Last evening (7/14/21), I completed my second time through Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The LAST TIME was about 9 years ago when I was still commuting 2 hrs a day from Story City to Des Moines. About a decade later and I'm still not entirely sure what I just read... again. It's interesting, quirky, hard to follow, very Russian, entertaining, well-written, and more.
There are some sections that slog along and some that fly by due to intrigue. All in all, it's a decent read. Not one I would strongly recommend, but one I would enjoy discussing with someone who has read it. If you're not an avid reader, this isn't the book for you. There are better books if you're only reading every so often.
First of all, it's long and will discourage you by that fact from the git go and there are sections that definitely feel long and that will likely put the nail in the coffin if you even decide to give it a go.
If you don't like Russian literature, this isn't for you. The names and places are often a bit disorienting as the same person can go by multiple names depending on who is referring to them. But if you often make time to read and don't mind feeling a little confused at times, this may be worth tossing into the mix.
Below are some lines I found well-written or thought provoking:
“But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
Love is covenantal. It makes promises and extends loyalties. It yokes itself to the beloved and takes upon itself any debts belonging to the beloved. Love marries its destiny to that of the beloved. It binds itself to the fate of the other. It becomes one with the one it loves whether that be for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health.
God so loved the world that He submitted His Son to the fate of the world so that both the world and His Son might be free from fate. The world deserved to die so God died so that the world and He along with it could rise again together. God took upon Himself the fate of the world and when those of the world by grace through faith reciprocate, it shares in the fate of the Beloved by being made fit for eternal joy.
“Cowardice is the most terrible of vices.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
C.S. Lewis famously pointed out that courage was the sine qua non of all virtue. Bulgakov here states the photo negative of that reality by pointing out that cowardice provides the groundwork for all vice. In all vice, cowardice is present, just as in all virtue, courage must be.
Revelation 21:8
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Cowardice is a sin deserving everlasting death.
“Yes, man is mortal, but that would be only half the trouble. The worst of it is that he's sometimes unexpectedly mortal—there's the trick!” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
This wordsmithing caught my ear the first time around as well. Although in the translation I read it was worded like this...
“It has rightly been said, ‘Man is mortal.’ And sometimes suddenly so.” ― Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
I love that wordplay. Being mortal isn't our biggest problem -- being suddenly mortal is. Knowing that you're going to die someday is a bummer, but discovering yourself to be dying this very instant, all of a sudden, is a bigger bummer. To be mortal is to know you will one day die. To be unexpectedly mortal is be dying, like right now. We all get the heads up that it is somewhere in the future, but for most there is little heads up as to when the future is today.
Hebrews 3:13-15
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."
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