Lions, Lambs and Kings

[SJMBC]

I find myself utterly captivated by the lion, lamb, wolf, shepherd imagery. In some ways, these are the most well known images of shepherding in the Bible, but I have never really given thought to the lion. I understand that wolves are bad, lambs and shepherds are good, but lions are contextual. YHWH is a lion who destroys the enemies of Israel, which is good. He also decimates Israel itself when they disobey, which is a tragedy. There is a merciless violence in the imagery of Israel cutting through the inhabitants of the Promised Land with abandon- men, women and children are all felled equally. Every king wanted to be seen as a lion to incite fear. The Lion of Judah is a regal and powerful image, but lions were terrifying, not comforting, meaning that our Messiah is dangerous, unpredictable, untamed. C.S. Lewis had it right in his depiction of Aslan. Along with the author, I find myself pondering: “I wonder how much I’ve domesticated God in my mind, unwilling to imagine the King of the Universe as unsafe.” I love God’s grace and mercy. I don’t want my adoration of those attributes to eclipse his ferocity.