Bigger inside than the outside

“Yes,” said the Lord Digory, “Its inside is bigger than its outside.” “Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

I love the Chronicles of Narnia! They have done so much to form my faith and to reform my insides. In “The Last Battle”, the seventh book of the series, Lewis builds on the image of the stable being much bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It is a wonderful image of both the heart of a growing and engaged follower of Christ, but also a wonderful image of the church. A vibrant community of committed believers are a formidable force in the world – much bigger on the inside than they are on the outside. Not impressive at first blush, but as you examine them on the outside, but there is something magnificent at work within.

But today, my heart is in the stable. I am captivated by the vulnerable Christ child there surrounded by still quaking shepherds. Born into a conflict ridden corner of the world, already with a price on his head, he is about to transform millions of lives from the inside out. We are bigger on the inside than the outside because of his grace infused presence. And as a result, we can finally live the lives that we were created to live. Huge on the inside, because of the one who came to suffer, to teach, to live with us and love us radically.

So, as I approach Christmas this year, I do so beginning with the stable. Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how your hearts are breaking again this year. How your hearts cry out for the compassion and radical love of the rest of the world, that tell them they are not alone. None of us are. We fall before the Christ child who made the stable so much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. And when we leave the stable after the birthday celebration, we are too. Free to live in freedom, and filled with “the word made flesh”.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 New International Version