Many years ago, a large African-American man was riding the Detroit city bus on route to some destination of his - whether it was to work, church, or the gym, I cannot remember. As the bus snaked through the city, collecting more and more passengers along the way, the small vessel began to grow rather crowded. In no time at all, the large man found himself squished and squashed by his fellow travellers, a young boy among them - in the seat just beside him, in fact.
As the stuffy seconds gave way to stifling minutes, so too did this young boy’s manners give way to mischief, growing from impatience to outright villainy. It was at this point in the journey that the young boy, prompted by sin alone, began bumping, pushing, poking, and even punching the large man beside whom he sat, seemingly for no other reason than his own twisted sense of pleasure. The large man - large in the sense that a mountain or oak tree can be considered ‘large’ - continued to sit by in peace, unfazed by the little creature beside him that was bent so wildly on causing him grief. Finally, the bus hissed to a stop and the large man, smiling, looked down at the boy beside him.
“This is my stop,” the large man said as he stood up from his seat, gently making his way past the little boy into the aisle of the bus. Before leaving the bus, however, the large man turned around and for a moment loomed over the boy who had only moments before been pecking at him, much as a woodpecker would a tree or a gnat some mighty beast. Reaching into his coat pocket, the large, smiling man took out a small business card and gave it to the boy. The boy, confused, and doubtless a little terrified, took the card with his trembling, puny hands which were lost for a moment in the mass of the larger man’s, and began reading the card. The boy’s eyes were immediately drawn to the inscription at the bottom:
JOE LOUIS. BOXER.
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
1937-1949
Before the young boy had time to look up, the champ had already left the bus and was making his way down the street.
Over the years, I have heard several iterations of this story. One account suggests it was not a little boy pestering Joe Louis but rather three young men who had attempted to pick a fight with him while riding the city bus. As with all stories of this sort, there are perhaps many more renditions floating around in the world, of this there can be little doubt.
In any case, the significance of this story does not change depending on which version is true; whether Louis’ antagonists were three young men or a mere little boy is of no concern. The ultimate lesson of the ‘Joe Louis Story’ rests in the fact that this account points to a truth higher and greater than itself, which is simply this: Joe Louis, the most celebrated boxer of all time, perhaps second only to Muhammad Ali himself, chose to set aside his status and forgo his power for the sake of those far weaker than himself.
I once heard it said that the true measure of a person’s character can be determined not by their ability to express any single attribute well, but rather by their capacity to display seemingly contrary attributes in harmony with one another at any given time. Allow me to explain. We may respect and get along well with a man who is supremely kind. However, if this man is kind only, lacking other worthy attributes such as courage and generosity, would not our respect for him diminish to some degree? However, if that same man were not only kind, but brave, generous, joyful, loving, humorous, intelligent, just, humble, and righteous also, holy even, would our admiration for such a soul not abound exponentially?
If a man was all wrath, wrath, wrath, he would surely be despised; but if his wrath was justly concentrated on some evil worthy of it, then we might even understand him; and greater still, if that same man were also filled with some great measure of love for others, going between love and wrath as on a dime insofar as the occasion demanded it of him, well, then we may even dare begin loving such a man ourselves. Continue adding to this man other attributes, - wisdom, humility, courage, and so on - and you will soon find yourself with quite a specimen.
It is one thing to be kind, another to be kind and humble, but to be kind, humble, and mighty, well, that is quite the feat. This quality within a person - this characteristic of supreme character - becomes even more mysterious and wondrous when two seemingly opposing characteristics are paired alongside one another - again, love and wrath being an example. Or, as in the case of Joe Louis on the bus, a raw strength and capacity for immense brutality tempered with gentleness and meekness.
However, Louis’ display of character was but a type and shadow of a more beautiful reality. It is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, that all true beauty coincides. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End - and all that lies in between. Jesus Christ inhabits all godly perfections and attributes perfectly within Himself. Or rather, all these many perfections inhabit Him as the fountainhead from which all holiness, truth, and beauty flows.
