It seems that most American Christians are oblivious to the fact that Christmas is a season, not just a day. There is a reason the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” exists. The season known as Christmastide begins on December 25 — Christmas Day — and ends on 12th Night — January 5th. In between, on the eighth day of Christmas, is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus — a celebration honoring the naming of Jesus eight days after His birth.
The days after Christmas have been pretty rough for our family. Over half the family got the flu for Christmas. Bah Humbug! But sometimes little blessings can come from unpleasant circumstances, if you take the time to notice.
Honey and I had taken some food and medicine to one of our sons and his family and after a little food and a little medicine, everyone drifted off for a little sleep. For a couple of hours I had the recliner and the tv to myself so I scrolled through the movie options and found a treasure from my childhood — The NeverEnding Story.
Though I hadn’t seen the movie in a good forty years, I watched it enough in my first ten years to be able to recite most of the movie as it played. Like me, the main character was an only child who spent most of his time alone reading books. He even had an equally difficult to pronounce double B name like me: Bastian Bux. Within minutes of revisiting the land of Fantasia, I found myself slipping into the story as if it were a pair of well worn shoes, but something became very clear to me within minutes of the movie beginning. This wasn’t just a silly child’s movie with goofy characters and bad acting. The NeverEnding Story actually tackles some pretty heavy topics and pretty deep theology.
When the movie begins we find the young Bastian struggling to find his place in a world that doesn’t make much sense anymore. He is bullied ferociously by three schoolmates, his grades are slipping because he has trouble focusing, likely because he is still grieving the recent death of his mother and finding little support from his father who believes it is time to move on. I can’t imagine there is anything more disorienting and world shaking for a little child than to lose their mother. Most of the adults around Bastian seem to think it is time for him to grow up; leaving childhood behind and marching toward adulthood. Ironically, the death of his mother is forcing this journey whether he wants it or not. Bastian is keeping his head above water through fantasy, imagination, dreaming, all of which are fueled by his love of books. Bastian feels more at home in a story than in the real world. Who can blame him? The real world is a rough and ugly place sometimes. Through the imagination of Bastian — and the fantasy character Atreyu in the book Bastian is reading — we learn that there are many forces in the world that bring us to despair.
The core crisis in the book Bastian is reading follows Atreyu, a young warrior tasked by the childlike Empress to stop "The Nothing"—a void caused by humanity losing its imagination—from destroying Fantasia. When the rulers of Fantasia gather to summon a hero to save their world, they are shocked and offended at the idea of their only hope being a child (Atreyu). The child savior must travel through dark lands, like the Swamp of Sadness where he loses his closest companion and feels the pull of the temptation to be completely swallowed up by sadness. He is constantly being pursued by a black wolf named Gmork who promises to rip him to pieces and devour him. Gmork, the servant of the power behind the Nothing, whose mission was to kill the only one who could defeat the Nothing. Then there is the Nothing. The Nothing is a tireless, ceaseless tornado like….well….nothing, that consumes everything in its path. There is no running from it, there is no fighting it, there is not stopping it, there is no escaping it. Talking about it now, I’m scratching my head about whether this is a “children’s story”. Sadly, it is in childhood that most of us begin to learn the reality that monsters are real. But as the great G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
In the end, the climax of the movie is a blend of story and reality meeting. The Nothing is bearing down and ultimately destroys Fantasia…everything except the Ivory Tower. Atreyu realizes that hope still remains in the midst of what seems to be complete loss. At this point there is a back and forth between the characters in the book and Bastian. Bastian thinks he is reading a story, but he comes to realize that the story is reading him. He is as much a part of the story as any of the characters in it. In response to Atreyu’s question of why Bastian won’t do something, the Empress bemoans, “He simply can’t imagine that one little boy could be that important.” The Ivory Tower begins crumbling, with the only hope being Bastian realizing he has to join the story. In those tense moments as the world is coming apart, the child Empress tearfully pleads with Bastian to “say my name”, which he finally cries out and everything stops. Bastian, now no longer a spectator in the story, but a participant, asks, “Why is it so dark?” To which the Empress responds, “In the beginning, it’s always dark.” She then shows him one grain of sand, all that remains of her vast empire, but the power to recreate it is literally in the palm of his hands. Bastian takes up his part in the new creation and sees all things made new, those who were lost are returned and he joyously shouts, “It’s like the Nothing never was!”
Do I even need to connect the dots?
In the beginning.
Darkness, but then light.
Death and darkness and chaos ceaselessly pursuing mankind.
A little boy who is so important, but is ultimately killed.
In the moment that all hope seems lost, victory rises from the darkness of nothing.
Calling out a name to be saved.
Faith as a mustard seed.
Thy kingdom come.
Death and darkness do not have the last word, new creation does.
The eighth day of Christmas focuses on a little boy, that most people cannot fathom is that important, being taken to the temple of the Creator of the universe, and given a name…Jesus…savior….God with us. The name Jesus means so much more. Wonderful. Counsellor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. A little boy that is so important.
The author of the book, Michael Ende, once commented, I am “convinced that outside our perceptible world, there is a real world from which man comes and towards which he is heading again.” Ours too is a never ending story. All of is must live out this story, just as all who have come before us have. We read the stories of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul, James, and John, but as we read those stories the book is reading our hearts back to us, beckoning us to say His name and take our place in His never ending story.
Comments
Post a Comment