weaknesses of the humans involved. Remember, the travellers almost end up as a course in the feast at Harfang, which would have torqued the entire plan?

Plus, issues of the leadership and freedom of Narnia are hardly "minutiae" - Aslan is very much concerned with them. The question is why He'd bother to even engage such frail allies as humans.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
But in all those cases, particularly in Silver Chair, the effort almost fails because of the weaknesses of the humans involved. Remember, the travellers almost end up as a course in the feast at Harfang, which would have torqued the entire plan?

Plus, issues of the leadership and freedom of Narnia are hardly "minutiae" - Aslan is very much concerned with them. The question is why He'd bother to even engage such frail allies as humans.
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I think Aslan, knew they would almost fail him, but he knew that in the end they would be alright. The things that Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum learned on the trip; n0t to mention what they accomplished were very important. Neither Eustace or Jill would be able to be called back for LB, I believe without the events of SC. (Eustace could, however I believe that SC was a bit of training for LB).
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
Why go to the trouble of summoning two unreliable children from our world and entrust them with the task that they almost blow several times? Why use such weak, flawed tools when simply doing it Himself would have been much more efficient and safe?

I don't know if there are any "answers" to this question. I have some thoughts, but they're not any more valid than anyone else's thoughts.

So - what do you think?
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I wish I knew the exact Bible reference, but Paul in his letters said that he and other believers were like clay pots. They were fragile, weak, and liable to break. But still, God used them for His work.

I think that your question has an answer in that very verse. Aslan, like Jesus, uses weak, frail humans to do His work because that's the only way our faith can become strong(er). When I find the reference, I will post it.
 
You're thinking of 2 Cor 4:7, which is a good one. I suppose that just moves the question back a level: why do that? Isn't it inefficient and risky? I have my own thoughts, but I'm no expert, and wanted to hear what others think.
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
You're thinking of 2 Cor 4:7, which is a good one. I suppose that just moves the question back a level: why do that? Isn't it inefficient and risky? I have my own thoughts, but I'm no expert, and wanted to hear what others think.
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Isn't it inefficient and risky to create beings with free will? That's ultimate question behind the question of why Aslan used slightly-less-than-dependable humans (i.e., humans with free will) to accomplish the mission of rescuing Rilian.
 
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You're right - it is. But only beings with free will can truly love, and express that love through willing, wholehearted obedience.

Here's one thing that came to me. Recently I was reading some rabbinic commentary on the Plagues God visited on Egypt. If you read Exodus carefully, you'll see that God warned Pharaoh repeatedly about the Plagues - not only at the outset, where He warned of the ultimate consequences (Ex 4:23), but before each plague in turn. The rabbis explained this by pointing out that men, being weak and limited, need every advantage they can muster, including the advantage of surprise. God, being strong and infinite, needs no "edge", and thus can freely of what He intends to do, for nobody can do anything to stop Him (which can also be a way of expressing His mercy, as in Ex 9:2.)

It seems to me this ultimate power is expressed in Narnia as well, as Aslan chooses young, inexperienced children of Adam and Eve to accomplish His will. Like a prize fighter who demonstrates his prowess by stepping into the ring with one arm tied behind his back, Aslan makes a mockery of His enemies by using, as Aravis points out, clay vessels.

The Queen of Underworld, now, she had Big Plans. Heck, she'd magically enslaved good numbers of an entire race, struck alliances the giants, carved out an entire underworld kingdom, killed the queen of Narnia, and enslaved its crown prince. She was inches from executing her plan to overthrow Narnia and put Rilian on the throne as her thrall. That's power and determination for you!

All Aslan has is a couple of young, bickering kids and one - count 'em, one - marsh-wiggle who can't even follow direction properly. Yet with that pitiful army He thwarts the Queen's plans and defeats her. Not even through any strength or prowess of theirs, either, but through the Truth, and the invocation of His Name. That's real power.

In other of his works, Lewis uses the phrase "He does all things for each." Aravis pointed out that another effect of this is that the children grew in faith and maturity, learning many things along the way. This also is part of His plan, just as the struggles Moses faced confronting Pharaoh helped make him into the leader God wanted.

All this got me thinking of the Church, God's people on earth. How often we get things wrong, and show a poor example to the world! Yet the Lord uses us regardless. Why He does it is a deep mystery, but part of it may be that He wants to shame the powers and principalities in rebellion that He can redeem a world using even frail instruments like humans. And, of course, the very act of being used perfects our character and makes us better channels of His grace to the world.
 
Shoot, I tried giving you some reputation, but it didn't let me. :rolleyes: Anyway, I definitely agree with all that you said! Is there really an answer to why God/Aslan use humans as vessels?
 
"But in all those cases, particularly in Silver Chair, the effort almost fails because of the weaknesses of the humans involved. Remember, the travellers almost end up as a course in the feast at Harfang, which would have torqued the entire plan?"

