Gerald J. Mast is professor of communication at Bluffton University and co-editor with Carrie Mast of the new book: Human Sexuality in Biblical Perspective: A Study Guide, released by Cascadia Publishing House.
From the fearsome creatures of Greek mythology to our early childhood anxieties about monsters under the bed, human imaginations have been shaped by the fear of beasts.
In the Bible, the figure of the beast is frequently deployed as a metaphor for the violence and predatory power associated with human domination systems. For example, in the book of Daniel, worldly empires are represented by a ram, a goat, and horns growing out of the goat, one of which reaches to the heavens and throws stars to the earth. In Revelation, a variety of beasts represent the powers of the empire, including the authority to determine who gets to buy and sell, and a dragon threatens to devour the child born to a woman clothed with the sun.
In today’s Advent text from Isaiah 35, the fearsome beasts are gone from the prophet’s vision of earthly flourishing in the renewed and holy world that God is bringing about. The jackals and the lions that prey on the weak “shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there” ( verse 9).
Isaiah’s vision channels a deep and profound messianic expectation defining the hope by which the people of God live amidst the chaos and crisis created by dehumanizing and death-dealing powers. In the previous chapter, chapter 34, Isaiah envisions this chaos as a wilderness that arises from the conflict and catastrophe unleashed by the judgment of God against the arrogance of the nations.
In the messianic dream Mary sings after being called to give birth to the Messiah, the powerful are brought down from their thrones and the lowly lifted up; the rich sent away empty and the hungry filled with good things (Luke 1:51-53). Soon after, the Messiah is laid in a manger among friendly beasts. This Messiah will ride to victory on a donkey; take on the powers of this world by the disarmament of the cross.
A new fantasy film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is a spin-off from the Harry Potter world of wizardry and magic created by J.K. Rowling. In Fantastic Beasts, the central character is Newt Scamander who is completing a research trip for a book on magical creatures—some of which he has collected in an expansive briefcase that he carries with him and, at times, enters himself in order to communicate with and study the fantastical beasts.
Others see the beasts as threats to be destroyed. Newt sees them as beautiful creatures who have been misunderstood or miscategorized as “dangerous.”
In the film, the most terrifying beast is an “Obscurus”—a powerfully destructive force that arises when magical powers are suppressed by someone who has received them. The story in this film suggests, like the beastly apocalypses in the Bible, that the hurt and harm of predatory power grows out of fear and rejection. Beautiful creatures become terrifying beasts when their strengths are regarded as threats.
Human beings crowned with glory and honor become murderous monsters when the gifts they bear are rejected; their passions and enthusiasms and loyalties denied. A rejected Cain will kill an accepted Abel. The dragon will make war on the woman whose son rules with a rod of iron.
In the Bible, beasts are also metaphors for the salvation that God is accomplishing and the beauty of God’s holiness that enlightens the path to salvation. A serpent is lifted up in the wilderness to save those who are dying of the serpent’s poison. Lions and lambs are pictured lying down together. And in the end, it is the slain Lamb who is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might.
We who are yet surrounded by wilderness are invited to walk on the highway that is opening up in front of us, to join the redeemed on the road to Zion. Like Mary, we are told: “Be strong, do not fear” (Isaiah 35:4). On this holy highway human desires and capacities are sanctified: eyes are opened and ears listen; people who can’t walk are dancing and those who struggle to speak are singing ( verses 5-6). Life is breaking forth all around: crocuses blooming and streams erupting in the desert (verses 1, 6).
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