The Galilean Rising Up

I am just having a sense that God is getting ready
to rise up. God is known in both His strength
and His gentleness, known as both Lion and Lamb.
There are the strong risings of God which shake
the earth, and the still whispers of God that
split atoms. As C.S. Lewis wrote of
Aslan, "He is not a tame Lion"....

As I sit here feeling this impression I think fondly
of the large, powerful dogs that have graced my
life: Zoe, Fran, Patches. One of the things I grew
to love about all of them was the way they held
their tremendous strength. They were all known
for taking stuffed toys in their mouth, and in that terrier
way, shake their heads wildly from side to side
with big dog "grins" on their faces as the stuffing
would fly out in all directions. Right now I
can feel God looking at me with that same
kind of grin. :) I don't find that disconcerting
at all. I could do with a good shake in His
 mouth right now. Let all the stuff that is not
secured down fall out!

And now I come upon this quote from H.G. Wells,

He was too great for his disciples. And in view
of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who
were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange
 things, a swimming of their world at his teaching?

Perhaps the priests and the rich men understood him
better than his followers. He was dragging out all
the little private reservations they had made from
 social service into the light of a universal religious
life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman
digging mankind out of the snug burrows in which
they had lived hitherto.

In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there
was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and
precedence; no motive indeed and no reward but
love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and
blinded and cried out against him?

Even his disciples cried out when he would not
spare them  the light. Is it any wonder that the
priests realized that between this man and
themselves there was no choice but that he or
priestcraft should perish?

Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers,
confronted and amazed by something soaring over
their comprehension and threatening all their
discipline, should take refuge in wild laughter, and
crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and
make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him
seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming
life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and
impulses, to essay an incredible happiness...

Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is
too much for our small hearts?


If there ever was a time for God to rise up and
be bigger than us it is now. If ever we needed
Him to dig us out of our "private reservations" and
our "snug burrows" it is now. If ever we need to
embark upon a strange and alarming life,
abandon our habits, control our instincts and
impulses, and give essay to incredible happiness,
now is the time.

Let the Galilean rise up and be too much for us.



quote taken from H. G. Wells (1866-1946),
The Outline of History, v. II
1920], The Review of Reviews Co., 1922, p. 598-599


H.G. Wells
the power of God
the gospel
not a tame Lion