My daughter and I have been listening to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together. Lucy enters into the wardrobe and then ventures into a new world called Narnia. Mr. Tumnus meets Lucy and offers her comfort and food. Later he is full of grief. He is repentant for embracing evil without knowing good. He makes a deal with the witch, but after having met the good and the innocent–represented by Lucy–he turns away and devotes himself to the good.
When Lucy returns from her trip to Narnia and shares her experience with the others she is immediately confronted by Edmund’s disbelief. “It’s a magic wardrobe,” she says. Edmund’s persistence in disbelieving Lucy’s report sounds very familiar to biblical ears. The disciples at times could not understand Jesus’ words. They could not understand the new world he was speaking about throughout his ministry. He was met with wild resistance by his own people.
It is easier to disbelieve than to believe. Lucy is eventually vindicated, but Edmund’s disbelief is sign of a greater despair in his own life. It’s not just disbelieving Lucy that characterizes him, it’s disbelieving the supernatural.
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