A few weeks ago I watched the Lion King. Again.
And I love this film, I love it so much it is ridiculous, I have seen it on VHS, on DVD, even in 3D. At some point I’ve probably seen it illegally. But if ever a film was worth a criminal record, that film is the Lion King.
One of the reasons that I love it so much, is because I think it’s true. Now, obviously, I don’t quite mean that. I don’t mean that the lions really do sing and dance or make schemes with hyenas or friends with warthogs, what I mean is that a lot of the basic story in that film (which is, apparently, based on Hamlet) is the same as the deep story of humanity. We love it so much because it’s us.
Now, as you probably know, I’m a Christian. And I believe that the story of Christianity is the deep story of who we are, the true story of us and the world and God.
So I’m going to attempt to tell what I believe is the story of humanity with a few clips from the best film ever.
Watch it first, we’re only really bothered with the first 40 seconds.
So. The picture we’ve got here, is exactly how the story starts. We’re Simba, God’s our Dad. He’s our Dad and he’s the King. And he shows us a beautiful, epic, exciting kingdom, and says, “Kid, it’s all yours. There’s just one thing…” The whole of existence is ours to enjoy, but then there are the shadowlands, the darkness, the danger-zone, and our Dad tells us we should never go there. There’s danger there, there’s pain. There is fear, and darkness, and death.
And what’s our shadowland? Like Simba says: “I thought a King can do whatever he wants”. The shadowland, the elephant graveyard for humanity is simply us deciding to do whatever we want, not whatever He wants. Our Dad, the King, loves us, and he wants to give us everything, but we were born free. We were born free to follow ourselves and not our Father, to follow the voice that tells us that “the bravest lions” can do whatever they want. Free to leave the land where the light touches, and wander into the shadowlands of pain – our pain, each other’s pain, His pain.
And isn’t it funny that as soon as Mufasa tells Simba he should never go there, we know that he will? Because that is what people always do. We want what we shouldn’t have, eat the forbidden biscuit, all that jazz. We are born free, and we are born doing the thing that we’re not supposed to do. And at the start we’re just throwing our food and eating our little sister’s sweets and that’s quite cute, but we get older and it gets nastier. The shadowlands get darker and more dangerous.
So. The picture we’ve got here, is exactly how the story starts. We’re Simba, God’s our Dad. He’s our Dad and he’s the King. And he shows us a beautiful, epic, exciting kingdom, and says, “Kid, it’s all yours. There’s just one thing…” The whole of existence is ours to enjoy, but then there are the shadowlands, the darkness, the danger-zone, and our Dad tells us we should never go there. There’s danger there, there’s pain. There is fear, and darkness, and death.
And what’s our shadowland? Like Simba says: “I thought a King can do whatever he wants”. The shadowland, the elephant graveyard for humanity is simply us deciding to do whatever we want, not whatever He wants. Our Dad, the King, loves us, and he wants to give us everything, but we were born free. We were born free to follow ourselves and not our Father, to follow the voice that tells us that “the bravest lions” can do whatever they want. Free to leave the land where the light touches, and wander into the shadowlands of pain – our pain, each other’s pain, His pain.
And isn’t it funny that as soon as Mufasa tells Simba he should never go there, we know that he will? Because that is what people always do. We want what we shouldn’t have, eat the forbidden biscuit, all that jazz. We are born free, and we are born doing the thing that we’re not supposed to do. And at the start we’re just throwing our food and eating our little sister’s sweets and that’s quite cute, but we get older and it gets nastier. The shadowlands get darker and more dangerous.
But good news is, our Dad is running…
TO BE CONTINUED.
*Relevant bible bit: Genesis chapters 1, 2 and 3: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen%201&version=NIVUK
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