When Edmund was about to be sacrificed, Aslan saved him and took his place.
When the battles failed in PC, Aslan came in and woke up the heart of the country.
When Eustace, Jill, and Puddle got lost, Aslan reminded Jill of the sign she missed.

Aslan was always there to help when things were going wrong.

MrBob
 
True, MrBob, but consider the pivotal - and most potentially catastrophic - moment in Chair: when the travellers had heard Prince Rilian utter the Fourth Sign, and were dithering over what to do. Things truly hung on a knife's edge then. The Witch was minutes away, and if she arrived when Rilian was still bound and enchanted, the whole venture could have collapsed. Where was Aslan then? It seems He entrusted His entire plan to these flimsy vessels, with no backup plan. Most of us humans would consider that dangerously risky.
 
Thing is, God knows things about us that we don't know ourselves. Look at how he picked Jacob and Joseph.
 
True - and here's another thing that's occurred to me about the whole mission of Silver Chair: though the travelers, particularly the children, blew most of the signs, Aslan even used their failures.

Think about it. They blew the First Sign because when Jill arrived, they proceeded to start sniping and bickering with each other rather than focusing on the Signs and the mission. Thus they missed the chance to talk to Caspian. We'll never know what they would have gotten; what they got was the Parliament of Owls and Puddleglum, so Aslan arranged for them to recover from that failure.

They missed the Second and Third signs because they'd let themselves be distracted by the promised comforts of Harfang, and weren't focusing on the Signs and the mission. Even when Puddleglum tried to remind them, they were intent on relief from hardship rather than obedience (I once wrote a blog post about this.) But Aslan has mercy on them even then, and His appearance in Jill's dream is the only place He shows up in the story other than the beginning and end. Through desperate effort they escape their dangerous surroundings by a hair's breadth. As Puddleglum pointed out, even though getting lost beneath a dark hillside and captured by gnomes doesn't seem like fulfilling their mission, they are back on Aslan's track.

Thus when they arrived at the Queen of Underworld's palace, it wasn't because of their diligence and obedience, but despite their persistent failures. Aslan had had to save their bacon several times, and they knew it. Thus, at the critical juncture when they recognized the Fourth Sign, they knew they had to take it seriously. Lewis even points out their plight (I forget if someone said it or if it's in the narrative): they'd muffed the first three Signs; they daren't muff the Fourth.

It is this desperation, rising from their recognition of their failures, that forces them to accede to Puddleglum's fatalistic but faith-filled appraisal of their plight: they had to obey the Sign, regardless of the consequences. Had they succeeded at even one of the earlier signs, they might have had more confidence in their natural abilities, and interposed their own wisdom - causing delay, with disastrous consequences. But because they'd failed so miserably to that point, they knew they couldn't trust themselves. Their failures humbled them sufficiently to be willing to give up everything - even, potentially, their lives - to obey Aslan.

This is a personal lesson I'm continuing to learn. With the help of some superb spiritual reading I've been doing lately, I'm coming to appreciate more and more the fact that without Christ, I can do nothing. Oh, I can recite the Scripture verses and give all the right answers, but my heart attitude still contains far too much of the idea that I'm one of God's better servants, and He finds me very useful. I'm gifted, I'm talented, I have a lot of experience in serving Him. In fact, I'm sure that if it had been me on that mission, I probably wouldn't have missed more than one Sign, maybe two. I still don't see myself properly: as one who regularly and consistently fails in obedience - yet whom He loves regardless.

Maybe I'll learn what the travelers did. Maybe I'll be sufficiently humbled by my repeated failures to acknowledge that my "wisdom" can add nothing to His powerful commands, and that the only response is simple obedience. I'm sure I won't learn the full lesson in this life, but perhaps if I can learn it a little more today, then tomorrow will be better.
 
In Judges 6-7, a reluctant and fearful Gideon has been chosen by the Lord to lead Israel to freedom from the oppression of the Midianites. An army of 32,000 men have joined their encampment not far from that of the innumerable enemy host. Yet God told Gideon he had too many men.

In fact he told Gideon to send home anyone who was anxious. 22,000 left for their homes leaving a force of 10,000. Then the Lord had him send 9,700 more home after an interesting water-drinking test (7:1-7), and it was through the remaining tiny force of 300 that God gave an overwhelming victory.

Why did God choose to stack the odds against his servants? In Judges 7:2 He says:
“You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’"

By choosing the weak to achieve His victory he underscored His own power and glory, and in turn pointed to Israel's need for dependence on Him. In the 2 Corinthians 4 passage that AravisK mentioned, the weak and earthen pots that demonstrate the light of God's glory and power also themselves become transformed in times of trial (2 Cor. 4:16): "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

I think this principle goes for Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum in The Silver Chair, too. Through their trials and failures they learned to trust Aslan and His word; and they learned they need to follow Him regardless of circumstances or what others tell them.

Sure Aslan could have rescued Rilian himself, but he wanted to do a work in Jill, Puddleglum and Eustace --and us-- as well.
 
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