“He’s not a tame lion.” That is the phrase that came to mind after I read our selection from the Matthew’s gospel for this Sunday. The Chronicles of Narnia is a Christian allegory, and playing off the old phrase, the Lion of Judah, Aslan is clearly its Christ-figure. What Lewis says of Aslan, he means of Jesus. And though we often try to domesticate Jesus, making him a nice, comfortable religious teacher, a grace-filled auxiliary to our ordinary lives, passages like our Gospel today help us remember the truth: Jesus is no tame lion, and though he is good, he is dangerous.

But the messengers of God, ever stoic and succinct, are not deterred by the chaos. They deliver their message with all seriousness. After all, it’s the salvation of the world they’re helping to arrange. I find it encouraging that they do not call out Abraham’s ineptitude or indulge Sarah’s suspicion. What we find uncanny and unlikely, God takes very seriously.