Snow White, a Parable

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”                                             Ecclesiastes 3: 11

When our daughter Kelly was two, we were given the DVD of Disney’s “Snow White.” She loved it, and so did I. Whenever Kelly was watching her favorite story unfold, I could get things done that didn’t require a toddler’s help. I could do the housework guilt-free as I heard her singing along with the dwarves and saw her out of the corner of my eye dancing to the music. But I hadn’t realized the “teachable moment” that was under my nose until one day I was coming through the den with a laundry basket of clothes.

The video was almost over. Prince Charming had awakened Snow White from her death-like coma with a kiss and, after a warm embrace, had whisked her away on his horse to his castle …

… in the sky.

Wha—?! I nearly dropped the basket of clean laundry as I took a second look.

Sure enough, there was Charming’s home – up in the sky! Why I had never noticed that before, I have no idea, but I was suddenly struck with the romantic thought that someday my own Prince – the “Prince of Peace” would whisk His bride away and take her to His home in the sky, and I wondered if this had been what the original Disney producers had had in mind all those years ago. – Why else would they have presented such an obvious picture?

As I sat down to fold the clothes, my mind retraced the story and the events that had led up to that final moment. Snow White had been in what looked like death. At least, it was a deep sleep from which she was not expected to awaken. But her Prince – her bridegroom – had awakened her – resurrected her to be joined with him in marriage.

Just like our Bridegroom will.

But how did she get into that death-like state? You will recall that the wicked queen had disguised herself as a sweet little old woman and had given Snow White a beautiful apple. One bite from that fruit, and Snow was out.

Just like Eve.

In the beginning, the devil, disguising himself as a serpent, had tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. The moment she ate from it, the curse had come over her, her husband, and all of Mankind, and we have been spiritually dead ever since. At least, until the Bridegroom revives us. We are revived to life the first time when open our eyes to Christ and embrace Him by faith, and later we enter into eternal life at the resurrection.

Did the original writers of fairy tales have Christian theology in mind when they wrote these stories? (More than one fairy tale has the Prince waking up the Princess from a deep sleep.) Or is it just the longing for such a powerful love that fills the hearts of people instinctively – that longing for Someone to rescue us from the spiritual death we have gotten ourselves into?

Prayer: Lord, everywhere we look we see Your fingerprints – from the endless skies, to Your creation on earth, to a children’s fairy tale. Continue to fill our minds with what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. [Philippians 4:8] Continue to remind us of Your love wherever we look, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen