A Greek legend relates the story of a sculptor named Pygmalion who fell in love with an ivory statue he had made. Aphrodite, goddess of love, granted life to the statue so that Pygmalion could marry her. This classic story of the power of love has been told and retold by Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' Gilbert's 'Pygmalion and Galatea,' and in George Bernard Shaw's play 'Pygmalion' in 1913. This play has more recently been revived in a movie entitled 'My Fair Lady.' The scenario of the play and film is centered around an English linguistic professor and a wager he made with his professional colleagues. He was so confident of his abilities as a language expert that he believed he could take an uneducated street urchin and transform her into a grand lady. To test his theory, he went down to the fish market and persuaded a profane, cockney fishmonger into being a guinea pig in his experiment. He took her to his home, cleaned her up, and over a period of several months gave her an intensive course in proper speech and decorum. Finally, he decided that she was ready for the entrance into high society. He took her to a grand ball in the palace and introduced her as being a friend from Europe. Everyone, including his fellow colleagues, was completely fooled when her speech was so correct and her appearance was so regal. She had been completely transformed from her former life. The story ends with the professor marrying his protege.
This story is used to illustrate the power of love to transform lives. We have seen it happen to people down through history and even today. We hear stories of down-and-outers being changed by the kind words of a stranger or the inspiration of an evangelist. There are tales of how orphans, and dropouts, and societal outcasts have received, through some act of love or concern, a vision of renewal and have become leaders in the world. People such as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Helen Keller, and many others have achieved greatness in the face of extreme adversity.
The prime example of the transforming power of love is found in the love of God transforming abject, rebellious sinners into sons and daughters of God who are ready to be introduced to the aristocracy of the courts of heaven. Jesus took a motley group of rough, profane fishermen and self-serving tax collectors and transformed them into the greatest evangelists the world has known. Their speech and their manner had been transformed, and they were able to testify with power before kings and rulers. Jesus raised up prostitutes, thieves, and even murderers into living lives of service for others. He can do the same for you and me; He can lift us from being dirty street urchins in the world to walk as His bride in heavenly courts. He can transform us through the power of love which like to call "the Pygmalion paradigm."