This glorious reality is true of all persons within the Godhead. Our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is kind and yet vengeful against sin, merciful and yet supremely just, loving and yet filled with righteous anger towards evil. He is gentle and He is holy. If He were vengeful and just alone we would have cause only to fear Him. But because He is kind, merciful, and loving also, indeed all of these attributes to the very utmost, we can entrust our little lives to Him while at every point knowing He will do that which is right and best - “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25).
What makes the Lord so unfathomably beautiful and desirable is the very reality that He is all good things at once, perfectly. He is holy, holy, holy, experiencing no lack in His righteousness and elevation above all created things, while at the same time being the kindest, gentlest, humblest, funniest, happiest Being in all of existence. The Lord, like a great jewel held up to the sun, displays endless new perfections and beauties as the light of His glory refracts through His many attributes - wrath coupled with grace, holiness with gentleness, all existing within perfect and eternal harmony.
What we often assume to be some great chasm existing between two seemingly irreconcilable attributes is merely the vast, infinite expanse that is occupied between the two in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the Lord is “gentle and lowly” (Matthew 11:29), but He is also gentle and holy, wholly encompassing within Himself the great spectrum that lingers between all goodness and perfection. And make no mistake: it is only with utter holiness and perfection that the Lord robes Himself. Banish forever the thought that any trait or attribute outside of perfect goodness and moral purity exists within Him.
When we peer within the pages of Scripture, particularly in the book of Revelation, this tremendous mystery unfolds further. Consider, for example, the Lion and Lamb contrast in Revelation chapter 5:
“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.’ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (verses 5-7),
and only a few verses thereafter, the crowds of Heaven praise Him saying:
“‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (verse 12).
Throughout all of Revelation, the Lord Jesus is depicted as both Lamb and Lion, as both gentle and holy. Notice, however, that Jesus is truly Lamb and Lion; not one and then the other, but both, always. He is a holy Lion that is infinitely gentle, and a gentle Lamb that is infinitely holy.
The sheer vastness of Christ’s character is displayed not only in the titles bestowed upon Him as Lamb and Lion, but in His very deeds as well. In Revelation 19:11-16, we behold this lofty vision:
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (verses 11-16),
and then, once the cup of His wrath has been poured out, this is what the Lord does next:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
When C.S. Lewis wrote that God is good but not safe, - that is, not a teddy bear, lowercase g ‘god’, but an all-consuming fire - I imagine these to be the sort of passages he had in mind. At the end of the age, the Lord Jesus, clad in a blood-soaked robe, treads upon the enemies of God as though they were mere grapes in a winepress; and yet in the next scene, He is drying forever the tears of His beloved children with the sleeve of that very same robe. There is none so good as our Lord, but let us never make the foolish mistake of thinking that because He is good He must also be safe. Yet for those of us who are in Christ, we have everlasting safety and refuge in Him from the wrath of God to come. We are saved from Him, by Him, for Him; from His wrath, by His grace, and for His glory.
What can we say to these things? What can we do but worship Him who is both Lion and Lamb, the Alpha and the Omega, the Almighty! O, and what a tremendous joy that we are called to imitate Him! Each and every day of our lives we are given the honor to couple kindness with courage, love with truth, and gentleness with holiness - however imperfectly - until we see Him face to face and become as He is.
Allow your soul to flood with the glorious reality that we serve a God who is both gentle and holy, both Lion and Lamb. Consider Him who, “though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).
Joe Louis was poked and prodded by a small child, a minor inconvenience at worst; the Lord Jesus was mocked, beaten, spat on, impaled, and crucified by the very men He nursed to manhood from the womb, that by His atonement for sins we might become the very sons of God through repentance and faith in His name. What love! What gentleness crowned in perfect righteousness that, even upon the cross and to this very day, the Lord Jesus welcomes His very enemies to flee to Him for salvation.
In His vast gentleness the Lord bids us repent, believe, and find refuge in His loving arms, wiping away each and every tear from our eyes as the stains of sin and sorrow wash away. He is good, and we are eternally safe with Him, but He is not safe. For, even as the Lord comforts His saints, the Lion of Judah ever bursts forth as a consuming fire to the defense of His people at the slightest motion of evil, such that the very gates of Hell itself and all its dark inhabitants shake at the very whisper of Him who was, who is, and is to come.
“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…”
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
-C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Photo by The Chaffins, Unsplash