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How “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” Should Have Ended

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the lion, the witch, and the wardrobeI am sure you have either read or watched the movie of C. S. Lewis’ classic children’s novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. 

It is a great story, and if you haven’t read the book, you really need to. If you feel silly reading it as an adult, read it to your kids (or grand kids). You will like it more than they do. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie (though I’m not sure how that’s possible), I am about to ruin the ending…. so be warned.

Something has often bothered me about the ending of the book: It has the wrong conclusion.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The story is exactly right in its depiction of Aslan as the righteous King, who sacrifices Himself to meet the demands for justice by Queen Jadis. This is what Jesus did on the cross to defeat our archenemy, Satan. In fact, this novel by Lewis does a masterful job of explaining and defending the Christus Victor view of the atonement, which I think is the correct view.

Check out this video from Greg Boyd to see what I mean:

So C. S. Lewis does a masterful job showing how Aslan went to the stone table as a willing substitute for the sins of Edmund, and how Jadis gleefully killed Aslan, thinking that by doing so, she had finally defeated Him and won her right to rule over all Narnia as she pleased. But she didn’t know, as Aslan later explained to Susan and Lucy, about the deeper magic, which allowed Aslan to rise from the dead and remove any claim upon Edmund that Jadis might have had.

Wonderful. Beautiful. Right in line with Scripture.

But then the story takes a curious turn….

The Wrong Ending to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

aslan kills jadisFollowing Aslan’s resurrection, C. S. Lewis has Aslan, Susan, and Lucy race off to the castle of the White Witch, where they “thaw” out all the creatures of Narnia who had been turned to stone, and then return with this army of creatures to help Peter, Edmund, and the Narnians defeat the Witch Jadis and her evil army.

Near the conclusion of the battle, Aslan pounces on the White Witch and kills her. Then the four Pevensie children become Kings and Queens of Narnia until they eventually return to London.

The End.

It is a wonderful story. The problem is that the battle part of the story does not fit what actually happens in Scripture.

The RIGHT Ending to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

To be true to the biblical account, C. S. Lewis should have ended the story this way:

After Aslan rises from the dead and explains to Lucy and Susan what happened, He should say something like, “And now Queen Jadis has been defeated. So I am going away for a time, and when I come again, I will take you with me.”

battle in the lion, the witch, and the wardrobeTo this, Lucy says, “Not to disagree, Aslan, but Queen Jadis is still very much alive. In fact, at this very moment, she is slaughtering the Narnians, and our brothers, Peter and Edmund, are in danger of being killed as well. Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Lucy, Lucy,” Aslan replies. “Jadis is a defeated foe. She hates you because she hated me first. I came to be delivered into the hands of Jadis, but now that she is defeated, I am about to enter into my glory. Your task is to proclaim this message throughout all Narnia, beginning in Cair Paravel.”

“But Aslan!” Susan cried. “Did you not hear what Lucy said? Peter, Edmund, and the rest of the Narnians are fighting for their very lives right this instant! The Queen is going to kill them all and winter will come upon us once again! Aren’t you going to restore and protect your kingdom?”

“Oh, my dear child,” laughs Aslan. “It is not for you to know the times or seasons when the Kingdom will be set up. But you will receive power not many days hence, and by this power, you will proclaim to the ends of all Narnia that I have died, risen from the dead, and defeated Queen Jadis.”

“But that’s the point!” both girls said at once. Lucy continued, “Jadis is still alive and well! She is killing Narnians right over that mountain. Right now. She is not dead. She is not defeated.” But as she spoke, Aslan rose up into the air and floated off into the clouds until He was out of their sight.

The End

Lewis didn’t end his story this way, because it makes a horrible ending. But read Luke 24, John 21, and Acts 1. This is pretty much how the story of Jesus’ first coming concluded.

What Was C. S. Lewis Thinking?

Though we cannot know what C. S. Lewis was thinking, I do have a few theories.

First, it is possible Lewis meant nothing whatsoever by the ending. It is true that Lewis often stated that when he wrote The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he was not intentionally writing an allegory about Jesus. Of course, whether he intended to do so or not, the story is clearly allegorical. Aslan is obviously Jesus. The four children obviously represent humanity. Jadis obviously represents Satan. The death of Aslan at the hand of Jadis represents the death of Jesus on the cross. The resurrection of Aslan represents the resurrection of Jesus. But maybe that is where the parallels stop, and we shouldn’t try to make all the events in Lewis’ story fit events in the Bible.

If so, then Lewis wasn’t trying to get the story to match the Bible, but was simply writing a good story. He liked ending it with a battle in which the bad people die. Who doesn’t like a story like this? So maybe Lewis finished his story the way he did because it makes a better ending than the one we find in the Bible.

