“The word 'eucatastrophe' was coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, and it refers to a deliverance when all was thought to be lost. There was no possible way . . . and then the unbelievable happened.” — Douglas Wilson, Psalm 126: Like Those Who Dream
Many authors have gotten themselves in over the heads and had to heave a figurative hail mary to save their story. In fact, this phenomenon is so common, someone came up with a name for it: deus ex machina (the machine of God). Authors are better are creating rocks and hard places than they are at creating ways out from between them. It is hard to deliver someone without discounting their difficulties. It is hard to do justice to the problem and the solution. But God is not an incompetent author. He does not design rocks bigger than He can move or harder places than He can handle. The story cannot get away from Him. He is omnipresent and omnipotent. There is nowhere the story can go that is outside His jurisdiction.
"The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it." — G.K. Chesterton
A eucatastrophe is not a bail out for a brain fart. God does not dishonor the tension He created by resolving it with a solution that comes all of a sudden, unexpectedly from off screen. The Savior was foreshadowed. His crucifixion was forecast. The eleventh hour was preset. Yet, its fulfillment was still a shock. The eucatastrophe of Christ was the surprise anyone could have seen coming. It was shocking without being unsatisfying. If it felt like it was from out of nowhere, it was our fault for not paying attention and rewatching the movie reveals just how obvious the surprise should have been and how good the resolution was. In fact, the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ resolves all the tension without ruining any of the plot points. In other words, it fulfills them all without abolishing any of them.
Courage requires something to be on the line. Sacrifice requires the loss of something. The wheat really must fall to the ground and be trampled underfoot before it can take root in resurrection. If there is no real danger, there is no real courage. The hero must for the love of life, just like the martyrs of old, be willing to die.
“Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
Many storytellers desire to revive their sacrificed heroes, but only God can raise the dead for real. Too many authors cheapen their heroes sacrifices by bailing them out with coupons, but Jesus was not saved from the Cross by a salvation from off screen, He was saved from the Cross by a resurrection from the grave three days later.
“The Christian faith lives in the light of eternity, and can afford to be patient.” — Christopher Dawson
We will see many good guys go down fighting before we see all the good men rising from the dead. But between now and then, we must keep fighting the good fight ourselves. Come what may until Christ comes again.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
— William Cowper, God Moves in a Mysterious Way
So, fear not the fray, my friends. Lean into the Lord and see His salvation even if you see some trouble. See His triumph in the travail and believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
The Lord can clear the darkest skies,
Can give us day for night;
Make drops of sacred sorrow rise
To rivers of delight.
Let those that sow in sadness wait
Till the fair harvest come,
They shall confess their sheaves are great,
And shout the blessings home.
Though seed lie buried long in dust,
It shan't deceive their hope;
The precious grain can ne'er be lost,
For grace insures the crop.
— Isaac Watts, Psalm 126
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