DIVINE!

There’s my nephew, John, and I at Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloß Neuschwanstein) last summer. The most photographed building in Germany (a couple of hours south of Munich), it is also one of that country’s most popular tourist attractions, its fairy-tale looks lending its semblance to the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland, and to the Disney logo. King Ludwig II (1845–1886) was the one responsible for this florid, fascinating, and fabulous (from “fable”) piece of Bavarian art, complete with fancy chandeliers, flashy murals, and flushing toilets. Ludwig dedicated the edifice to Richard Wagner, the composer, and many structural elements of the castle echo themes from the operas of the latter. In a letter to the maestro in 1868, Ludwig asserted: “It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin at Hohenschangau in the authentic style of the old German knights’ castles …. The location is the most beautiful one could find, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple for the divine friend who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world.” Now I don’t know whether you care for Wagner or not. I don’t. But even if you do, this is a bit too thick. “Divine”? One “who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world”? Wagner? What rot!

And there is salvation
in no one else
[but Jesus Christ];
for there is no other name
under heaven
that has been given
among men by which
we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

And as for blessing, Christ alone is the source of real blessing.

Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3

Time and again, in the annals of human history, mankind has tried hard to assume divinity. As someone once quipped, “Ever since God created man in His image, man has been trying to return the compliment.” In vain! Such attempts only come to naught. No one can be likened to God—no one! I’ll let God speak for Himself through the prophet Isaiah …

To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you
compare with Him?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you
from the beginning?
Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth?
It is [God] who sits
above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants
are like grasshoppers.
[He] stretches out the heavens
like a curtain and
spreads them out
like a tent to dwell in.
He it is who reduces rulers
to nothing, who makes
the judges of the earth meaningless.
… He merely blows on them,
and they wither, and the storm
carries them away like stubble.
“To whom then will you liken Me
that I would be his equal?”
says the Holy One.
Isaiah 40:18, 21–25

King Ludwig’s fate was not pleasant. Apparently his uncle, Prince Luitpold, complicit in those inevitable palace intrigues, deposed the king and had him declared insane in 1886. A few days after the coup, Ludwig and the psychiatrist who had him committed were found dead in a lake close by. Their deaths remain a mystery to this day.

And, needless to say, Ludwig’s “divine friend,” who ostensibly was the one who “brought salvation and true blessing,” died, too—of a heart attack, in 1883.

I could search for all eternity long and find
There is none—
There is none—
There is none like you!
Lenny LeBlanc, 1991

None, indeed!