We all know the plot of the romantic comedy
- Boy meets girl
- Boy loses girl
- Boy finds girl
And usually (if they are doing it right) there is some kind of party at the end. A wedding banquet or something like it.
Even Aristotle writes about this back in the day.
The Wedding is “not just a piece of paper” it is deep within our minds and hearts. That’s why it is a sacrament of the church and why all (even those who will not marry, Jesus wasn’t married nor where many great saints of the Church,, male and female) see its beauty. Both in this life and as the union of Christ and his church (so says St Paul, also celibate) in Ephesians.
Ever wonder if that massive and hard to understand library of books, the Bible (which is also one book), has a theme, a structure? Something you can hold onto when slogging through Leviticus?
How about this? Reading it as a RomCom.
- God creates humanity
- God (in a sense) loses humanity
- God finds humanity again
The Bible is very clear that at the core of God’s relationship, the desired relationship with humanity, is “covenant”. Which in this case means a familial relationship with us. The centre of the familial relationship is marriage. And this image pervades the Bible, both old and new testaments.
What was Jesus’ first sign that he performed in the gospel of John? Making things go right at a wedding feast. Remember.
How does the Bible end? With a wedding and subsequent Wedding Banquet of the Lamb.
The Church (we, his people) being the bride. Beautifully arrayed in her dress and adorned with the jewels which are the foundation stones of the Temple and the signs of the 12 apostles.
We have wandered away “each goes his own way,” says the psalm. They “hid” from God in the garden says, Genesis.
We have gone to the “far off country”. But in Jesus God has come looking for us. And he is delighted when he has found us.
Look at that clip above. Aristotle points out that in the RomCom there is always a cast of characters trying to prevent the reunion of the Beloved. But they always are exposed and defeated (as in the Princess Bride and every other RomCom ever written).
What can we take from this?
First God’s true desire for us. This how he wants this story to end. At the wedding banquet of the Lamb.
During the “lost” part our journeys we can remember this, this is how God sees us (whether we are married in our life or not), as his bride
- Lost
- Found
- Beloved
