Film Friday Maleficent, the evil God Mother who once put sleeping beauty Aurora into a deep sleep, has now reformed. She is a changed woman, and she and Aurora get on just swell. That is, until Prince Philip (no not that one) asks Aurora to marry her. Oh dear…
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The path of true love never runs smooth in fairy tales, or there wouldn’t be much point in telling the fairy tale I suppose. So bring on the secretly bad mother-in-law to be, who only wants the wedding of Philip and Aurora so she can invite all the fairies in the forest, lock them in the church, and scatter ex-fairy dust all over them, to make them no more. She’s not a fan of little twinkly magical flying creatures. And wants to wipe them all out. Although this tale plays around a bit with who is good and who is bad, at its heart it still brings the age-old story of good versus evil, and the worrying question – will evil triumph? Will folks find a way to live happily ever after?
It’s been said that we love these kind of stories because our own lives don’t have such clear-cut conclusions. Fairy tales, and plenty of other stories, have a resolution. The story plays out, with hopefully a happy ending. But we live with the ongoing, we do have our little endings from time to time, problems get solved, issues get faced, friendships are patched up, but we must go on, living with the day-to-day ups and downs. And so these epic tales lift us out of that, promising perhaps, that one day there will be a happy ever after. Evil will be conquered and folks will live in peace. Pie in the sky? Well, not according to the Bible. The prophet Isaiah saw a time when peace would reign, weapons would be unnecessary, greedy enemies would not steal from the poor, there would be plentiful harvests, and the whole planet would be renewed. Have a look at Isaiah 65 from verse 17 onwards. A great promise indeed. And one picked up by John in the book of Revelation chapter 21. Thousands of years had gone by but the vision had not faded, the promise was still there. Perhaps our small happy-ever-after moments are signs, glimpses of the future hope. Jesus brought and continues to bring a glimpse of that new time. And as we follow him we’re invited to be a part of the promise to come. Embodying, in the smallest of ways, the promise of new life, reconciliation, hope and kindness.
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Really enjoyed this post Dave. I like your phrase ‘the whole planet would be renewed’. Thoroughly biblical and chimes so well with Isaiah 65 and Rev 21. Another Scripture (2 Peter 3:13) makes the same point and reminds us of God’s great promises. Thanks for your ministry Dave.