God is not "safe"...

I have the opportunity to teach the writings of CS Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in a public high school. It has been a fantastic learning experience for me and my students.
As I prepared for the class last year I picked up the Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and poured through it to create discussion questions. Lewis's characterizations of Jesus in parts of this novel struck me in a way they hadn't before.

I still get chills thinking about the dinner conversation at the Beaver's house. Mr. Beaver explained to the children that Aslan is actually a lion, and the sisters Susan and Lucy question the safety of meeting a lion...

"Then he isn't safe?" asked Lucy
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver..."Who said anything about safe?"
"Course he isn't safe. But he's good."

"Course he isn't safe." Sometimes I wonder where that idea is in my own theology. It seems that we have made our Christianity very safe. Jesus seems to be a safe enough guy. After all, people who follow Jesus are ... well, really nice.

I love taking my boys to the zoo. Our local zoo has nice lions and my crew loves to walk over to see them on every visit. These nice lions seem little like Aslan. They are lethargic, blue, like a Counting Crows tune, and yet, I still imagine them glancing over at me and my family through their sleepy eyes with looks that seem to say, "you know who would be the king if I weren't trapped in here."
I am eternally amazed at their beauty but extremely thankful for the cage, the moat, and everything else that keeps me safe from them - and they are a very far cry from the wild, powerful creatures we see roam and hunt through Africa on the Animal Planet. I can't imagine how it would feel to witness them up-close outside of captivity.

At times I work very hard to pretend the "lion" of the New Testament is more like the one at the zoo - passive and caged.

I know better.

Yes, sometimes it is good for my theology to realize that this Jesus I am always talking about is dangerous.

He can't be placed in a cage safely out of reach, used as a ladder, put in a box, systematized, or chained down with bureaucracy... He is love - wild, ferocious, untamed, unpredictable...

I wonder what would happen to my heart, my worldview, my church, and my family if I ventured close (but not too close) to the "Lion of Judah."

- Matt Litton