Immortal Beloved

Many of you may be familiar with this movie title. A film based on the untold love story of Beethoven. Watching it for the first time, I found myself shedding a tear or two by the end of the movie. Within the film lies a parallel that moves beyond what I can grasp in its fullness. Therefore I’ll share a glimpse of it and allow you to ponder it for yourself…

 Immortal – able to have eternal life. Beloved – a loved person (adored).  

The story begins with a mystery…who is Beethoven’s beloved? No one understood his deafness, or the complexities of his childhood, and because of his fits and temper whispered that he was half-crazy. For those of you that are familiar with this film, you know that in the closing moments his beloved comes, the emotion portrayed from his heart is  a mixture of sadness, joy, and yet what outweighs them all is the love he has for her. It’s beyond the physical depths of love. Perhaps the heartbreaking center of it all is that she didn’t know it. Not until the very end, when it was too late.

The parallel is this: Today is Palm Sunday, some recognize this day as Jesus final entry into Jerusalem. He rode upon the back of a colt. People lined the streets with palm branches and the very cloaks off their backs. Crying out,

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” – Luke 19:38

As he drew near the city, he wept over it… (Luke 19:28-44)

He knew the time was drawing near and he loved us still. The raw emotion. Jesus betrayed. Jesus crucified. To some the cross is a mystery. Foolishness to the world. But for those who believe it’s hope. It’s a reminder that Jesus in all His radiant glory left his Father’s side to be born an infant babe. A love beyond the depths that a Father would allow his One and only Son to be born and live in a world that didn’t love him but rejected him. And for what? For you and for me. To pay the penalty for our sin, because all sin is punishable by death. He died for them. He died for us.

The movie captured a deep love of the heart, oh how he loved her, yet she still rejected that love! And now, how those that even believe don’t accept with faith the Love of Jesus. Jesus love for you is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.  Jesus conquered the grave. You are his beloved. That what separated us before from the Father is no longer for Jesus is the bridge of Love!

Would the ones that he came for recognize it? Or would they live a life unknowing of his unfailing steadfast love only to discover the truth when it’s too late?

Let in not be a mystery to you any longer…in the closing moments when Jesus Christ returns the world as we know it will never be the same. Those who love him, will be called by Him, and together they will live: Immortally beloved. (John 3:16)