But I am not content with that explanation…

So maybe it could be argued that that battle between Aslan and Jadis at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is intended to depict the battle that rages in the book of Revelation, but then this does not explain why C. S. Lewis wrote The Last Battle (which is a book I am re-reading right now, and will write a post on at a future date).

Ultimately, it seems that no matter how we look at it, the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe does not fit with Scripture.

After Jesus rises from the dead, the Bible records numerous objections and questions and confusion about what exactly Jesus did (or didn’t do). Then Jesus ascends into heaven, and there is more confusion. Afterwards in Acts 2, the apostles receive power and then they go out to continue the battle against their defeated foe. Many of them suffer and die horrible deaths.

2000 years later, we are still waiting for Aslan’s return. Many are still suffering and dying at the hands of a defeated foe who seems quite undefeated.

So that is exactly the problem. The Bible everywhere says Satan is defeated. But experience says otherwise. The world seems to be getting worse. Evil seems to be increasing. What is the answer? What is the solution? Why did Jesus leave us right when we needed Him most?

The Ending Reconsidered

Part of the answer, I think, is found in another movie, but this time, in “Star Wars:  A New Hope.” The part where Obi-Wan Kenobi dies and as a result, both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader think that the Empire has won. Little do they know that Obi-Wan Kenobi has now become more powerful than ever.

This isn’t exactly what happened with Jesus, but He did say in John 16:7. He said that it was to our advantage for Him to go away, because only then could He send the Holy Spirit. Jesus could only be in one place at one time, but the Spirit of God is in all places, with all people, at the same time. Frankly, I am not sure why we couldn’t have both, but that is another question for another time.

In the end, we have to trust Jesus that He knows what He is doing, and that Satan really is defeated, and that our job, our responsibility, our task on this earth is to continue the battle that Jesus has already won: the struggle against principalities and powers, against rulers of darkness in this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12).

In a very literal sense, we could argue from Scripture that Jesus has returned, in and through each one of us in the church. As the Body of Christ, we are the incarnation of Jesus in this age. So WE are the ones to unthaw those who have been held captive by sin. WE are the ones to go forth against evil. WE are the ones to batter down the gates of hell. Maybe, just maybe, this is what C. S. Lewis meant when he wrote about the return of Aslan in the battle against Queen Jadis. If so, this is why Susan and Lucy rode with Him. For now, when Jesus rides out battle, He does not ride alone, but rides with all who bear the name of Christ.

Hmmm. I think I am going to read the ending of  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this way from now on. I guess C. S. Lewis wasn’t wrong after all… Maybe the problem is not that Lewis’ story disagreed with Scripture, but that we have misunderstood Scripture. Maybe the ending to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe actually does fit with Scripture, and we have been misreading Scripture all along. Maybe that battle in the book is the battle we are currently waging right now, and Aslan is not just Jesus, but is all who belong to the Body of Christ on earth.

It is our job, it is our task, to go forward and wage war against those spiritual forces that have enslaved others. We cannot sit back and say, “Oh, it’s such an evil world. I am just going to sit here on my padded bench at the bus station waiting for the heavenly bus from heaven to come pick me up and take me away to eternal bliss.”

NO! Jesus is risen from the dead, and in the church, He is riding forward in power, glory, and righteousness to set the captives free, to proclaim sight to the blind, and liberty to those who are oppressed (Luke 4:14-16).

Let me put it this way: Jesus is the Redeemer of the world, but He works in and through His people to bring the reality of that redemption to the world. If we just sit back and wait for the end to come, then what does that mean for the world? It means they lose hope, they suffer, they die.

So in the end, I guess Lewis was right after all. But Aslan is no longer just Aslan. In the end, Aslan rides out with Lucy and Susan on his back, and an army of freed captives in his train (Ephesians 4:8).

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Why Did Jesus say, “My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”

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why have you forsaken me?A reader recently sent a a series of questions about the experience of Jesus on the cross. I have answered most of the questions in previous posts (since the list below). In this post I will address the question about what Jesus meant when He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Here is the question the reader originally submitted:

I am a believer, but I am troubled by an atheist’s questions. I was talking to an atheist the other day, and he said that God doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a son because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, so he only lost him for the weekend! He also questioned that if God is Jesus, why did he beg to be saved from the cross when he was in the garden? Also, shouldn’t Jesus already have known he would rise again in three days? Why did he ask God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Wouldn’t he know that he’s only going to be dead three days?

Since this is such a complex set of questions, I am answering them in four posts:

  1. How to Answer Questions of Atheists
  2. 2 Traditional Explanations for How God knows what it is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
  3. 2 Ways God Knows What it is like to Experience the Death of a Child
  4. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The first three posts covered most of the issues, but there are two main questions left.

