Bruce Mbanzabugabo, a Rwandan-born author and born-again Christian once remarked: “The more you focus on the beauty of roses, the more invisible their thorns become; and an anthophile will never stop loving roses even when their thorns harm him. Therefore, this is how love should be!” Ezekiel 2:6 confirms: “And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”
Roses are defined as a prickly bush or shrub that typically bears red, pink, yellow, or white fragrant flowers. They are primarily native to north temperate regions and widely grown as ornamental. They display, not only beauty, but are luxurious in presence, and often given as a token of love or affection. However, like life, most roses have a darker side that contain a visual or even hidden element of danger. The stems usually contain sharp thorns which can often pierce the skin and produce blood if handled incorrectly. This can require a need for care. The petals may be soft, but the peduncle afflicts pain.
A Red rose could be considered a two-edged sword. It is said to not only represent love or passion, but is also indicative of grief and suffering. These are characteristics of the Passion of Christ. They portray deep meanings that affirm the depths of God’s love through the story of Easter. Christ bled, suffered pain and humiliation to safeguard our future and provide an expectation for all those who seek it. If we choose wisely, our faith and actions can open the doorway to heaven and eternal life. The story of Easter is narrated in all four canonical Gospels to reassure and corroborate the alarming events that Jesus endured for the redemption of humanity. Looking at one particular Gospel, Mark, chapters 14 and 15 state the chronological incidents that Jesus experienced leading up to his crucifixion and His subsequent resurrection. Mark 14:1-25 reminds us: “It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 briefly summarises the after-death experiences: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he paraphrases: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.” Hubert H. Humphrey, a former United States vice-president once remarked: "In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be."
God sacrificed His Son so that the darker side of life could be eroded. Isaiah 18:4-5 reminds us: “For thus the Lord said to me: “I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.”
Whether roses allude to fiction or to true life, they could be regarded to represent and symbolize a powerful story that consists of true love, strength, devotion, passion and pain. It has been suggested that they have, since the twelfth century, been associated with the story of a remarkable gift from God, given freely to all, to provide guidance and an everlasting future hope. John 3:16 confirms: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Amen.
