Unlike Mihaya, who’s willing to use any means necessary to save his noble status, Zen uses his noble status to save Shirayuki. In response to Mihaya’s cynicism, he declares, “Shirayuki is not here to be used as anyone’s tool!” Unlike Mihaya, Zen doesn’t care what Shirayuki can give him. Zen, on the other hand, refuses to see Shirayuki that way. All Shirayuki is to him is a means to an end-a tool to restore his noble pride. “That was when I thought I could use you, Red,” he sneers at Shirayuki. The tides turned, and his family was left with nothing, forcing him to live the life of a bandit. But time is cruel to even the richest of men, and Mihaya’s family was no exception. He had once lived in a noble house whose family owned the castle to which he kidnapped Shirayuki. Yet just when Mihaya’s about to put her out for good, Zen steps in to save her once more, bringing Mihaya to his knees.ĭefeated, Mihaya begins to explain his story. She employs some thoroughly ingenious tactics to escape her captor’s clutches, but she’s cornered against a wall outside, just footsteps away from freedom. Escaping the castle’s a bit harder, though. Of course, Shirayuki is having None Of This, and it doesn’t take two scenes before she’s broken out of her cell. The bandit introduces himself: he’s Mihaya, and he’s planning on selling her to pirates intent on parading her red hair. When she comes to a few hours later, she’s tied up in the dungeon of a castle. The peaceful days don’t last long, though: One day, as she’s gathering herbs in a forest several towns away from the capital, a bandit attacks and incapacitates her. She finds lodging in the capital city and begins to enjoy a fairly peaceful life. Prince Zen: An Image of HonorĪfter Prince Zen saves Shirayuki from Prince Raj’s poisoned apple, he invites her back to Clarines. And as we do, I’ll offer some reflections on how we, as a church, can begin to serve those under our charge faithfully. So let’s walk through these three images together. Snow White with the Red Hair presents three images of just leadership in three of its princes: Zen, Izana, and even Raj himself. And anyone who might eat a little piece would die.īut how can we do better? How can we cultivate fresh apples rather than poisoned ones? How can church leaders bring good news in word and deed? We need models to look to as we rethink what it means to be the church in a world that doubts our witness. We send out baskets of apples, but lace them with poison. We preach the gospel, but our actions deceive. We claim to bring good news but fail to deliver. Too often the church can follow the example of Prince Raj. In the end, Zen saves Shirayuki from consuming a poisoned apple from a basket Raj had sent her, seemingly as an apology. Along the way she meets Prince Zen, from the neighboring kingdom of Clarines. Shirayuki, a pharmacist, herbalist, and the show’s red-haired protagonist, flees her home country of Tanbarun when Prince Raj demands her hand in marriage because of her red hair. That image of a poisoned apple also comes up in the first episode of Snow White with the Red Hair, a show that I’ve been watching recently. It stirs up longings but twists them into destruction. It claims to bring life but brings death. And for good reason-it tastes good!īut a poisoned apple deceives. An apple brings life and joy and sweetness. And as I think about the ways that we’ve fallen short in our Christian witness, I’m reminded of the poisoned apple from Snow White. 1Ī few weeks ago, Twwk wrote a piece reflecting on the Christian church, its failures, and their cascading effects in the lives of both believers and non-believers. She barely had a bite in her mouth when she fell to the ground dead. Snow White longed for the beautiful apple, and when she saw that the peasant woman was eating part of it she could no longer resist, and she stuck her hand out and took the poisoned half. Now the apple had been so artfully made that only the red half was poisoned. But anyone who might eat a little piece of it would die. From the outside it was beautiful, white with red cheeks, and anyone who saw it would want it. She went into her most secret room-no one else was allowed inside-and she made a poisoned, poisoned apple.
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