La Traviata - 1 - Friday April 03, 2015
Says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. " Isaiah 1:18
Last fall John and I attended an opera called La Traviata. I came away thinking that the plot had been profoundly Christian, although it was about Violetta, a courtesan (high class prostitute), who dies at the end. Basing his opera on Alexandre Dumas' play called La dame aux Camélias (1852), Giuseppe Verdi created an unlikely tale of redemption. The heart of the play for me is in the gift of a box of white, sweet-smelling camellia petals to Violetta from a young man, Alfredo, who had fallen in love with her a year earlier. He meets her for the first time and sings to her, "The pulse of the universe is love ... terrible, mysterious, painful, delightful." Violetta has never allowed herself to love, believing that a life of pleasure is the best she can hope for. Her identity has been that of a beautiful, wealthy, admired prostitute, "the fallen woman" of the title. But Alfredo's gift and words of love and devotion persuade her she can be someone else.
Who we think we are can actually prevent us from coming to Christ. We may label ourselves "victim" or "horrible person" in our own minds, without considering a third identity, "sinner," which is how God views us. But God, as hinted at in the character of Alfredo, also calls us "beloved" and deeply desires our response to His love.
The camellia blossoms symbolize purity, beauty, and fragility. Alfredo offers this new identity to Violetta; God offers it to you. Violetta receives her new identity, confessing sin and receiving God's forgiveness. Her dying words are: "I feel an unusual strength. I am just beginning to live."
Submitted by:
Dotty Vanderhorst
Cornerstone Community Church
Overland Park, Kansas
One-Year Reading Plan:
Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19
Luke 10:13-37
Psalms 75:1-10
Proverbs 12:12-14
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