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| ^ literally me when I eat lunch by myself |
What could such a well-known love story teach us about the greatest love story every told - God's love story with humanity?
I've discussed this fairytale in detail before, but until now, I never truly thought about why the story has been so popular for so many years. In this post, I hope to come up with a few reasons why it might resonate so deeply with so many people for so many generations.
1. We can all relate to the Beast.
"The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!"
~ Lamentations 5:16
~ Lamentations 5:16
Think about it. Isn't the fall of the Beast an amazing comparison to the fall of humankind? This person, who was once beautiful and popular, has been cursed, forced into hiding because of his hideous form. He is cruel, mangled, forgotten.
Once, we were perfect, made in God's image. We walked with God as a friend, we were close to His heart. But then came a choice. A choice that changed mankind forever. And a curse descended, scarring and making monstrous that which was once beautiful, rending a chasm between God and His creation so wide that humanity had no hope of mending that bond unless God Himself chose to build a bridge.
2. The Beauty chooses to stay.
"When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,
because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
So he began teaching them many things."
~ Mark 6:34
Perhaps she didn't come there under the best circumstances. Perhaps she came only out of love for someone else, sacrificing her freedom so another could go free. But a friendship, and eventually a love, grows between the Beast and the Beauty as the two discover that they have more in common than they could have imagined. Soon, it becomes not her sentence that keeps the Beauty in the Beast's palace - it is that she has chosen to stay.
Jesus didn't have to come to Earth. God didn't have to care enough to send him. And to me, that's one of the greatest parts of this story. Mankind had certainly earned being forgotten, much like the Beast. But God... those two words hold so much meaning, don't they? But. God.
But God did not abandon His creation. But God chose to come and chose to stay, for longer than He needed. Could He have come, fully grown, ready for the sacrifice? Absolutely; He can do anything. But God lived among us, perfect and beautiful even when we didn't see it. The Beauty chose to stay.
3. The Beast changes.
"...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ..."
~ 2 Peter 3:18
~ 2 Peter 3:18
I've seen many people try to pass this story off as one about an abusive relationship. Yes, at first, the Beast holds the Beauty against her will, forcing her to pay a debt that she did not owe. But the thing that differentiates between Beast and Gaston, to use the example of the Disney film, is that the Beast changes. He loves Belle, and he wants to impress upon her just how much. So he changes, becomes a better man than he was before the curse. Gaston, who might at first seem like the perfect match, never leaves his egotistical, self-absorbed personality.
I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to be like my dad. I've been told throughout my life that I have my mother's looks and my father's personality (my sister being the opposite of that). And when you want to be like someone, you start to change. It's inevitable.
In the same way, when we draw closer to God, we become more like Him. We lose a bit of our beastliness. The hardened shell around our hearts starts to soften, and we begin to reflect the light that we have come to love to the darkness that surrounds us.
4. The Beauty comes back.
"In my distress, I called out to the Lord; I called out to my God.
From his temple, he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears."
~ 2 Samuel 22:7
To go again to the Disney movie, at one point, Belle runs away. It comes about in a way that the servants guessed it would, with the Beast overreacting and scaring her away. Finally having enough, Belle declares "I can't stay here anymore!". The result is an attack by wolves that could easily have been the most disturbing and disappointing end to a Disney film ever. But the Beast intervenes, for reasons that are never quite explained (in my mind, it's because Mrs. Potts says something gently sassy and makes him realize the error of his ways, but that's just me). While he succeeds in saving Belle's life, he ends up severely injured. There is a moment of hesitation when Belle realizes that this is her opportunity to escape. But her compassion stops her. She brings the Beast back to his castle, helping nurse him back to health, and in this, discovers that there is more to this monster than she assumed at first glance.
In the fairytale, the Beast, falling in love, sends the Beauty home. He knows that she misses her family, who is having a tough time without her. So with a trunk of magical treasure that will keep her and her family secure for years to come, the Beast tells her to go, and she does. But soon the Beast is dying, his cursed life running out, and he needs help. Somehow, she knows, and though he doubts she will, she comes back. She breaks the curse, and realizes her true feelings for this man she's come to love.
The amazing thing is not the compassion of the Beast in sending the Beauty away. It's that the Beauty came back. She goes away, seeming to have forgotten him, but when he is dying and in need a friend, she returns.
How much is that like Jesus? We call out in our time of need, he helps us through. And we send him away, figuring we're good for now. And soon, we lie dying in the garden we've built for ourselves, thinking we're cultivating roses when the only things to grow have been thorns. And Jesus comes. And he loves us, like he's never stopped doing.
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| ^ the gorgeous lyrics to the "Finale" of the new film |
I hope and pray that you have learned something from this post. It was so much fun to write, and to really look critically at one of my favorite stories of all time.
If you haven't seen the new "Beauty and the Beast", I highly recommend it. If you have seen it, what were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!
(also, I was planning for this post to be out a couple days after I saw the film, but there was an incident involving my clumsy fingers, my laptop, and the floor... but all is well now!)
~ Mia
