Romantic And Religious Roses Series

Ernest Hemmingway wrote about the experience of

Mungo Park, who, on one of his travel adventures, got lost in

the vast wilderness of an African desert. He was all alone,

and so dead tired he could not go on. His legs were numbed,

and he gave up, and laid down to die. He opened his eyes,

and right by his face was a small wild flower of extra

ordinary beauty. The whole plant was no bigger than his

finger, but it forced new thoughts into his hopeless mind. He

said, "I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of

its roots, leaves, and capsules without admiration."

He went on to reflect, "Can the Being who planted,

watered, and brought to perfection in this obscure part of

the world, a thing which appears of so small importance,

look with unconcern upon the situation and suffering of

creatures formed after His own image?" He concluded,

surely not, and then thoughts generated by that little wild

flower brought him out of his despair. He got the adrenaline

flowing in his veins again, and with new hope he traveled

forward, and found relief, and his life was spared. He was

saved by a flower. Here was one man who believed in flower

power.

Jesus Christ also believed in flower power, and He used

flowers to encourage His followers to positive thinking.

"Behold the lilies of the field," he said, "They do not

toil or spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like

one of these." Jesus was saying, if God so cares for the

flowers, which so quickly pass away, how much more

does He care for you, who are His children, and who will live

forever. Do not worry about clothing, but let flowers keep

you ever conscious that there is never a lack of beautiful

clothing in the kingdom of God. Jesus said flower power is a

part of God's plan. Someone wrote,

“Our outward life requires them not, then, wherefore had

they birth?

To minister delight to man, to beautify the earth,

To comfort man-to whisper hope, when'er his faith is dim,

For He who careth for the flowers, will care much more for

him.”

It is no wonder that our Lord is identified with flowers.

He is called the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley.

He is a saving flower who gives encouragement and strength

to all who behold Him, and He adds beauty to all of

life's deserts. The land where Jesus grew up was the land

filled with flowers. A British botanist recognized

500 species in Israel, common to that native soil, and almost

another half a thousand that are unknown beyond Bible

lands. Flowers blossomed on a variety of trees, and

there images were craved in many places in the Temple. In

spite of all the flowers, only three garden varieties are

mentioned in the Bible: The rose, the lily and the

henna blossom. It is of interest that all three are in this

context. The rose and the lily in verse 1 of chapter 2, and the

other in verse 14 of chapter 1. This song of love is also the

song of flowers, because flowers and love are closely linked.

We want to examine the most popular of all flowers, the rose.

We want to see it in the light of its romantic and religious

significance.

I. THE ROMANTIC USE OF THE ROSE.

It would be easy to spend all of our time looking at the

romantic us of roses. This has been the flower of romance all

through history. Botanists speculate much about the

Biblical rose. Some feel it was the tulip, or some other

flower, but most refer to it as the rose. There is hardly a

people of the past who have not used roses to represent love.

If you rearrange the letters of rose by taking the e off the

end, and putting it on the beginning, you get eros, which is

the Greek word for romantic love.

The rose can be a symbol of either the male or female

lover. The ancient Greeks called it The King of Flowers.

But Sappho, The Greek poetess, urged that it be

called the Queen of Flowers. The fight for equality has been

a long battle. In a sense she won, in that many women are

named Rose, but seldom or never does a man bare that

name. In her ode to the rose, which she wrote in 600 B. C.,

she said,

Would Jove a Queen of Flowers ordain,

The Rose, the Queen of Flowers, should reign.

What flower is half so lovely found,

As when, with full-blown beauties crown.

The fame magnificent will all agree,

The Rose, the Queen of Flowers should be.

Shakespeare said, "Fair ladies masked are roses in their