In C. S. Lewis’, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,  the Beavers are describing the great lion, Aslan, to the children.  Mr. Beaver says,

             "You’ll understand when you see him."

            “But shall we see him?” asked Susan.

            “Why, Daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for.  I’m to lead you where you shall meet him,” said Mr. Beaver.

             “Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.

            “Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly.  “Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea.  Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts?  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 a lion.”

            “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

             “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

             “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.”

[C.S. Lewis illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

 (New York: Harper Trophy) 79-80]

As Lewis tells his story, it is clear that he intends Aslan to be a Christ-like character within the regions of his fantasy-land Narnia. He is the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-sea, obviously reminiscent of “The Son of God.” The children are about to meet him and Lucy asks the obvious question, “Is he safe?”

In the reading that I have done in preparing for this series, I have to tell you that this is the most often quoted passage in the entire story. Lucy asks, “Is he safe.”  And Mrs. Beaver replies “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either brave than most or else just silly.”

Let’s pause for a moment and assume that Mr. Lewis is intentionally pointing in the direction of the Christ. And let’s ask, is it true that if we were about to appear before Christ, the most natural thing in the world would be for our knees to knock?  Would there not be a kind of natural excitement, a kind of automatic anxiety, that would happen when we met the Christ?  More than that, would there not be a kind of fear? Would we not simply stand in awe of the man? Knowing that your brain and heart are simply too small

to wrap around the realities of his life, would you not simply tremble in the presence of the amazing mystery of the man? 

In another place in the story, Lewis writes, “People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time.”

[C.S. Lewis illustrated by Pauline Baynes.

The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

 (New York: Harper Trophy) 126]

I will tell you that I regard Jesus as the dearest friend that I will ever have. But I do not know if I would call him a buddy. There is something awe-inspiring about him that inspires and demands a deep respect and a trembling admiration.

But let’s go on. Lucy says, “Then he isn’t safe?”

And Mr. Beaver replies, “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe” Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”  

So let’s ask the question, is Jesus safe? Is Christ safe? Or is he good? Or, can he be both?

Lucy speaks to our fundamental yearning for security. According to Abraham Maslow, it is a need that is fundamental to our humanity. It is basic to our emotional well being.

Let’s speak the obvious. Nobody wants to lose what he has. Nobody wants to risk injury. Nobody wants to die. We all want to be safe.

And we tend to project this desire onto God and Jesus. More than anything else, we want to see God and Jesus as our guardians, the guarantors of our health and security. We want God to give us blessings. We pray that Jesus will serve as our personal body guard and our year-round Santa Clause. And, we really want God to be our round-the-clock baby sitter, taking care of our children, seeing to their security and safety.

And to be honest, we have every right to offer those prayers. Read through the Psalms and listen to the Psalmist pray over and over again to be kept safe by God. Jesus himself instructs us not to worry but seek first the kingdom of God in the assurance that all necessary things will be provided. Read the “Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew, chapter 6.

However, if you are like me, you want to focus on the part about provision and you tent to forget the part that says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” 

Mr. Beaver said, “Course he is not safe. But he is good.” Let me ask a hard question. Is it possible that there are times when it is not possible to be both good and safe?  Is it possible that there are times when the mere exercise of goodness is a dangerous thing?  Who shall we ask?

Let’s go back to Narnia and ask the Faun, Tumnus. He helped Lucy return home and for his goodness, his home was destroyed by the agents of the White Witch and he was captured and turned into a statue.

Let’s ask the Beaver family. The led the children to meet Aslan and for their goodness, their home was also destroyed and they had to run for their lives.

Let’s ask the old prophet Elijah. He had just defeated the prophets of the Baal and King Ahab and his wife, Queen Jezebel, were infuriated. The prophet ran for his life because he knew that they would kill him when they could.

Let’s ask the prophet Jeremiah. He spoke the truth of God and his own people threatened to kill him. There was one time when they were so angry with his good words that they literally threw him into a deep muddy well and left him there until they were ordered to take him out.

Let’s ask the apostles. Judas committed suicide. Ten of the original twelve were martyred for their faith. The eleventh, John, died as a prisoner in exile.

Or how about the Apostle Paul, shall we ask him? After a life time of missionary work, the Roman government executed him. He was killed for doing good.

Who shall we ask, Gandhi, or Sadat, or Martin Luther King Jr.? Each was killed for trying to do the right thing. Shall we talk about the heroes who fought for the abolition of slavery? Shall we talk about those who led the struggle for women’s rights, the amazing suffragettes? In my own life time, shall we talk about the Civil Rights Freedom Riders, those college students who rode buses across in the south to give testimony to the necessity of “liberty and justice for all?”  Some were beaten and some were killed.

He is not safe, but he is good! In what way was Jesus good? Above all, he was the embodiment of God’s great compassion.  In everything he did, in all that he was, he revealed the remarkable value that God places on every human being. He was the one, I believe that only one, whose life perfectly fulfilled the two great commandments, that we love God with every ounce of our being and that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. He was love personified. He was goodness incarnate. He was very very good!

The hard reality of life is this; if Christ is always good, then there are seasons when he is not safe.  Let’s ask Jesus himself, are you safe?

You can almost hear his laughter. I can almost hear him ask the question, do you know my story? Do you remember what happened to me?

I believe that Jesus is the ultimate human embodiment of being good and being good was not safe for Jesus! In fact, I believe that he was crucified; he was killed in the most painful and inhumane way known to the human race, primarily because he was good. For Jesus being good was a very dangerous thing to be.

Those who had been captured by their greed, by their insatiable thirst for power, by their eagerness to use and abuse their neighbors, by their hatred, by their lust, by their fear, by the practice of every kind of idolatry – they killed him because they couldn’t stand his goodness.

I suspect that in his presence, they could not stand themselves. I do not pretend to understand it all but I believe that in his presence, the squalor of the sin in their lives was revealed and they had to hide it again and in order to hide it, they killed him.

And this is the miracle. God used that moment, that evil moment, to demonstrate the power of God’s own goodness. When Jesus died, the ugliness of sin and the beauty of Jesus’ goodness were both revealed and the power of God’s love began to shine through. But it was never safe!

As we move towards closing, I want to say a word to the young among us, knowing full well that your mothers may not like it. In a world where goodness and security sometimes are in competition with one another, do not shy away from your adventure with Christ. Do not allow your quest for security to deter you away from participating in Christ’s quest for goodness in this world. Dare to seek a call from God for the sake of Christ’s mission that will make a difference in this world, a difference for the essential goodness of Christ. Dare to try to do something special for Christ. Do it now. There is enough time for security.

Regardless of your age, regardless of your time in life, now is the time to give yourself to Jesus and his character and his cause – that the world might be saved through him.

And what might you receive in return?  Friends, you will find your own soul. You will find the salvation that God offers to all who believe and trust in him.  You will be given the greatest life possible, life today and life tomorrow and life forever with God. 

Is he safe? Ultimately he is very safe but in the meantime, he is very very good