First, why did Jesus beg to be saved from the cross when He was in the garden? Second, why did He ask God, “Why have You forsaken Me?”?

That first unanswered question I have already attempted to answer in a previous post where I talked about the phrase, “Let this cup pass from me.” Though my interpretation of that statement by Jesus in the garden is somewhat controversial, it seems to make the most sense out of the context, and Jesus’ attitude leading up to the cross. I do not think Jesus was praying for a way out of the pain and suffering; His love for humanity was too great for that. No, I think Jesus was praying for strength to face the pain and suffering He knew He was about to bear.

So I am not going to write anything more about that here.

Let us focus instead on the statement of Jesus from the cross where He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

This question from Jesus on the cross is found in Matthew 27:46-47 (and in Mark 15:34), and is a quotation from Psalm 22:1. It is asked by Jesus as He suffers on the cross, and faces the sin of the world being poured out upon Him.

why have you forsaken meThe main point of the question above is that since both Jesus and God the Father knew that God would raise Jesus from the dead (Matt 12:40), in what sense what Jesus forsaken by God?

In other words, if being forsaken means to be abandoned, rejected, despised, how could Jesus say, “Why have you forsaken me?” when He knew that He would be raised from the dead, and therefore, not ultimately forsaken, that is, not really abandoned, rejected, or despised?

The answer, I think, lies in understanding to some degree the eternal relationship that has existed between God the Father and God the Son.  Understanding this relationship, and the cry of Jesus from the cross, leads to a shocking idea (for me, anyway) about the experience of Jesus on the cross.

His Eternal Relationship seemed Broken

Since God the Father and God the Son have existed in an eternal relationship, they had never been separated by anything for any length of time in any way, shape, or form. Nothing had ever come between them the way of will, desires, intentions, thoughts, or purposes.

We humans have a difficult time grasping this, since we don’t know what it is like to live in such a relationship at all, let alone for all eternity. All of relationships, even those that are the most loving, have areas of discord and misunderstanding.

But God the Father and God the Son (along with God the Holy Spirit) always lived in a perfect relationship and perfect unity.

Yet when Jesus went to the cross, He took the sins of all people, throughout all time, upon Himself. He bore our sins in His own body (1 Pet 2:24). He who knew no sin, became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). He became a curse for us (Gal 3:13).

I believe that from the perspective of Jesus on the cross, it seemed that God had “abandoned” Him to sin.

Though sin cannot damage or pollute God in any way, sin does cause a separation between Himself and the sinner. It appears that when Jesus took the sin of all people upon Himself, a separation came between Him and God that had never before existed.

So when Jesus cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” it was because He was experiencing a brokenness in His relationship with God the Father that they had never before experienced. Yes, He knew that God had not finally and ultimately forsaken Him, and He knew that He would be raised again in three days, but the cry of Jesus from the cross is not about those things, but about the separation from God He experienced for the very time in all eternity.

why have you forsaken meThis experience of separation from God elicited the cry of Jesus, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He had never experienced this separation before, and though He knew that He would be reunited with God in a short while, the pain and agony of the separation was caused this cry of despair from Jesus.

But had God truly forsaken Jesus? I don’t think so. I don’t think God did forsake Jesus any more than God forsakes us. Jesus was not a God-forsaken God.

The God-Forsaken God?

I might be going out too far on a theological limb here, but there is a part of me that thinks it is only here on the cross where Jesus finally experienced the pain and turmoil of what it is like to be a sinful human being separated from God. Though Jesus came as a human being to rescue us from our sinful plight and in so doing, experienced almost everything He could as a human, He never really experienced the fearful and agonizing predicament of being separated from God by sin.

It was only when He took our sin upon Himself on the cross, it was only when the crushing despair of being separated from God came upon Him, that He finally felt what we humans have lived with since we were born. The pain and anguish we feel every day, the suffering of being separated from God that has so numbed our souls, the despair and fear that drives us to live as we do, was felt for the very first time by Jesus on the cross when sin came upon Him.

His cry, “My God, my God, Why have You forsaken Me?” is not the cry of the God-forsaken God, but is the heart cry of every single human being on earth. It is the cry we have been voicing since the beginning when we fell into sin.

And finally, God came to earth in Jesus Christ to experience this separation for Himself. And when He did, the suffering is so great, He cries out, “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?”

Do you see? This is not just the cry of Jesus on the cross. This is the cry of every single person on earth.

