There Is No Other

(This post is part of a series of posts about The Chronicles of Narnia.)

In The Silver Chair, Eustace Scrubb and his schoolmate Jill Pole have miraculously escaped from their school into a wood in Narnia's world. But through inattention and showing off, Jill has inadvertently caused Eustace to fall off an enormous cliff. Amazingly, a huge lion (Jill does not know that this is Aslan, Lewis's Christ figure) rushes up and blows at Eustace so that he flies away into the distance. Then the lion walks away.

Jill is overcome with shame and loneliness, and casts herself down, crying. But after a long bout of tears, she finds herself dreadfully thirsty. She hears the sound of water and goes in search of it. Finally she finds a stream. But she is afraid to drink.

"...just on this side of the stream lay the lion.... She knew at once that it had seen her, for its eyes looked into hers for a moment and then turned away—as if it knew her quite well and didn't think much of her.

"If I run away, it'll be after me in a moment," thought Jill. "And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth." Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she had tried, and she couldn't take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first.

"If you're thirsty, you may drink."

...For a second she stared here and there, wondering who had spoken. Then the voice said again, "If you are thirsty, come and drink," and of course she remembered what Scrubb had said about animals talking in that other world, and realized that it was the lion speaking.... It did not make her any less frightened than she had been before, but it made her frightened in rather a different way.

"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I—could I—would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.

The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to—do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.

"I make no promise," said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

"Do you eat girls?" she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion....

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming a step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion.

This is a marvelous picture of the need that each of us has. We are all filled with great needs—with sin—just as Jill was filled with thirst. We are dying of our sin. We need to drink the water of forgiveness.

Christ is there at the stream. It can be frightening to find him there. We might have to make some changes in order to get to that stream. Perhaps we will have to give up some cherished ways of life, some self-indulgences, some habits. We might prefer some other teacher, some other religion.

But Christ is in front of the stream, and he will not move aside for our convenience. He makes no promises not to do anything to us. He has swallowed up others before us. And if we are thirsty, we must go through him.

After Jill's thirst became so great that it overcame her fear, she went forward and drank. It was the best water she had ever had. And Aslan did not hurt her. He loved her and forgave her, and then sent her forth on a new life.

Jesus said in John 14:6b: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." If we do not drink, we will die of thirst. And there is no other stream.