So, is Jesus a lion or is he a lamb? You could be excused for being confused. That passage from the book of Revelation (5:1-10) gave us both images. It described a scene of much weeping and desperation in heaven because no one could be found to open the scroll that brings about God’s final salvation when all things will be brought to the ultimate conclusion that we hope and trust in. The image of the scroll means that this is part of God’s plan from the beginning of time - because he wrote it down - and all that is needed now is for someone up to the job to put this plan into action by opening the scroll. The book of Revelation is a highly symbolic and mystical book, so we’re not supposed to take it literally in every detail, but it does contain much rich imagery.

Along comes the Lion of Judah - Aslan as we might call him - and hope is restored. The lion was the emblem of the ancient tribe of Judah, one of the originating tribes that formed the Jewish people. The lion is a symbol of strength and royalty. It is the king of beasts and when the lion comes on the scene everyone else takes a back seat. It is an image that got tied up with the hopes for a leader who would sort everything out; the longings that Jesus was seen as fulfilling. So to describe Jesus as the Lion of Judah taps into a rich heritage of imagery and makes claims about his ability and power, his standing in the scheme of things: we have the real deal here.

However, we’ve just got out heads round the idea of Aslan coming on the scene when he changes form and we are presented with the image of a sacrificed lamb. It looks strange with its 7 horns and 7 eyes, but again Revelation uses a highly symbolic colouring pallet to paint its pictures. Seven is a number with great significance in the Old Testament as the number that stands for perfection. So this lamb, this sacrificial offering, is the perfect offering. God takes notice of this one and it is a sacrifice that wipes out the need for any other sacrifice.

All of this may strike us as being rather strange because we have 2,000 years of looking at things without the need for sacrifices. We just don’t think God needs appeasing in the way ancient people did. Well, I say that, but then old superstitions are remarkably pervasive. From not treading on cracks in pavements to not walking under ladders - though if someone is holding a pot of paint above that’s probably good advice. It is as if there is still a deep seated feeling that the indiscriminate forces that guide everything need appeasing in some way and we have to do things to get them on our side again. So lucky heather, prayers that are a kind of bargain with God, still hang in the air.

Our first reading enters this world of bargains and superstitions and with two titles, lion and lamb, he confronts them head on. Jesus is the lion, the symbol of strength that can prevail over whatever trial or struggle that can come this way. Jesus is the lamb, the one who is offered in any bargaining with God. He is up to the job because he is God. The twist in the tale is that God doesn’t need any sacrifices we might offer. He gives us himself and that is what breaks the cycle we grind ourselves down with.

The film, the book, the play of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe show this well. Aslan is powerful and strong. He can lead his troops in battle against the Witch who has Narnia under her spell. He is killed by her, by the evil we do and the good we do not do. He is killed by those who think that the ultimate power is death and destruction. Death and destruction are powerful and make a real difference, but they are not allowed to have the final word. This is written into the title deeds of the world, into the scroll that the Lion of Judah, the Lamb that was slain, is able to open and reveal. Aslan comes back and this time he can’t be destroyed because destruction itself has been destroyed in his rising from the grave.

It is the tale of Jesus and his resurrection. Some haven’t spotted this, some try to deny it, but CS Lewis, its author, was quite clear that The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a story about Jesus. It is a tale of strength and sacrifice. It is a tale of the power of self-giving love.

The theme carries through to our second reading (John 1:3-51). We were given the scene of Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael to follow him, to become his disciples. At the end of that passage they were promised that they would see nothing short of heaven being opened to them and a high way of angles travelling to and fro. They were promised that they would be given a glimpse of the presence of God among us and into the contents of that tightly rolled scroll. They would get a peek at the plan that God has for all things.

We see this quite simply in Jesus. His disciples today are people who proclaim their trust in this. We affirm this in the spirit in which we live. It is the spirit of hope and trust that God does have everything worked out. Not necessarily to the minute detail so that we are just play things in some bizarre game. We have real freedoms and are subject to the freedoms of others. But I do believe God knows what is going to happen and when he made the world and set the forces that have led to us being here in motion he had it planned that he would keep hold of the other end. This is what the image of the scroll in Revelation affirms. We therefore use words like ‘hope’ and ‘trust’.

There is much to shake us in this and we need to ensure that we keep ourselves refreshed in the Christian hope. The images of a lion and a lamb tap into a rich tradition, but essentially they convey a trust in God’s strength and God’s self-giving love. Both of those are the source of our life and so they are also the reason we have to trust in God’s goodness.

© Ian Black 2006

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