thy drugs are quick

I only just now understood this line from Romeo and Juliet, and got another glimpse of the brilliance of Shakespeare:

O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick.

What beauty. I think it came to me because I was for some reason telling my kids the Apostle's Creed the other night in the car. They said they had never heard it but then I reminded them of Rich Mullins' song, which he called simply Creed, and the light bulbs started flickering on a little. Here's the creed as I learned it anyway:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ His only Son Our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried;
The third day He rose from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting.
Amen.

Not particularly stirring, but I guess it's had its uses as heretic bane. The kids didn't know what to make of the arcane phrase, "the quick and the dead" (what a great phrase) as I didn't as a child either. Of course, to the ancients, quick meant alive or pregnant.

But as I was reading Romeo and Juliet again and got to the puzzling final words of Romeo, I understood the double entendre. Of course the drugs were fast-acting, which should appeal to Americans, but that is hardly Romantic. Romeo was praising the apothecary as true for being the only one able to deliver him from his body of death so that he could live forever with his true love. The apothecary's poison was the only way for him to die and be with Juliet. O the beauty and irony of this scene!

This a great telling of my own tragedy. The problem in my relationship with God, this Sacred Romance if you will, is that I was born into a family, in fact an entire race, that is at war with God's family. Call it an ancient grudge if you please. And though we have fallen in love with each other, I am still fortune's fool, because I have the wrong name. My family separates me forever from my true love. But Juliet has the answer, and her offer is in fact the same offer made by Christ.

Juliet said it like this:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name!
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
... doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

Jesus said it like this:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

Two beautiful invitations to a romantic love affair. Cursed because of my name, by the family I was born into, by my own mother and father, and longing to join my new found True Love, the offer comes - "doff thy name, and for that name, which is no part of thee, take all Myself." And I reply, "I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd." To die to my family, even my own life. Lesser love might require less, but as for me:

O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.