It begins with a wardrobe. A cabinet full of coats.

Four children climb inside, to hide from the curiosity seekers who’ve come to view the professor’s odd old house.

It is not an ordinary wardrobe with an ordinary interior. Beyond the long coats that smell of mothballs, beyond the place where the back of the wardrobe should be, is a land of destiny. It is a land of promise and possibility for four children named Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.

The four have come to live at the old house to escape the Nazi bombing of London. Unexpectedly, through the back of the wardrobe, they enter another world, a world bewitched, a world where winter never stops and Christmas never comes. This is a land of talking animals, where nymphs and fauns are oppressed by the power of an evil witch turned Queen. This is a place in which liberation may come from a lion named Aslan, a beast who is a kind lion — but a lion who isn’t tame at all.

I’m talking about the land of Narnia. This is the setting of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a book by C.S. Lewis that was a favorite of mine as a child, and one that Nancy and I read to Sam and Sarah as they were growing up. This week, the book has appeared as a major motion picture, one that I’m certainly anxious to see.

In the land of Narnia, there are obstacles and opportunities, battles and betrayals, dangers and deaths. The future of this world is balanced on the lives of these four bewildered children, kids who must find inside themselves the courage and the faith to work alongside Aslan the lion. And what a lion he is. Before they meet him, one of them asks a talking beaver if Aslan is safe.

“Safe?” says the beaver; “Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

Aslan the lion challenges his followers to be different, to take risks, to think in new ways. He is nothing less than a fictional representation of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Like Aslan, Jesus challenges us to move in new and risky directions, finding the courage and faith we need to work alongside him. He isn’t safe … but he’s good.

Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, according to the Book of Revelation (5:5). He’s the Great Lion of the Lord.

Today’s passage from the prophet Isaiah was written long before the coming of Christ, but it points to the mission that Jesus would eventually perform. In fact, it is the exact passage that Jesus read to his neighbors when he began his ministry in Galilee.

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,” he said, “because the Lord has anointed me” (Isaiah 61:1). Jesus did not see himself as a superhero, but he understood himself to be filled with the powerful spirit of the one Lord God. He said that the Lord had “anointed” him, a word which had a special meaning to the people around him.

In the world of the Bible, kings were anointed. Priests were anointed. Prophets were anointed. To be anointed was to be “the anointed one,” a phrase that can be translated into the words Messiah and Christ. When we say that Jesus is the Messiah, or the Christ, we are saying that he is “the anointed one.”

So that’s who Jesus is. But what is his mission as Christ the king? According to Scripture, it is to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners (vv. 1-2).

This is precisely the challenge that King Aslan faces, along with the four children who pass through the wardrobe. Narnia, at the beginning of the story, is a land of endless cold and endless snow. Spies are everywhere, and it is hard for the honest people of Narnia to know whom to trust. The self-proclaimed Queen, who wickedly rules the land, knows of the ancient prophecy about four human children — two sons of Adam, and two daughters of Eve — who will come into Narnia to free the land forever. She plots to kill them before Aslan can return and help them to perform the work of liberation.

Aslan, like Jesus, comes to preach good news to the oppressed, and to bring salvation to the land. Aslan, like Jesus, binds up the brokenhearted; he proclaims liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners, and a time of goodness and favor. He comes with vengeance, to break the power of evil in the land, and also to offer comfort to those who mourn. Aslan, like Jesus, wants to create a new community, one full of people who will stand like “oaks of righteousness,” solid and moral people who can display the glory of the Lord (vv. 1-3). The reason we baptize people into the church, as we have done with little Maryn Elizabeth this morning, is because we know that God is always working to create a new community of faithfulness and righteousness.

Both Aslan and Jesus are Great Lions, determined to set people free from all that enslaves them. This freedom is something you need, whether you are trapped spiritually or emotionally, a prisoner of a crippling obsession or an abusive relationship. This freedom is something I need, so that I won’t be a slave to my sins or my ambitions or my selfish desires. Left to my own devices, I would probably become addicted to my own personal goals, whether they be shaving a few minutes off a marathon time or writing a book or a series of articles. But Jesus frees me from this self-absorption, and keeps my focus on God’s will and God’s way. Jesus frees me to serve you, and to find my deepest satisfaction in the work I do in this community of faith.

Like Aslan, Jesus has the power to thaw a frozen heart. In Narnia, the presence of Aslan melts winter away, allowing spring and new life to return. Wherever Aslan walks, springtime follows. Streams melt, and brooks gurgle. With his breath, Aslan frees a host of woodland creatures who have been turned into stone statues by the wicked Queen. Our hearts, which can be turned to stone by the pressures, stresses, and losses of life, can be made free by the breath of God. We can be liberated by the power of the Great Lion of the Lord.

But liberation is not enough. Look around the world, and you can see that liberation is only half of the story. In Iraq, our armed forces freed a people being oppressed by Saddam Hussein. But now, with the liberation complete, we are mired in the challenge of nation-building, while being attacked by a ruthless insurgency. In today’s passage of Scripture, the prophet Isaiah knows that liberation is only the beginning, which is why he goes on to say, “They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations” (vv. 4).

God desires not only liberation, but restoration. Both are important, and both can be an enormous challenge. Both need to be anticipated, and planned. It’s probably no coincidence that the prophet Isaiah was writing his message from Babylon, a city that was located in the land now called Iraq.

If we are going to be restored, as individuals and as nations, we need to focus on the particular qualities that are important to God. “I the Lord love justice,” says God through the prophet Isaiah, “I hate robbery and wrongdoing” (v. 8). It is not enough for us to be saved from our sins, we also need to realize that we are saved for a purpose — to be the people of God. Justice and righteousness are critical qualities for us to embrace and to practice, if we are going to make a lasting contribution to this world. We are great not because we are strong; we are great because we are good.

Jeffrey Sachs in as economist who challenges us to work together to end what he calls “extreme poverty” in this world. This category includes about one billion people who live on the equivalent of a dollar a day. While you might be overwhelmed by this challenge, there are some very simple and affordable things that can be done. In Africa, for example, the road to prosperity can be built with more fertilizer and better seed. People can escape poverty through health care to prevent malaria and treat AIDS. Children can be saved through investments in education, safe drinking water, and sanitation. The cost to us in the rich nations is surprisingly small: $124 billion, or six-tenths of one percent of the total income of the rich world.

Justice and righteousness. These are qualities that Jesus expects us to embrace. It is not enough to enjoy liberation; we are also challenged to do the work of restoration. Like Aslan the lion, this work isn’t safe. But it’s good.

At the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the four children return home to England through the same doorway they used to enter Narnia. They leave behind the great lion who became their savior and king. But life is different for us, in that we do not ever leave our Great Lion of the Lord. In fact, Jesus stands in front of us and says, “Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you” (Revelation 3:20).

A doorway stands before us, one that opens to a land of liberation and restoration. Will you open the door, and let the lion in?