“Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting.” “Safe?” said Mr Beaver, “who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you”.
This quote is from the story Narnia, “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” by C.S Lewis. Now, I wonder like my Stage 3 students; you’d be quite struck by thought of how a King could be unsafe but then good at the same time. To face a great, powerful lion and feel safe is quite unthinkable right? How does this make sense? The term ‘unsafe’ and ‘good’ are complete opposites in our culture, so why does C.S Lewis symbolise Aslan the Lion as Jesus?
As I explored and discussed with my students, we concluded that C.S Lewis is describing Jesus as a lion because of His power and authority. Jesus is so powerful, it’s almost scary! We should be in absolute awe of Jesus’ greatness. Yet, in Hebrews, we are called and encouraged to draw near and approach God ‘with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace’ because we have a great king in Jesus who yes, is so powerful that He should be feared but He is also humble, compassionate, and merciful and therefore good like Mr Beaver says in the story of Narnia.
And so, can I encourage you just as my stage 3 students have been, to keep thinking about the kind of king you’d be willing to follow. Are you willing to fear our Lord Jesus?