Star-crossed Lovers

But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she.

• William Shakespeare

In 1597, William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet,” set the stage for the genre of romance for generations and centuries to come. Many concepts t

hat were introduced in this famous play, including love at first sight, tragedy, and, most of all, star-crossed lovers. These concepts are found in literature all over the world from so many different cultures and areas in history. Some examples of this are “The Little Mermaid”, “The Best of Me”, “Titanic”, “My Big Fat Greece Wedding”, “Snow White”, “Beauty and The Beast”, “Aladdin”, and practically every fairytale ever written.

Shakspeare introduced the concept of “star-crossed lovers” or lovers whose relationship is doomed to fail, usually because of circumstances that are beyond their control. Romeo and Juliet are star crossed lovers because their families are long sworn enemies and they are forbidden to even talk to each other. Romeo expresses his anguish towards this situation in act 2 scene 2 when he says, “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou her maid art far more fair than she.” In this quote, Romeo compares his relationship with Juliet to that of the sun and the moon. Just like the sun and the moon are separated by day and night, Romeo and Juliet are separated against their will by their families’ rivalry.

A similar situation can be seen in the movie Aladdin when Aladdin and Princess Jasmine fall in love, but they can’t be together because Jasmine’s father wants her to marry a prince. This can also be seen in The Little Mermaid with Ariel and Prince Eric, because she is a mermaid and he is a human and her father has forbidden her to swim to the seashore. However, these stories, along with most other disney movies, have a much happier ending.

But why do we keep on telling these stories of star-crossed lovers who break the barrier of fate? Where love wins the impossible battle against an evil villain who is determined to kill, steal, and destroy? Well, because that is our story. The story of God’s unconditional love for us. Just like Romeo and Juliet, Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, Ariel and Prince Eric, Snow White and Prince Charming, and every loving relationship in any epic story, we were born into a broken world full of pain and hatred and sin and there is an enemy who will stop at nothing to destroy our very souls. His name is Lucifer or, more commonly known as Satan.

You have probably heard the opening line in the book of Genesis in the Bible, “In the Beginning God created the heavens and the earth” ( Genesis 1: 1). This is the beginning of our story, but Satan’s begins long before God created the earth. He was once an angel, but he became arrogant and decided to try to overthrow God. In the book of Revelation the apostle John tells us that “there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon-the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world-was thrown down to the earth with his angels,” ( Revelation 12: 7 - 9).

It was after this that God created our world. He created the day and the night, the sun and the moon, the sea and the dry land, and he created all the plants and animals and he saw that they were good ( Genesis 1: 1 - 26). Then it says, “God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” ( Genesis 1: 27) He created Adam and Eve in his own perfect image and them and all the rest of creation were good and happy and full of life. However, just like any story, our story has a villain who is out to destroy us.

God puts Adam and Eve in charge of naming and taking care of the rest of his creation and he tells them that they can eat the fruit from any tree except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Soon after this the devil, in the form of a serpent, goes to Eve and tempts her to eat the fruit from the tree God told her not to eat by telling her that she will be like God if she eats it. Thinking that God was trying to withhold a privilege rom her, Eve believes the serpent and eats a fruit from the tree and gives some to Adam who also eats it. That this moment sin enters the world and creates a barrier between God and all of mankind and we succumb to pain and death.

Luckily, our love story with Christ does not end here. Even though we have rejected him and sinned against him, God didn’t stop loving us. In fact, he loved us so much that he came down from his throne in heaven to walked among us, and he didn’t stop there. Because the wage for sin is death, he willingly took on the weight of the sins of the world and laid down his life. His death broke the barrier between him and us and he rose from the dead in three days. He is offering us the gift of his love, healing of our broken hearts, and eternal life. We once again can be in close relationship with him. The enemy, Satan, still walks the earth trying to tempt and deceive us, but he can only do what God allows him to do, and one day he will be thrown into the fiery pits of hell and we, the followers of Christ, will rule in heaven as members of God’s royal family forever and ever.

Shakespeare might have set the stage for the beginning of our epic love story, but he was missing something that all good stories have: a happy ending. The stories like Aladdin and Snow White point to our greater story. That is why we love them so much. Even though many do not know Christ, we all have a longing deep within us that knows who we really are and what we were made for.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The C.A.N Sisters’ Ministry, leave a comment below, check out our website, or email us at cansistersministry@gmail.com.