Lion and the Lamb

For a lot of my life I have fought this inner battle between wanting to be seen as strong and bold and courageous yet also having a side of kindness and gentleness and mercy. 

I’ve always kind of thought that it’s either one or the other; it is either bold or it is gentle. Here recently I have been struggling a lot with this. People will tell me one thing they see in me and I just don’t see it in myself. I don’t see myself as kind or gentle. 

And I think this is because the world tells us that we have to pick. The world tells us that we either get to be strong and brave and determined or we get to be gentle and pure merciful. In our world there isn’t room for both. Because if you try to be both, you are called fake or two faced or inauthentic. 

This wrestling has been happening for a while now and here recently, has been on the forefront of my mind. Why are the people around me saying it is okay and good to be both when the world around us says differently? Why does this topic of conversation keep coming up over and over and over again? 

Then, as I sat down to read my Bible a few days, I was reminded of a painting that I received from one of my Alumni Team Leaders. It was a face of a lion with a line drawn perfectly down the middle. She prayed into it and that is what she received from the Lord to give me six months ago in Costa Rica. At the time I thought it was a really cool painting but other than that I brushed it off. Until the other day. 

When I was reminded of this, I pulled it out and began examining it more. That is when I noticed that there was only half of the lions face showing. And then it hit me: Jesus is called both the Lion (Rev. 5:5) and the Lamb (John 1:36).

Whenever I think of lions I think of all of the might and power that they hold. How they carry so much strength, toughness, snd authority. Lions are respected by both animals and people. 

Lambs, however, are very different. Lambs are calm, gentle, humble and safe. They hold a sense of comfort and tenderness. 

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Whenever I think of Jesus I think about stories all over the Gospels about His character. John chapter 2 is a perfect example of Jesus being both humble and gentle as a lamb yet powerful and authoritative like a lion. 

“The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The time supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” 

“Dear women, that’s not my problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” 

But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Standing nearby were six water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each coupe told twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “No dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not know where it has come from (though, of course, the servants knew)…” 

Every time I read this story I get chills. Jesus has every right to boast and show off about what He could do. Yet when He performed His first miracle here on earth, the only people that knew were the servants. He didn’t gather all of His friends around and make a big scene out of it. Instead He was humble and allowed people with the lowest social standing to know first. 

In the next section John chapter 2 we see a different side of Jesus:

“It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also was dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip for some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor and turned over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace.” 

 

This story gets me fired up. In this part of the chapter, Jesus is everything but gentle and meek. Jesus sees something that isn’t acceptable and He goes in, causes chaos, and makes it very apparent that this sort of behavior isn’t acceptable in the temple. Jesus shows His authority and boldness in this section. He does what He has to do in order to get the point across. 

It is so interesting how these two stories are found so close together. It is almost as if John wants the get the point across that Jesus was a very dynamic man. He was humble and gentle, but He was also bold and demanded attention and respect by others. 

We are called to imitate and pattern our lives after Christ. 

Meaning that we are called to have aspects of both the lion and the lamb within us. 

This thing inside of me that I have been fighting and trying to suppress is actually an attribute of Christ coming out of me. 

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Regardless of what the world says, it is good to be both bold yet humble, tough yet gentle. And more importantly, it isn’t that Jesus was so bold to the point where He was unkind or was so gentle that He got walked all over all of the time. No, Jesus carried both really really well. When He was bold, He still showed mercy and compassion.