It is our pain, our fear, our hurt, our despair, finally being given a voice. It is the cry of God fully entering into our broken condition and fully experiencing the sense of separation from God that sin causes, and crying out in anguish and despair over this sense of loss, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”

When we feel that God is ignoring us, or has abandoned us, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When we experience fear in the night about our future, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When bad things happen in this world, and we wonder what God is doing about them (if anything), Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

When we feel despised and rejected, abused and slandered, misunderstood and forgotten, and we wonder why God seems to be doing nothing to protect and defend us, Jesus knows what we feel, and He cries out to God on our behalf, “Why have You forsaken Me?”

The separation from God that Jesus experienced on the cross is the separation from God that humans experience every day. Certainly, since He is God and since He bore every sin of every person, He experienced this separation to an infinite degree. But still, the cry of Jesus from the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” is not just the cry of Jesus, but is our cry.

It is the cry of every single human being on earth. Jesus was giving voice to our pain and anguish.

Do you feel abandoned by God? Jesus knows what that feels like. Do you feel forsaken, neglected, forgotten, and overlooked? Jesus knows what that feels like. Do you feel like God has turned His back? Jesus knows what that feels like.

But here is the thing…

The original question was “How can Jesus say ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ when God did not actually forsake Him?”

Yes. And just as Jesus felt what we all feel to be forsaken, so also, none of us have been forsaken, just as Jesus Himself was not.

Though you may feel abandoned by God, you are no more abandoned than was Jesus. Though you may feel forsaken, forgotten, neglected, and overlooked, these things are no more true of you than they were of Jesus. Though you may feel unloved, this is no more true of you than it was for Jesus.

Though Jesus cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” He was NOT forsaken. And neither are we.

This is a feeling that Jesus experienced, which is a feeling we ALL experience.

And this feeling does not come because we are forsaken, but because of sin. Sin has separated us from God; it has not separated God from us. This is why God had to reconcile the world to Himself (1 Cor 5:19). He didn’t need to reconcile Himself to the world, for He never left or abandoned us.

Though we may feel forsaken, we are not forsaken any more than Jesus was forsaken.

God did not forsake Jesus, and God does not forsake us. The presence of sin in our lives makes us feel like we are forsaken, like God has abandoned us, forgotten us, or left us alone to suffer and die, when in fact, God is right there all the time, holding us, loving us, and crying with us over our pain.

It is sin that makes us feel separated from God, and this is the feeling Jesus expressed on the cross, and is one reason Jesus went to the cross – to take our sin and bear it away into death so that we can see that God has not left us, has not abandoned us, and has not forsaken us, but has fully entered into our pain, our suffering, and even into our sin, so that He might show us how much He loves and cares for us. This truth is explained in more detail in my new book, The Atonement of God.

I am not sure if this answers the reader’s question, but it does help explain what Jesus meant when He said, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It also helps us understand that on the cross, Jesus understood the feeling of being a sinful human being, and it is for this reason that we can trust His promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

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God Knows What it is Like to Experience the Death of a Child

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A reader recently sent in the following questions about the death of Jesus as the Son of God and how it affected God the Father. Specifically, they wanted to know if God knew what it was like to experience the death of a child. Here is the question:

I am a believer, but I am troubled by an atheist’s questions. I was talking to an atheist the other day, and he said that God doesn’t know what it’s like to experience the death of a child because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, so he only lost him for the weekend! He also questioned that if God is Jesus, why did he beg to be saved from the cross when he was in the garden? Also, shouldn’t Jesus already have known he would rise again in three days? Why did he ask God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Wouldn’t he know that he’s only going to be dead three days?

I am answering these questions over the course of four blog posts in the following order:

  1. How to Answer Questions of Atheists
  2. 2 Traditional Explanations for How God knows what it is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
  3. 2 Ways God Knows What it is like to Experience the Death of a Child
  4. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?”

So in this post, I will look at two ways that God does indeed know what it is like to experience the death of a child, and in fact, knows better than we do what it is like.

God Knows What it is Like to Experience the Death of a Child

I believe that God does know what it is like to experience the death of a child. In fact, I believe that God knows better than anyone else what it is like to lose a child.

We can see this in at least two ways.

1. When Jesus Became Sin, God’s Eternal Relationship with Jesus was Shattered

God did not experience the death of a child the same way that humans do. When Jesus died on the cross, it is true that God did not experience His death the same way that human parents experience the death of their son or daughter. But this does not mean that there was no loss on the part of God, that there was no pain, that there was no suffering.

death of a childQuite to the contrary, it could be argued that in the death of Jesus, God experienced greater loss, greater pain, and greater suffering than do human parents.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says that on the cross, Jesus became sin for us. He took our sin upon Himself. While it is nearly impossible to understand exactly how this happened or what occurred, we can know that whatever it means, it would have caused excruciating anguish and torment for both God the Father and God the Son. We have lived with sin our entire lives. We have become accustomed to it. We cannot imagine an existence without sin.

But God is holy, righteous, and good. He is love and light. What then must it mean for Him to knew no sin to become sin for us? What must it have been like for God to see the holiness of His one and only son get exchanged (or covered, or extinguished, or whatever verb best fits with your theology of the atonement) with the totality of all sin ever committed by every human in the history of the world? We humans cannot imagine the suffering and the torment that this must have caused.

Worse yet, the sin that Jesus bore caused a rift to open in His relationship with God the Father. The sin caused a separation. This is why Jesus cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” This is the cry of God the Son experiencing for the first time in eternity a separation from God the Father. The suffering and sacrifice was so great, that it shattered the eternal relationship between God the Father and God the Son. This also is something we humans cannot imagine. We are pained when separated from our loved ones whom we have known for several years, or several decades. But God the Father and God the Son have existed eternally in relationship with one another. Sin caused them to be separated.

And while both God the Father and Jesus the Son knew that Jesus would rise again, there was a pain in their separation that can never be matched by the most painful loss which any human being can experience.

Look at it this way: Though plants are “alive” (in some sense), they do not experience pain or loss when one of their “baby” plants die. Up the creation spectrum a little bit, we have animals. Many animals parents (though not all) do experience pain or loss when one of their children dies. But going up the creation spectrum to the top, it seems that humans experience the greatest pain and suffering when we are separated from our children by death.

But God is infinitely “higher” than humans in every way, and therefore, must experience an infinitely greater loss at the pain, suffering, and loss of His Son, even though He knew He would be reunited with His son shortly. The knowledge of the resurrection did not dissipate the pain and suffering that God experienced when Jesus bore the sin of the world into death.

Again, think about the situation as a parent. Let us say that you knew your child was going to die, and that your child would rise again from the dead in three days. But before your child died, they would have to experience the most excruciating and painful torment ever imaginable. Would their pain and death be any easier for you to handle, even knowing that they would rise again in three days? No, I do not think so.

How much more so for God? Though the situation was a bit different when God lost His son than when parents lose their children, it can be argued that God knows the pain of suffering and the torment of a lost loved one in deeper ways and with greater agony than do human parents. God does know the pain of losing a child. Since death is the antithesis and complete opposite of everything that is “God” for Jesus to die would be the greatest and more terrible experience of the death of a child, especially when the child is the Son of God.

But there is another way that God has experienced the death of a child.

2. Every Person is One of God’s Children

We sometimes seem to forget that every single person is (in some sense) one of God’s children. Even those who rebel against God and who never return to Him are viewed by Him as His lost and wayward children. He looks after each and every person on earth throughout history. He looks earnestly down the road every day, hoping that his wayward children will return to Him.

And when each and every person dies, whether young or old, God suffers through their death. Death, remember, was not God’s plan or desire for the world. When any person dies, it wrenches the heart of God. Death torments God day and night.

When we suffer over the loss of our loved ones, God suffers with us.

When we cry out in pain over the death of a child, God cries with us.

When we scream until we have no voice and sob until we have no tears, God continues to scream with a voice that never cracks and sob with eyes that never run dry.

When you suffer over the death of a child, a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, or any loved one, know that God suffers also. However much you suffer over the loss of your loved ones, God suffers more. He knows what it is like to experience the death of a child, because all people are his sons and daughters. He “gave birth” to us. He brought us forth. He cared for us. Tended us. Brought us up. Planned for our future. Laughed and danced and sang with us.

death of a childAnd when death strikes, God is there, grieving and mourning over the death of yet another child.

God knows what it is like to lose a child, not just because of Jesus, but because He experiences the pain of death whenever any person dies.

I think that more than anything, when a person is going through intense pain and suffering and they cry out to God in anger, despair, or frustration, while they do not really want theological answers or Scripture quotations, one thing they do want is to know that God is with them in their pain and suffering, and that He is suffering right along with them.

This idea that God suffers when we suffer is one way to encourage people to see the love and care of God in our lives, even when we experience the death of a child or face any other type of pain in life.

The cross of Jesus is CENTRAL to everything!

Transform your life and theology by focusing on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus:

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

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Does God Know What it is Like to Lose a Son?

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A reader recently sent in the following questions about the death of Jesus as the Son of God and how it affected God the Father. Specifically, they wanted to know if God knew what it was like to lose a son. Here is the question:

I am a believer, but I am troubled by an atheist’s questions. I was talking to an atheist the other day, and he said that God doesn’t know what it’s like to lose a son because he knew all along that Jesus would rise in three days, so he only lost him for the weekend! He also questioned that if God is Jesus, why did he beg to be saved from the cross when he was in the garden? Also, shouldn’t Jesus already have known he would rise again in three days? Why did he ask God, “Why have you forsaken me?” Wouldn’t he know that he’s only going to be dead three days?

