Take 10 minutes

WE READ HARRY but WE FOLLOW JESUS

Thank you Ms. Rowling. Thank you for a riveting read in the Harry Potter series. Thank you for making reading so exciting. Thank you for sharing your creativity. Above all, I want to thank you for raising some of the profoundest theological and philosophical issues. Your stories start in Privet Drive but lead to public debate. I congratulate you on succeeding where most theologians and philosophers have failed. On the one hand your story lines have carried me off into the surreal world of wizardry at Hogwarts and beyond, yet on the other hand I have been brought face to face with the concrete issues of moral choice, selfless giving, true commitment and the struggle between good and evil. You have no idea of how many times Harry has afforded me the opportunity to talk about some of the most wonderful themes in the Bible, the story of the ultimate Chosen One.

I admit readily to wearing a decidedly Christian pair of specs. Ever since my English teacher in sixth form instilled a love of books I have found reading a thrill and literature a fascinating map of human thought. I never cease to be amazed and challenged by how authors raise the big issues of life and death that the Bible deals with. A book may be shelved under ‘fiction’ in the shop or library but the contents often wrestle with the hard facts that everyone must grapple with sooner or later in life. When I wonder why this should be I keep thinking about a fascinating verse in Ecclesiastes which says ‘He (God) has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end’ (3:11). In other words there are some things planted so deeply in the human psyche that they are irrepressible. No matter how intensely the truth may be ignored or suppressed by non-believers, even whole-hearted antagonists, of Biblical teaching, there are things indelibly impressed within us as created beings. As humans we all have deep longings and, buried throughout the created universe, God has placed signposts to the ultimate source of meaning. With this in mind I want to share some of my reflections on the saga of Harry Potter. I am not suggesting that Ms. Rowling has written a Christian tract but, throughout her narrative, themes resonate with truths that speak of an even deeper mystery.

The Chosen One

What is beyond all doubt is that from infancy through to manhood Harry Potter is the focus of all seven volumes. In 64 languages, 365 million people have traced the history of Harry. While they may now be able to compile a veritable Who’s Who? of wizardry and other unimaginable creatures, they know that the spotlight has never moved off Harry.

The Mission

Harry is a man with a mission. Like Frodo Baggins in THE LORD OF THE RINGS, he has been chosen for a very special task. As the hobbit had been commissioned to destroy the ring, so Harry’s lot is to confront and destroy the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Toward the end of the last volume in the series, he says that the knowledge of how to destroy the enemy had been passed on to him by his old headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and now ‘I’m going to keep going until I succeed – or I die. Don’t think that I don’t know how this might end. I’ve known it for years.’ (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, p458) For those who have even a smattering of Latin from their school days they will recognize that the very name of the Dark Lord reeks of death. (Latin ‘mors’, ‘mort’ = death) Even you never had the blessing of a Latin grounding, you will identify the last syllable of Voldemort as the same as the first syllable of mortician, the one who handles death daily.

The Last Enemy

If Voldemort is the personal antagonist, the ultimate enemy of Harry, indeed of us all, is death itself. According to JK Rowling, death is a major theme in her writing. She says ‘My books are largely about death. They open with the death of Harry’s parents. There is Voldemort’s obsession with conquering death and his quest for immortality at any price, the goal of anyone with magic. I so understand why Voldemort wants to conquer death. We’re all frightened of it.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter#_note-25)

The Personal Pain

What is particularly striking in the last book of the series is the personal cost of the mission to Harry. Hermione and Ron may prove to be the closest of friends, Hagrid and others are willing to die for him but ultimately the task is Harry’s and his alone. There is a particularly poignant part near the end where ‘he yearned not to feel…he wished he could rip out his heart, his innards, everything that was screaming inside him’ (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS p531)

The Final Victory

It would be rather surly of me to give away all the details of the plot and spoil the excitement for other readers, but suffice to say that Harry does come face to face with death. There is the inner agony that comes with being the chosen but there is an even stronger willingness to give himself up for the sake of others. Such self-sacrifice is a powerful theme and a key to the final outcome. If you have not read the book I shall not divulge the outcome but I can say that good does prevail.

Other readers will undoubtedly identify other themes but these five were particularly clear as I read through my Biblical specs. My mind kept toggling between the book and the Bible. In the latter I find the same five themes.

THE CHOSEN ONE – MAN OF GOD’S CHOICE

It has been said that the Hebrew writers of Scripture were the world’s first historians. They did not write about mythic giants, superheroes and heroines but told a story that involved ordinary people. The Bible is full of people, but running through its pages there is a very special line of men who are the men of God’s choice. From Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua and David there is a distinct line of chosen men on whom God’s spotlight focuses. The fact that they are chosen is not a reflection on their personal superiority to others but rather the emphasis is on their particular relationship with God himself. This line of chosen individuals comes to a climax and focus in the person of Jesus Christ, the ultimate man of God’s choice. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that everything in the Bible is about him. Either we are reading the Old Testament anticipating his coming or the New Testament interpreting his coming. Central to the whole unfolding drama in all its diversity is the figure of Jesus Christ.

THE MISSION – OBEDIENCE TO THE DEATH

Many terms could be mustered to describe the person and work of Jesus but if we were to be limited to only one then it would surely have to be ‘obedience’. Yes, Jesus showed love, power, mercy, grace, sacrifice and solidarity but above all ‘obedience’ is the rubric under which everything else may be subsumed. As the apostle Paul wrote he ‘became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8). Undoubtedly there was a certain historical inevitability to the death of Jesus, given his challenge to both the political and religious establishment of his day, but above and beyond this there was a clear theological indispensability. In declaring that he ‘must be killed’ (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:33) he was expressing something about the will of God rather than the plans of men.

THE LAST ENEMY – DEATH ITSELF

Paradoxically it was only because of his very submission to death that Jesus was given victory over death when God raised him to life. Yet the path to resurrection victory could not bypass the humiliation of incarnation, rejection, suffering and death on a cross. Such a route demanded a conscious commitment at every step and ultimately there was no one else who could take his place. In fact, in the Scriptural account many of his disciples were not as loyal as Harry’s closest friends. However, in Jesus, the one of his choice, God launched his full frontal attack on the last enemy and broke the totalitarian regime. Having shared our humanity, Jesus died to ‘destroy him who holds the power of death- that is , the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death’ (Hebrews 2:14-15)

THE PERSONAL PAIN – JESUS WEPT

So often the person and work of Jesus has been dressed up in theological language, that the raw agony of the personal pain has been lost. The shortest verse in the Bible, ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35), may also be the profoundest. Though Jesus felt the loss of his friend Lazarus as he stood at his grave, he also raged within himself. Few have put it better than BB Warfield when he wrote : ‘It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom he has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage: and he advances to the tomb, in Calvin’s words…’ as a champion who prepares for conflict’ (THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST, Philadelphia, 1950, p117)

THE FINAL VICTORY – DEATH OF DEATH

The outcome of this man’s conflict is one that I am free, indeed obliged, to tell you. As the man of God’s choice, Jesus Christ was not only obedient to the point of death but overcame the power of death. In him we find an answer to the ultimate threat.

I admire JK Rowling for having the courage to talk so openly about the very thing many people, and even churches, regard as a taboo. She has been willing to bring death out of the closet. We all fear death and like Adam, Voldemort and many others, quest for immortality at any price. Having pinpointed the enemy, it is even better to move from the fictional to the factual victory of Christ, now risen from the dead to reign for ever. Yes, we read of Harry but we may reign in Jesus.

Desi Maxwell Aug.13, 2007