A person looks into a mirror hoping to see themself. Rapunzel looks into a mirror and sees a lonely girl with magic hair that can span for miles. Gothel looks into a mirror and sees a youthful woman that men find attractive. In reality though, Gothel is an ugly and selfish hag over a hundred years old. And Rapunzel is a beautiful, lost princess. A glass mirror fails to show a person their true identity. That is why as Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ is our mirror. Being an affectionately loved son or daughter of God is the foundation and pinnacle of our identity. Satan constantly attempts to make us forget who we are with lies that tangle up our true identity with things of the world. But when Jesus undoes the knot which Satan has tangled, the lie is removed and the person is free to live in their true identity.
For Catholics, it is common that we are baptized as infants. What looks like cool water on a baby’s forehead is really a cataclysmic spiritual reality in the eyes of faith. We are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness from original sin and placed into the kingdom of light. We are grafted into Jesus Christ to share everything that the Father has given him including his mission of priest, prophet, and king. Scripture even tells us we become “a holy nation, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9). Under this perspective, we are not so different from baby Rapunzel. She is born in a great palace with her mother the Queen and her father the King, who love her and sing to her every night while she falls asleep. We are sons and daughters of the King of Kings and of Mary, Queen of the Universe.
There is something special about Rapunzel. Her hair is enchanted and has the ability to heal or bring youth back to the aged, as long as it remains uncut. Jealous of this gift, the old woman Gothel steals the baby princess away in the night from the King and Queen in an attempt to keep herself young. Gothel takes the baby to a tower far away and imprisons her there. She does this not with chains, but with lies. Gothel raises the child to believe that she is not a princess – that she is Gothel’s daughter. The outside world, the realm in which Rapunzel is destined to rule, is forbidden because it is “a very dangerous place.”
And so, Rapunzel grows up painting pictures and sweeping floors wondering when her life will begin. Her favorite day of the year is her birthday, where every year she sees an array of brilliant stars lighting up the sky. Rapunzel has no idea what they mean but feels a deep desire in her heart whenever she sees these stars. Deep inside, she knows she is a princess. She knows she was made for so much more than Mother Gothel’s tower. But she stays locked up because she cannot see how Gothel is using her and has grown accustom to believing her lies.
We too are the lost princess. The spiritual captivity that binds us is the same lie that kept Rapunzel bound: the lie that we are not a son or daughter of the King. Without knowing we are beloved children of God, we keep running back into the embrace of Mother Gothel who wants to enslave us and use us selfishly. We frequently form our identities on what we do, what we succeed at, what we fail at, what other people think of us, and especially how we feel. All of these can be twisted into lies if we do not have the foundation of our identity as a son or daughter of God.
Eventually, a man called Flynn Rider (whose actual name is Eugene) comes to the tower and draws her out. Rapunzel goes through a rollercoaster of emotions once she is freed, but resolves to have Eugene guide her to see the “stars” at the palace on her eighteenth birthday and fulfill her deepest dream. Rapunzel learns that the princess of the palace is lost and that every year the King and Queen send hundreds of floating candles in the air calling her back home. After a long journey, Eugene and Rapunzel arrive at the palace and watch for the lights.
It is the evening of what would be their daughter’s eighteenth birthday. The Queen, beautiful and dressed in a blue royal garment, looks with a heavy heart at the King. They wait for a moment and there is deep silence. One would think after eighteen years they would have forgotten about her and moved on with their lives ruling the kingdom. But instead, we see the face of the King, tears streaming down his eyes into his beard. He is strong, masculine, and filled with genuine emotion. There has not been a single day that the father has not thought about his daughter. He gives the signal and sends up the lights once again for every corner of the world to see because even after eighteen years he is still pursuing his baby girl.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes how “God never ceases to draw man to himself” (CCC 27). This outlook is far different from carrying the burden of trying to get close to God on purely our own force. Believing the truth that God is madly in love with you and is constantly pursuing you helps to make “his commandments…not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
When life outside the tower becomes painful and scary, Rapunzel runs back to Mother Gothel and the confinement of the tower. She does not like it there but stays because the tower is safe and familiar. However, soon she begins to put the puzzle pieces together and realizes that she is actually the lost princess. Immediately, she rebukes Gothel and tries to break out of the tower. Upon this resistance, Gothel reveals the ugliness of her true self and the deception starts to show itself for what it has really been all along. Gothel binds Rapunzel with metal chains as she struggles unsuccessfully to break free on her own. The mirror that Rapunzel spent so much time looking into is bumped in the struggle and shatters on the floor. Her old identity is shattered now that she has realized her true identity as daughter of the King.
Hearing Rapunzel is in danger, Eugene rushes to the tower and scales it to save her. When he reaches the top, Gothel stabs him with a mortal wound in his side. Eugene falls to the ground. Rapunzel begs Gothel to set her free so she can heal Eugene. After Gothel refuses initially, Rapunzel promises to obey Gothel for the rest of her life as a slave if she can heal Eugene. Gothel agrees and Rapunzel rushes to Eugene’s side.
“Rapunzel, I can’t let you do this…”
“And I can’t let you die.”
“But if you do this…then you will die.”
Eugene motions her closer. He looks as if he is going to kiss her just like in every movie. But he doesn’t. Instead, he grabs a piece of the shattered mirror and cuts Rapunzel’s hair off. Eugene cutting the hair off instantly diminishes its power. The old witch shrivels into dust. And Eugene dies.
Jesus rides through the forest and scales the tower to set us free. He takes that which is enslaving us upon himself and dies with it to bring us back to the Father. There is nothing he wishes to hold back. When we embrace our true identity as an affectionately loved son or daughter of God, the old identity is shattered, and from the shards, Jesus cuts off from ourselves the sin, hurt, and lies which kept us bound. He untangles all the lies and speaks the truth.
Though her hair is gone, a hidden and more perfect gift of her healing tears is revealed. From it, Eugene is raised to new life. A reunion takes places at the end of the movie identical to the reunion we will experience in heaven. Eugene, who died for Rapunzel and has come back from the dead, now leads her into the castle where the King and Queen are standing, waiting hopefully. Rapunzel enters and she looks at her mom – her real mom. The mom who sang to her in her crib. The mom who cried every night for eighteen years and never once gave up on her. The mom who loved Rapunzel not for her hair, but just for being her daughter. Rapunzel runs into the arms of her mother. Tears flow once again from the King, but this time out of joy because after all these years he has found his beloved. They all embrace, even Eugene. Her father the King, her mother the Queen, and Eugene the Bridegroom all hold Rapunzel with deep love. They place a crown upon her head and she reigns over the Kingdom with them. And they live, as we soon will, happily ever after…in the Kingdom of God!
Written by Joey Martineck
Beautiful Things: http://www.joeymartineck.blogspot.com/Graphic borrowed from: http://www.popsugar.com/love/photo-gallery/34922310/image/34922640/Tangled
beautiful Joey!
ReplyDeleteI always thought this was a great example of two people who were mutually willing to sacrifice for each other. Rapunzel wanted to sacrifice her freedom to save Eugene's life, and Eugene was willing to sacrifice his life so that Rapunzel could be free. When the analogy returns to us and Christ, it's a little different. Christ has already made the sacrifice for us. The question we face is, how will we respond to this amazing gift? We will be like Rapunzel, willing to give up our freedom to reciprocate the love?
ReplyDelete