I began to answer these questions in a post about the existence of God by looking at the basic approach I use when answering questions from atheists (or anyone with whom I disagree about anything). Actually answering the questions (or attempting to do so) will require several posts. Here is the order I will answer these questions:

  1. How to Answer Questions of Atheists
  2. 2 Traditional Explanations for How God knows what it is Like to Lose a Son (both of which I reject)
  3. 2 Ways God Knows What it is like to lose a Son
  4. Why did Jesus say, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?”

So in this post, I will look at two traditional explanations for how God knows what it is like to lose a son, and I will also explain why I reject both explanations (which might also be why atheists and other people reject these explanations as well).

Does God Know What it is Like to Lose a Son? (Traditional Answers)

lose a sonSometimes this question is asked this way: “How could God know what it is like to lose a son if He knew Jesus was just going to rise from the dead three days later?” Or “How could the death of Jesus be a sacrifice for God if God knew that Jesus was just going to rise again from the dead?”

These are all very good questions, which are not so easily answered! Nevertheless, there are two popular answers I have heard which attempt to explain how God knows what it is like to lose a son.

1. Christians Know Their Children Will Rise Too

It is sometimes suggested that God knew Jesus would rise from the dead just as all Christian parents know that their dead children will rise from the dead.

This, I believe, is a weak answer.

God knew with absolute certainty that the death of Jesus would end in the resurrection of Jesus; but not all parents have this same certainty. Not even all Christian parents have this certainty.

Furthermore, even when parents know they will be reunited with lost loved ones in the future, Jesus was only in the grave for three days, while parents who lose a son or daughter have to wait the rest of their life.

While nobody wants to lose a son or daughter (or any family member for that matter), the pain of it would be significantly lessened, it seems, if we knew that we would receive our lost loved ones back within three days, and they would be fully healthy and whole and would never suffer or die again.

So when viewed from this perspective, the claim that God knows what it is like to lose a son seems rather hollow, does it not?

2. God lives in an Eternal Now

The second way some people try to explain how God knows what it is like to lose a son is through the view that God exists outside of time, that God is timeless. If this is true, rather than experiencing a sequence of events (as we do), God experiences all events as an eternal now. It is argued then, that the crushing, heart-wrenching pain of watching a child die, and the sense of deep loss that lingers afterwards for days, months, and even years in the hearts of parents, is the pain that God experiences for an eternity over the death of His Son.

lose a childThough I was taught in Bible college and Seminary that God is timeless, that He exists outside of time in a constant, eternal now, I don’t believe it. There are numerous reasons why, which I won’t get into here. I believe that God is relational and is capable of reacting to our needs and prayers in a way that would not be possible if He were outside of time.

But even if this view is true, it still doesn’t allow God to experience what it is like to lose a son. For even if He eternally experiences the crushing sorrow of losing a child, He also eternally experiences the joy of being with His Son for eternity, and the even more thrilling experience of His Son rising from the dead. Neither of these eternal experiences can be shared by humans, and so even in this view, God does not know what it is like to lose a son in the same way that humans do.

So where do we go from here?

In a future post, I will look at the two reasons I think God does know what it is like to lose a son, and in so doing, will see that God may actually know better than we what it is like. Interested to hear more? Check back tomorrow. (Edit: The links are listed above).

What do you think of the two explanations above? Are you aware of any other explanations that Christians sometimes give for whether or not God knows what it is like to lose a son? Weigh in by sharing below!

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Jesus’ Parables are Confusing? Good!

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Jesus parablesThis post on Jesus’ parables is part of the August Synchroblog, a monthly event where bloggers around the world write about various topics at the same time. If you are a blogger or writer, make sure you join us next month! It’s a great way to meet other bloggers and blog readers.

Most people find Jesus’ parables to be rather confusing. If that is you, guess what? You are on the right track to understanding Jesus’ parables! Seriously.

I often laugh when I read what the disciples say to Jesus in Matthew 13:51 after He has told a string of several particularly confusing parables. Jesus says to them, “Have you understood all these things?” and they answer, “Yes, Lord!”

Frankly, I think this was a case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” I think that none of them understood much of what Jesus was saying (for when have they ever understood much of Jesus’ parables before?) but were all too afraid to admit that they had no clue what Jesus was talking about, and nobody was courageous enough to admit it. Too bad there wasn’t a child nearby to yell out, “Hey! I don’t understand! Tell us what you mean by these parables, Jesus!”

Well, I am not a child, and I am not one of the apostles, but let me admit it publicly, “I don’t think I understand Jesus’ parables.”

