The Little Mermaid (a parable)

This is from Steven James' book Story: recapture the mystery:

In Has Christian Andersen's original tale of "The Little Mermaid" (not the Disney version), a beautiful young mermaid has fallen in love with a human prince. The mermaid is a glorious singer beneath the sea, but she gives up her voice to be able to become human and love the prince. The deal is, if she can woo him, then she can remain human and receive an eternal soul. But if he marries another woman, the little mermaid will turn into sea foam, the fate of all mermaids.

Well, despite all her devotion to him, the prince's heart remains enamored with a different woman, a princess whom he believes rescued him from a shipwreck. However, the little mermaid was really the one who had saved him. She wants desperately to tell him that she was his savior and that she loves him, but she has no voice above the sea, no words he can hear.

In the end, all three are sailing back to the prince's palace for his wedding to the other woman. The little mermaid is about to turn back into sea foam when her sisters swim to the water's surface and offer her a knife and a choice: if she will take the prince's life, she need not give up her own. The magic can be reversed; she can become a mermaid again if only she will kill the prince. One of them must die before daybreak.

Everyone else is asleep on the boat. Silently the little mermaid approaches the prince and finds him in the arms of the other woman. As Hans Christian Andersen writes,

The knife trembled in the hand of the little mermaid: then she flung it far away from her into the waves; the water turned red where it fell, and the drops that spurted up looked like blood. She cast one more lingering, half-fainting glance at the prince, and then threw herself from the ship into the sea, and thought her body was dissolving into foam. The sun rose above the waves, and his warm rays fell on the cold foam of the little mermaid.¹

The prince knew nothing of her sacrifice, nothing of her love. He didn't know she had rescued him, giver up her beautiful voice to become like him, and then exchanged her life for his. All this went on while he pursued another woman. She sacrificed all for her prince because she loved him, yet he never returned her love.

When the gospel is told like that, I can understand it.

God's love didn't happen in a courtroom but on a cross where Jesus threw himself from the ship and into the sea. The story I see woven all throughtout Scripture is a tale of passion and sacrifice--not a deal brokered between a lawyer and a judge. It was a gift given from a lover to his beloved: in one final act of sacrificial love, he offers his life so that she might live.

We have a God who would let himself be nailed to a cross for his beloved. And there he would dare to die for her. For us.

Hold onto this moment. See him hanging there, between heaven and earth. Between God and humanity. See him dying there on Skull Hill. Don't turn away. Easter will never make sense without this moment.²

----------
1. Hans Christian Andersen, The Complete Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, ed. Lilly Owens.
2. Stephen James, Story: recapture the mystery.

God Will Accomplish His Purposes (regardless of who's in office)

I've really never been one to follow politics. I often question whether I should or not, but even when I try to keep track of what's happening I never seem to sustain much interest. Perhaps it's due to my being too busy or self-absorbed. Perhaps it's because I unfortunately tend to only think about those things which I personally see and deal with daily. Maybe I can blame it on growing up in a house where politics were never really discussed or because I grew up in Texas where there is never really any question about which party will dominate. Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that honestly I usually just don't seem to care.*

I do, however, wrestle about what a Christian's proper relation to government is. On one hand we're told to submit to the ruling authorities since they are instituted by God (Paul and Peter discuss this in Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:13-17). But on the other hand we're living in a very different political climate than they were--in a democracy we're each (arguably) an important part in deciding on who our rulers are or becomeing those rulers ourselves. Is simply obeying the established laws all that I'm required to do in "honoring the king" or do I take a more active stance since I'm somehow responsible for the creation or modification of those laws? I think these are important questions. I wish I had good answers to them. Complete separation is tempting, but to completely concede this nation to forces that are bad or perhaps even evil hardly seems like a proper position for a warrior of God. And from what I can tell politics seems to completely consume people who truly get involved; that doesn't seem like a good way for a Christian to live either. . . . . and the questions and contradictions continue

At the very least I do think it's appropriate for me to visit the ballot box when opportunity arises. Jen and I are now official Massachusetts residents, and our vote today definitely was part of the minority. At any rate, afterward Jen commented, "It felt good to vote." I have to agree.

I just checked on the voting results: as of 2am most everything is finalized and it looks like a sweeping victory for the democratic party both locally and nationally. In Massachusetts we elected democrats for governor (surprisingly it's the first time in 16 years) and for just about everything else. The republicans lost control of the house and it looks like they might lose the senate as well. I know many Christians who would equate Christianity with the republican party.** It would be easy for them to despair.

However it's important to remember that the political stage should never be our primary focus. Looking through history and the scriptures we see that nations will rise and fall; evil will appear to win for a time and then good will miraculously appear to regain control. It cycles. It undulates. It always has and we shouldn't be supprised that it happens in America also. But throughout the good and the bad we must remember that God is constant, active, and concerned. But perhaps He's concerned about nations only insofar as they will effect the lives and decisions of individuals--how those individuals will relate to Him. If a surge of evil (i.e. the Babylonians destroying Judah ca. 600BC) results in some people truly meeting and knowing God (that ever present remnant God's always talking about in the OT), then perhaps the evil isn't really in control after all. God is ALWAYS in control. He's present and involved whether it's on the national political stage or with you at work tomorrow. Don't forget that.


--------------------
* Unless I'm regularly around politically savvy people. For instance, this summer while I was working at Quincy College Bookstore one of my coworkers, Jay, would often ask me about my views on a myriad of topics. Since he is well informed politically it only makes since that a few of these would be political. Like one day we were discussing the last presidential election when he asked me "How can a follower of Jesus vote for evil?" (This was in response to a statement I made about how neither candidate was even close to ideal, therefore the decision had to come down to choosing the lesser-of-two evils.) I think it's a good and valid question. If any of you happen to have an answer to the question then I'd love to hear it. But, back on topic (I think it's funny that I got on a tangent in a footnote which is inherently tangential to the main topic itself--go figure), while I was around Jay daily I found myself listening to the news and keeping up with world and national events much better--I didn't really have a choice if I wanted to be able to have meaningful conversations with him. And it was fun. Perhaps I just need proper motivation.

** I also know a few people who would equate Christianity with the democratic party. I think its sad and amusing how we humans tend to superimpose the things we're most concerned about on top of our understanding of God and Jesus. It seems to me that God wouldn't agree with the conservative position that unborn children should be allowed to live AND the liberal position that people should and do have the free will to make their own decisions regarding their own lives. We're doing a disservice to our Creator when we try to fit him within political confines. Both parties have stands that resemble the heart of God, and both parties also have a lot of scnadal and corruption too. It's never an easy choice.