The fictional character Professor Dumbledore has his obviously fictitious grave on the real Eilean na Moine, a small island in Loch Eilt in the Scottish Highlands. We passed it on the Jacobite steam train this August. The island is not special and yet for Harry Potter fans it touches the dividing line between the imaginary and the real. A small rocky island and a few trees in a remote Scottish loch is a touching point between something and nothing.
Is fiction something or is it nothing? When the mind is absorbed by a story, whether a children’s tale or something more advanced the senses go into overdrive to make real what is written down. The use of film makes imagining easier and it can also drive a wedge between a mental image developed from descriptive writing and the pseudo-reality of interpretation by others. Whether we think about the process or not, we all have stories we know to be fiction that we would love to be real. All round the world, millions of people want to believe in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter, just as children believe in Father Christmas or fairies.
And then there are legends. Traditional stories that have some basis in fact but that have not ever been authenticated. Think about King Arthur and Merlin, for example.
In today’s bible reading [Mark 6:45-52] the disciples are surprised and then frightened when Jesus walks towards them, stepping on the water as though on dry ground, while they make their way across the lake in a boat. They struggle to believe his capabilities, a problem put down to hard-heartedness in Mark’s account. Call it hard hearted or cynical, it can be stretching to see the Jesus of the pages of the gospels come to life in the world around us today.
We want to believe in the reality of characters from fiction or legend because we like what they stand for, we applaud what they do, or we warm to their character traits. What of Jesus then? More real than Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, more noble than King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table Jesus has shown himself to countless souls through the two thousand years since he walked the earth.
There is no magic required to see Jesus but nor can the issue be forced. If you want him in your life badly enough, read his stories, relax into the lines of the page and his reality will grow in you. Once there he is not mortal like Dumbledore or Arthur – only hard heartedness or cynicism can close the door on him.
A Prayer
Living Lord, I pray that you will sit with me, walk with me, live with me and eat with me this day and throughout all my days. Help me to be open to let you in, not hard hearted or cynical for your love’s sake. Amen.