And you know what? I think that is EXACTLY what Jesus wants. In fact, confusion is the goal of the Jesus’ parables. Did you know that? So if you are confused by what Jesus says in His parables, you are on the right track. If you are confident you understand all of Jesus’ parables, you probably need to have your pride meter checked. Jesus told parables so that people would not understand what He was saying, and He had very specific reasons for doing this.

Let me show you what Jesus Himself said about the parables, and then I will conclude this post with a chronological list of all Jesus’ parables in the Gospels.

Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

You sometimes hear pastors say that since Jesus told stories, so should we. I think we could have a debate about the effectiveness of storytelling in our preaching and teaching, but one thing we cannot argue is that “since Jesus told stories, so should we.” Jesus didn’t tell “stories.” He told “parables.” Parables are very different than stories. Though there are similarities between stories and parables, stories are often given to illustrate a truth or help people remember a point that was made, while parables, on the other hand, are given to hide the truth and confuse people about the point that was made.

At least, that is what Jesus says about why He told parables.

As we all know, Jesus told parables. The apostles were always getting confused by His parables and were relieved when He finally spoke plainly to them (John 16:29). The fact that the apostles were first century Mediterranean Jews who lived and listened to Jesus for three straight years, but who were still confused by Jesus’ parables should give us hope that if they were confused, it is okay for us to be confused as well.

Yet confusion was the goal and purpose of the parables. At one point in Jesus’ ministry, the apostles come to Jesus and say, “Why do you speak in parables?” (Matthew 13:10). They were confused by what Jesus said in his parables, and the multitudes who listened to Jesus’ parables were often confused as well by what Jesus was teaching, and so the apostles were kindly telling Jesus that He might do better if He spoke plainly to the people.

Jesus tells the apostles in Matthew 13:11-17 (cf. Matthew 13:34-35; Luke 8:10) that the reason He speaks in parables is so that the people will “see but not see, hear but not hear.”

Jesus parables confusingIn other words, Jesus told parables to mask the truth, to hide it, to cloak it, to make it unclear. Jesus’ parables are supposed to be confusing! He wanted them to be confusing!

Why would Jesus do that? Didn’t Jesus come to reveal God to us? Doesn’t Jesus want people to understand the way of salvation? Aren’t good teachers supposed to teach with clarity?

Well, this actually gets us back into the whole theology of the Bible as well. If you have been honest with yourself enough to admit that some of Jesus’ parables are confusing, then you are probably also honest enough to admit that much of the Bible is confusing also. One of the reasons Jesus spoke in ways that were confusing to His audience, is because… this is what God has always been doing! 

So if we want to ask why Jesus told stories that were intentionally confusing, then we also need to ask why God would inspire the Bible to be written in ways that were intentionally confusing. The answer to one question will also be the answer to the other.

And do you want to know why?

Here is why: Scripture and parables are confusing because God doesn’t want us to get life from a book. The Jewish religious leaders were trying to get their life from a book, and Jesus scolded them for it (John 5:39-40), and so also today, many people seem to think that life comes from studying, learning, and following the Bible. But it doesn’t.

Life comes from God alone. Life comes through Jesus Christ. He IS life.

And so when God inspired the Bible to be written in confusing ways, and when Jesus told parables that were confusing, their goal was not just to confuse people, but to get people to come to the source of life for an explanation. God didn’t inspire the Bible to be written just so we could have a book about God. Neither did Jesus tell parables just so we could have some profound spiritual truths. No, the Bible is a tool to lead us into a relationship with God and the parables are a tool to lead us into a relationship with Jesus.

When Jesus told confusing parables, the proper response was for people to go to Jesus and say, “What in the world? That made no sense, Jesus. What did you mean by that parable?” And Jesus always responds by saying, “Ah! I was waiting for you to ask. Let’s talk about it.” And that is what He does. He sits around and discusses the parables with those who want to learn more and who come to Him seeking a relationship. That is why He tells the apostles in Matthew 16 that their eyes and ears are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets have longed for. What did they see and hear? Not the parables…. but Jesus Himself!

This is the same way we can approach Scripture. When the Bible is confusing, the proper response is to go to God and say, “What in the world? This makes no sense, God. What were you thinking? What is going on here?” And then God can say to you, “Ah! I was waiting for you to ask! Let’s talk about it.”

Why is the Bible confusing? For the same reason Jesus’ parables are confusing: God doesn’t want us to be “people of the book.” He wants us to be people of His family. He wants us to be His sons and daughters. And as His children, when we read something in His book that doesn’t make sense to us, He doesn’t want us to shake our head, throw up our hands and say, “I’ll never understand the Bible.” Instead, He wants us to develop a relationship with Him by going to Him with our questions and concerns.

