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by Logan Ames

At the end of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which is an allegorical depiction of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, the little girl, Lucy, and her friend, Mr. Tumnus, are standing and watching as the lion, Aslan, walks off into the distance. Lucy is upset and wants to know when they’ll see Aslan again. Tumnus says that Aslan will be back in time, but that we cannot press him because, “After all, he’s not a tame lion." Those who are familiar with the book from which the movie was created know that this statement refers back to an earlier conversation that Lucy had with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. They were shocked that Lucy and her siblings hadn’t heard of Aslan the lion. They understood that they needed to go and meet him and Lucy was scared about meeting a lion. So, she asks if the lion is “safe." Mr. Beaver is flabbergasted since they are talking about a lion and responds, “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the king, I tell you."

Aslan represents Jesus Christ, who stepped out of heaven, willingly gave up his life, and became obedient to death on a cross (Philippians 2:8) as an atonement for OUR sins. Jesus came the first time as a suffering lamb (Isaiah 53:7), but when he returns he is coming back as the conquering Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The unsafe, untamed Jesus isn’t the one we typically like. There is in fact only ONE Jesus, but many Christians treat him like they can pick a version of him that suits their feelings and needs best. They can reject the things about Jesus and his teachings which bother them and accept those which make them feel comfortable. This would be the “Burger King Jesus” where you can have him your way.

C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, also wrote Mere Christianity, in which he describes who Jesus is. He says, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." This means that we can’t just accept Jesus as we want him. He’s a great teacher and also our Savior, but we must accept him as Lord as well. And that changes everything. If Jesus is my Lord, that means I CANNOT reject his attributes that I don’t like. I’m not allowed to sin just because it’s how I “feel” and I can’t say, “I was born this way” as an excuse or reason for sinful activity. I also can’t use my past or “the way I was raised” to justify disobedience.

Since Jesus is Lord, that means he has some authority, as we learned last week from 1 Peter 3:22. The Apostle Paul mentions one of Jesus’ authoritative roles as he gets ready to pass the torch of ministry onto Timothy. In 2 Timothy 4:1, Paul announces, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge." This verse is where this week’s core root of the faith in the Apostles’ Creed comes from. Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, and he’ll come from there to judge the living and the dead. We don’t like the word “judge” and we definitely don’t want to think of Jesus as someone who is “judgmental," at least not according to the context with which we generally understand that word. But a closer look reveals that Jesus is completely unbiased and fair and that he’s already told us what we need to know in order to pass this test.

Jesus as every right and authority to judge you and me RIGHT NOW. Yet, both the Apostles’ Creed and Paul describe a FUTURE judgment. When will it happen? Well, if he’s going to come “from” the right hand of the Father, then it’s safe to say that’s going to happen when he returns to the earth. We don’t know when that will be, but it’s interesting that Paul told Timothy, “In view of his appearing." That means that some 1,950 years ago when Paul wrote those words, he considered the return of Jesus to be imminent. Of course, no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36), but we should all live like Paul, expecting the return of Jesus and his judgment to come at any moment.

This should make us want to do whatever Jesus says all the more. The great thing about Jesus is that he didn’t choose to leave us on our own to try to figure out what he wants and how he will judge us. He tells us in Matthew 25:31-46 exactly what the criteria will be. He will come in his glory and separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep and goats. He goes on to explain that this separation will be between those who are willing to serve and love “the least of these brothers and sisters” of his, and those who are not willing. The specific areas of ministry that Jesus requires of those who truly follow him are listed as feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty something to drink, welcoming strangers, giving clothes to those who need them, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison. Jesus is strikingly clear about his judgment plan: If you do these things for the least of his brothers and sisters, you’ll be welcomed into his kingdom; if you don’t, you’ll be sent away.

Martin Luther once said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone." Too often, Christians live and act as if those commands from Jesus to love and serve others are optional. The sooner we come to grips with the criteria for Jesus’ righteous judgment, the sooner we can get on with doing what he commanded us to do. Jesus told his disciples and the teachers of the law that the two greatest commandments, in short, are to “love God” and “love others” (Matthew 22:37-40). How many Christians out there say they love God but have absolutely no evidence to back it up? We can SAY we love God all we want, but the best indicator of whether we really do is looking at how we treat those that God has placed in our lives all around us. The one literally can’t happen without the other. It is impossible to love God and not love those who have been created in his image. I pray that, as you consider that the Jesus you say you love will come back to judge you someday soon, you will follow his commands and experience the joy of serving “the least of these." May God bless you as you get to work!

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