Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

I just finished re-reading C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Fun read. An idea in that book struck me.

When the children first learn that the great lion, Aslan, is coming (Aslan, the lion who is a lamb, the son of the Emperor who lays his life down for the lost and then rises again, victorious ... you know, that Aslan.), one asks (among other things), "Is he quite safe?"

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn’t safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Later, after all is done, as everyone is celebrating, Aslan slips away and no one tries to follow him. That's because they remember that they were told not to press him. He was "not like a tame lion."

This, of course, is fiction from the mind of C. S. Lewis, not Scripture. It was Lewis's notion of a parallel image of Christ. Still, I wonder if any of us see Christ that way? We like to see Him as much ... friendlier. We like to think of Him as our "Buddy in the Sky" or our comfort or our protector or a host of other (if not necessarily inaccurate) warm, fuzzy things, but not unsafe or wild.

In that book, Lewis presents an image of Christ that he says is both terrifying and wonderful at the same time. As it turns out, this is exactly the image we see in Scripture. When, for instance, the Bible (repeatedly) refers to "the fear of the Lord" and the like, it doesn't use terms of simple "reverential awe" as so many suggest. These terms are in reference to genuine fear -- even terror. According to Solomon, this recognition of the terror of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Prov 1:7), and the psalmist assured us that this "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psa 111:10). On the other hand, one of Paul's primary accusations against Man in general is "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom 3:18). In biblical history, the single response from everyone that ever encountered God firsthand was not "reverential awe", but genuine terror. Jacob woke up from a sleeping encounter with God and was afraid (Gen 28:10-17). Isaiah was sure he was cursed by God (Isa 6:1-5). The disciples were scared of the storm, but terrified when Jesus stilled it (Mark 4:37-41). The same Christ that healed the sick and fed the hungry is the One returning to the Battle of Armaggedon and the Final Judgment.

We don't like to think of Christ that way. We like the friendly Jesus. We much prefer the laughing Jesus. We like the warm and cuddly Jesus. What we don't seem to grasp is that He is good, but He is not safe. We don't seem to grasp that He is both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. And when we miss this reality, we miss the real Jesus.

Don't miss the real Jesus.