Of course, I should tell you how God often answers your questions and concerns. In my experience, He usually says something like this: “Oh yes. That text. That’s a tough one. But listen, don’t worry about that right now. Look at your neighbors over there struggling with their marriage. What do you think we can do to help them?”

If you look through Jesus’ parables in the Gospels, note that after many of them, rather than really provide much of a verbal explanation, Jesus takes His apostles to love or serve somebody. After the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus told several parables, Jesus goes and cleanses a leper, heals the centurion’s servant, and many other people (Matthew 8). After telling a parable about new wine in old wineskins, Jesus raises a young girl to life, gives sight to blind men, and gives a mute man back his voice (Matthew 9). This patterns is followed throughout the Gospels.

So don’t be surprised if following Jesus means following Him with lots of unanswered questions. The parables were designed (along with the rest of Scripture) to bring you into the company of Jesus. After that, Jesus shows you what the parables mean, not by answering your questions, but by leading you to love and server others.

…Which turns out to be the meaning of Jesus’ parables all along.

Jesus parables

A List of Jesus’ Parables

Here is a list of Jesus’ parables in chronological order (Credit goes to The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order for this list).

  1. New cloth on an old coat (Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21; Luke 5:36)
  2. New wine in old wineskins (Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38)
  3. Lamp on a stand (also see #6) (Matthew 5:14-15)
  4. Wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49)
  5. Moneylender forgives unequal debts (Luke 7:41-43)
  6. Lamp on a stand (2nd time, see #3) (Mark 4:21-22; Luke 8:16, 11:33)
  7. Rich man foolishly builds bigger barns (Luke 12:16-21)
  8. Servants must remain watchful (also see #44) (Luke 12:35-40)
  9. Wise and foolish servants (also see #42) (Luke 12:42-48)
  10. Unfruitful fig tree (Luke 13:6-9)
  11. Sower and four types of soil (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23; Mark 4:3-8, 14-20; Luke 8:5-8, 11-15)
  12. Weeds among good plants (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
  13. Growing seed (Kingdom of Heaven) (Mark 4:26-29)
  14. Mustard seed (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19)
  15. Yeast (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matt 13:33; Luke 13:20-21)
  16. Hidden treasure (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:44)
  17. Valuable pearl (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:45-46)
  18. Fishing net (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:47-50)
  19. Owner of a house (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 13:52)
  20. Lost sheep (sheep as children, also see #29) (Matthew 18:12-14)
  21. The sheep, gate, and shepherd (John 10:1-5, 7-18)
  22. Master and his servant (Luke 17:7-10)
  23. Unmerciful servant (Kingdom of Heaven) (Matthew 18:23-34)
  24. Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
  25. Friend in need (Luke 11:5-8)
  26. Lowest seat at the feast (Luke 14:7-14)
  27. Invitation to a great banquet (Luke 14:16-24)
  28. Cost of discipleship (Luke 14:28-33)
  29. Lost sheep (sheep as sinners, also see #20) (Luke 15:4-7)
  30. Lost coin (Luke 15:8-10)
  31. Lost (prodigal) son (Luke 15:11-32)
  32. Shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-8)
  33. Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)
  34. Workers in the vineyard, early and late (Matthew 20:1-16)
  35. Persistent widow and crooked judge (Luke 18:2-8)
  36. Pharisee and tax collector (Luke 18:10-14)
  37. King’s ten servants given minas (also see #45) (Luke 19:12-27)
  38. Two sons, one obeys one does not (Matthew 21:28-32)
  39. Wicked tenants (Matt 21:33-44; Mark 12:1-11; Luke 20:9-18)
  40. Invitation to a wedding banquet (Matthew 22:2-14)
  41. Signs of the future from a fig tree (Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-29; Luke 21:29-31)
  42. Wise and foolish servants (2nd time, see #9) (Matthew 24:45-51)
  43. Wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)
  44. Servants must remain watchful (2nd time, see #8) (Mark 13:35-37)
  45. Three servants given talents (also see #37) (Matthew 25:14-30)
  46. Sheep and goats will be separated (Matthew 25:31-46)

There are, of course, some keys which help us to understand Jesus’ parables. Among them are understanding God’s outrageous grace, what Jesus means by the “Kingdom of Heaven,” and what Jesus thinks about religion (Hint: He hates religion). It is also critical to grasp some of the historical-cultural background themes and ideas from the first century Mediterranean world. If you want to learn more about these things, I highly recommend the following resources to get you started:

Resources for Understanding Jesus’ Parables

If you know of other good books on the parables of Jesus, let me know in the comment section below.

Other People who Blogged on Jesus’ Parables

Here is a list of other bloggers and authors who contributed to this month’s synchroblog on Jesus’ parables. Go check them all out!

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