What I give you now will bring joy. It will not,
in your world, give endless life, but it will heal.
Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree.
The Magician’s Nephew
Digory, whose curiosity brought evil into the land of Narnia, is
sent on a mission by the great Aslan to bring back an apple that
will serve to plant a tree that will protect the land for hundreds of
years from the evil Witch. As he plucks the apple from the tree at
the center of a private garden, Digory is tempted by the Witch to
eat of it. She tells him he will live forever and will be able to heal
his mother, who is dying, by giving it to her to eat. Digory resists
the temptation and stays true to his mission. He brings the apple to
Aslan.
We can only imagine the struggle and pain of his decision to not
take the apple to his dying mother. He possibly felt like Anakin
in Star Wars Episode III when he was helpless to save Pademe and
resorted to the Dark Side to try to prevent her death. Yet Digory, a
child, chooses to do the right thing and obey the command of the
Creator of Narnia.
When he returns to give Aslan the silver apple, we see that Aslan
is pleased. “Well done,” says Aslan, with a voice that we are told
“shakes the earth.”
Digory is then asked to throw the apple near the river bank where
the ground is soft and fertile so its seed will take root and grow
into a great Tree that will protect the land of Narnia from the evil
Witch. He and the others are told that the Tree will emanate a great
smell that will drive her away. They are told that the smell, “which
is joy and life and health to [them], is death and horror and despair
to her.”
We learn that this great Tree is a tree that gives life if its fruit is
eaten with the right heart. It may symbolize the Tree of Life in
Genesis that imparted life to man. When the fruit of the great Tree
is eaten with improper motives, we find that it carries a curse. This
is exactly what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil carried
when it was eaten by Adam and Eve. Digory is able to resist the
temptation that his ancestors were not able to withstand.
Digory, having completed the mission Aslan sent him on, comes
to think that all hope of saving his mother is lost. In his first
encounter with Aslan we see that Digory is afraid to look up at
Aslan’s face. He stares at Aslan’s feet and claws for most of the
time and suddenly, in despair, timidly looks up at the Great Lion’s
face. He is surprised by what he sees. He finds “great shining tears
in the Lion’s eyes.” Huge, bright tears that reveal that Aslan is as
concerned, if not more concerned about Digory’s mother’s fate.
Here we see the love of Aslan that reminds us of the love of Jesus.
Brennan Manning tells a story in the book Abba’s Child about a
little boy who is scared of Jesus, much like Digory was scared of
Aslan. The story states that one night a friend of Manning’s asked
his handicapped son, “Daniel, when you see Jesus looking at you,
what do you see in His eyes?”
After a pause, the boy replied, “His eyes are filled with tears, Dad.”
“Why, Dan?”
An even longer pause. “Because He is sad.”
“And why is He sad?”
Daniel stared at the floor. When at last he looked up, his eyes
glistened with tears. “Because I am afraid.”5
Richard Foster writes, “Today the heart of God is an open wound
of love. He aches over our distance and preoccupation. He mourns
that we do not draw near to him. He grieves that we have forgotten
him. He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness.
He longs for our presence.”6
Digory was afraid of Aslan but his fear only kept him from seeing
the Lion’s heart. Hopefully we will not be afraid to come to God
with our cares and requests. He longs to hear them and to be close
to us in every way. And in the proper time he will answer our
prayers.
When Digory meets with Aslan the second time, he is instructed
to go and pluck an apple from the great Tree that was planted. That
special apple, when given to his mother restores her health. We find
that Digory shortly afterwards buries the core of the special apple
in his yard and that it grows into an old tree that is knocked down
by great winds years later. We are told that he has the tree cut down
and makes a wardrobe out of the special wood.
It is this wardrobe, once discovered, that would lead a young group
of children back to the land of Narnia for more adventures to come.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal
procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere
the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to
God the aroma of Christ among those who are being
saved and those who are perishing. To the one we
are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of
life... – 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)
…On each side of the river stood the tree of life,
bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every
month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing
of the nations. No longer will there be any curse…
– Revelation 22:2-3 (NIV)
